The Surge
In Omaha, a community center club plays twice a week and the tables keep filling
A local television report follows Nebraska players to a mall cafe and a community center, and asks the members themselves why the game caught.
A report from 3 News Now in Omaha visits American mah jongg players at two regular gathering spots, a Dillard's at Oakview Mall and the Camelot Community Center, where a club meets Mondays from 6:30 to 9pm and Thursdays from 12:30 to 3:30pm.
The station's report puts events up roughly 179 percent year over year and online searches up more than 4,500 percent. Those figures are the report's own and are not attributed there to a named organization, so treat them as the reporting rather than as a verified count. The same piece cites a national membership ratio of roughly nineteen women to one man.
The most useful line in the segment comes from Dianne Severa, who leads the club at the community center, on what changed: "The explosion has been these companies that have come out with these really fancy mats and tiles." A player named Annette gives the other half of it, describing the game as a standing appointment rather than a pastime. "You have to decide you're going to play at 1 o'clock, so at 11, you've gotta figure out what you're going to wear."
OOTT is not affiliated with any of the groups or venues named here and does not sell mah jongg sets. If you are near either spot, the meeting times above are the actual door.