{"id":2217,"date":"2026-05-23T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/2026\/05\/23\/pickleball-passe-now-hollywood-is-mad-for-mahjong\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T17:00:00","slug":"pickleball-passe-now-hollywood-is-mad-for-mahjong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/2026\/05\/23\/pickleball-passe-now-hollywood-is-mad-for-mahjong\/","title":{"rendered":"Pickleball? Pass\u00e9! Now Hollywood Is Mad for MahJong"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\tLeave it to Larry David, who championed pickleball on Curb Your Enthusiasm<\/em>, to ride the mahjong wave. During a March YES Network commercial, David calls Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay in a tailspin when he can\u2019t find the game on TV, finally snapping, \u201cI won\u2019t watch it. I\u2019ll play mahjong! I don\u2019t care.\u201d Kay asks dubiously, \u201cYou play mahjong?\u201d \u2014 an opening for David\u2019s line-gone-viral: \u201cWhat, are you too cool for mahjong?\u201d<\/p>\n

\tTurns out David and his wife, Ashley Underwood, are quietly learning the game IRL in Montecito, where Meghan Markle clacks tiles with her own \u201cmahj squad,\u201d which consists of fashion designer Tracy James Robbins (wife of Brian Robbins), cosmetics entrepreneur Victoria Jackson and former WME agent Jennifer Rudolph Walsh. Godmothers bookstore in Summerland, co-owned by Jackson and Walsh, offers mahj games and lessons. \t<\/p>\n

\tA pastime dating back to 1800s China, \u201cold style\u201d mahjong had a resurgence in the 1920s after Standard Oil exec Joseph Park Babcock returned from a decade in the country and teamed with Abercrombie & Fitch to sell imported sets. Then he taught Douglas Fairbanks how to play. Soon President Warren G. Harding and first lady Florence Harding were clicking tiles in the White House. In 1926, siblings Fred and Adele Astaire were photographed at a mahjong table in London, as they headlined the musical feature Lady, Be Good!<\/em><\/p>\n

\tNow mahjong is having another splashy Hollywood moment. While the game never went away, its recent explosion in popularity seems linked to a post-pandemic yearning for social connection, combined with influential stars posting their mahj passion and the collectible beauty of the tile sets themselves. Some question whether all the American mahjong hoopla is irreverently stretching the game a bit too far from its Asian heritage. \t<\/p>\n

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\t \t\t\t\t\tJill Kargman and mahjong coach to the stars Cari Kuprenas.<\/span> \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Cari Kuprenas<\/cite> \t\t\t\t\t \t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\t(If you\u2019re too cool to know the rules, it\u2019s loosely like gin rummy but with tiles instead of cards. In traditional Asian mahjong, players create flexible tile combinations, while American mahjong follows preset hands. There are more than 40 variations played globally. Standardized in 1937, American mahjong adds eight joker \u201cwild cards.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI think, post-COVID, there has been such a big explosion because it\u2019s literally a convening,\u201d says veteran producer Suzanne Todd (Bad Moms<\/em>), who has organized power games since 2003 and plays at home, the Bel-Air Bay Club and Jonathan Club. \u201cIt feels like once you start, that it\u2019s required. It\u2019s that sharing of actual air space together. Also, it\u2019s this thing now of all the hot girls having grandma hobbies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThen there\u2019s the tile fixation. \u201cPeople collect tiles like they collect Birkin bags,\u201d exclaims Todd, whose foursome includes Monica Lewinsky, head of MGM Television Lindsay Sloane and trend forecasting consultant Jane Buckingham. \u201cWhen we started playing, there were basically two companies you could buy tiles from. Now, having a certain level and amount of tiles has quickly become very status-y. Crisloid sets that sell for $2,000 to $3,000 go on the secondary market for $15,000 to $20,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tMahj to Go co-founders Lynne Spillman and Heidi Brooks, who oversee open play and tournaments at San Vicente Bungalows, have been spotted slapping their branded tiles around town with Reese Witherspoon and Cindy Crawford. Blake Lively famously had her Oh My Mahjong set delivered to a Manhattan courthouse in February so she could practice amid legal battles with Justin Baldoni. A Hollywood mahj teacher shares what might be the most coveted seat in town: \u201cAll the moms in Malibu have been vying for years to be in Julia Roberts\u2019 mahjong group!\u201d \t<\/p>\n

