BONUS post--Paean to the New Card

Greetings and salutations as your always-loquacious Bubbe interrupts her annual card review for a brief aside about the object itself. 

Someone in a Facebook group devoted to all different styles of play commented that he finds it amusing how excited we get when the new card arrives. He compared it to that hilarious scene in "The Jerk" when Steve Martin's character gets so excited about the new phone books.

"The new phone books are here, the new phone books are here," he shouts, proudly showing that he is listed in it, that he's "somebody."

Well, we may sound silly to people who play other, cardless versions of the game, but I'm here to salute the card and sing its praises.

I do a lot of public speaking about the National Mah Jongg League version of the game, and the most popular topic is its psychological benefits. The card is THE essential component of what we think of when we think of "our" version.

The first psychological benefit is the cognitive. The fact that we get a new card each year, and are required to learn new combinations and forget old ones, is tremendously challenging to our brains. Especially as we age, we might stop learning new things... unless we play mah jongg. It's very healthy to have to process new information and think analytically. Other versions of the game have tricky or valuable combinations, but they don't have the kind of specific, official changes, year after year, that keep our style fresh and challenging

I also talk about the social benefits of the game. By owning the NMJL card ( $10 or less, including shipping), you become part of a tribe. It's not officially an ID or club card, per se, but no matter where you go in the US, if you've got your card you can go find other players. It is a great icebreaker. Needless to say, during COVID, it's been a lifeline for people to continue to play online and make connections. This isolation was terrible for so many, but mah jongg helped keep them sane and less lonely.

The card is also a piece of memorabilia. You might come across an old one when you're cleaning out a junk drawer, and remember the day that you got the big hand back in 2013, or reminisce about a favorite combination. It's a piece of history.

Finally, its debut, its long-awaited presence, marks a new beginning. For me, the 2020 card will be forever cursed. 2021's card feels like an opportunity to move on, go forward, into a world where we're going to play again in person. It's a moment to pause, breathe, put away the old and look forward to the new.

 

Now, back to learning it!!

 

Bubbe Fischer