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\t \t\t\t\t\tMahjong Megachurch co-founders Eileen Foliente (the former membership director at San Vicente Bungalows) and fashion stylist Jared Eng, of Just Jared fame. Says Eng, \u201cPeople want and crave social interaction, and that\u2019s what mahjong does.\u201d <\/span> \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Subject<\/cite> \t\t\t\t\t \t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\tThe skyrocketing business in tile sets, mats and merch by primarily white-owned American companies that replace traditional Asian symbols with every motif imaginable (flowers, food, holiday iconography) has led to whitewashing allegations. As did the Hallmark Channel film All\u2019s Fair in Love & Mahjong<\/em>, which landed May 9 to online blowback for its lack of Asian representation in the cast.<\/p>\n

\tBut backlash has not blunted the growth and evolution of the game, which continues to enjoy cross-cultural popularity. Bicoastal Chinese American mahjong instructor Cari Kuprenas first learned American mahjong 20 years ago at the Starbucks in Brentwood Village. Now she counts Sarah Jessica Parker (whom she calls \u201ca mahj OG and razor sharp\u201d) and Jessica Seinfeld among her students. \u201cThe Chinese invented paper and the compass and gunpowder and everyone\u2019s using those,\u201d says Kuprenas, putting the claims of cultural appropriation into perspective. \u201cThis game has its origins in China but, in 1937, Jewish women made their version of it and that\u2019s what we\u2019re all playing. And I\u2019m Chinese.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe beauty of mahjong, Kuprenas says, \u201cis that it\u2019s 70 percent luck and 30 percent skill. So if I taught you tomorrow, you could beat me, even though I\u2019ve been playing for decades.\u201d \t<\/p>\n

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\t \t\t\t\t\tActress Joey King<\/a> (The Act), a regular at the Mahjong Megachurch.<\/span> \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy<\/cite> \t\t\t\t\t \t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\tIn June, Kuprenas and public relations maven Carol Bell will debut a Mahj in the Wild<\/em> podcast. Among the first guests are Just Jared founder-fashion stylist Jared Eng and Eileen Foliente, former membership director at San Vicente Bungalows, who debuted their buzzy Mahjong Megachurch club in November. With invite-only services in Eng\u2019s Beverly Hills home, the group has made its mission to teach the traditional \u201cold style\u201d Taiwanese version of the game to a wider audience. When Eng ran into Hacks<\/em> stars Hannah Einbinder and Paul Downs at a recent party, they let out a rallying cry of \u201cMahjong, mahjong, mahjong!\u201d<\/p>\n

\tMaria Shriver and Hoda Kotb first learned from Oh My Mahjong instructors at a November retreat in Los Cabos for Shriver\u2019s non-profit, Women\u2019s Alzheimer\u2019s Movement. \u201cI\u2019m trying to get better!\u201d Shriver tells THR<\/em>. \u201cWe know from studies that it\u2019s good for brain health, which is \u2026 why I tell every woman I meet that if they don\u2019t know mahjong and care about their brain, they should learn how to play!\u201d<\/p>\n

\tMost swear their mahj groups are all about fun, but Eng sees the low-key jostling: \u201cIt\u2019s a little Hollywood, like \u2018Who\u2019s in the room?\u2019 But you\u2019re focused on the game and trying to win. In mahjong, you\u2019re reading people and building alliances. You are paying attention to dynamics. It\u2019s social strategy disguised as a game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThis story appeared in the May 20 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leave it to Larry David, who championed pickleball on Curb Your Enthusiasm, to ride the mahjong wave. During a March YES Network commercial, David calls Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay in a tailspin when he can\u2019t find the game on TV, finally snapping, \u201cI won\u2019t watch it. I\u2019ll play mahjong! I don\u2019t care.\u201d Kay asks dubiously, \u201cYou play mahjong?\u201d \u2014 an opening for David\u2019s line-gone-viral: \u201cWhat, are you too cool for mahjong?\u201d Turns out David and his wife, Ashley Underwood, are quietly learning the game IRL in Montecito, where Meghan Markle clacks tiles with her own \u201cmahj squad,\u201d which consists of fashion designer Tracy James Robbins (wife of Brian Robbins), cosmetics […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2218,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1385,255,381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hollywood","category-joey-king","category-lifestyle","category-lifestyle-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}