AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands - Marianne Croeze from the Netherlands is the best all-round player of 2011. Runner-up on the list, composed of the best results in official MCR and riichi mahjong tournaments, is Joel Ratsimandrésy from France, just before Marianne's spouse Jaap Croeze on number 3.

BRUSSELS - Jo Vandeweghe, the Belgian collector of true mahjong games for his Apple Macintosh computer, sends Mahjong News his Season's Greetings, along with an optimistic message. He claims he now runs more than 80 true mahjong games on his iPod.

Much excitement in mahjong playing Europe when China announced its fifth ‘majiang’ championship. The Chinese had given no feedback to the invitation for the European Championship in Venice, and now they organised a tournament on board a luxurious cruise ship which sailed the Yangtze river. Three European players subscribed to the competition, all from Denmark: EMA president Tina Christensen, Maarten Faartoft and Henrik Leth. Tina reports for Mahjong News. ‘To our surprise, we missed the skillful  young Beijing players.’

ARNHEM - As from today, there’s another mahjong movie on YouTube - and a very special one, too. Mahjong News editor Martin Rep finally has finished his impression of the ‘Washizu in Holland Tournament’, which was held at Arnhem, the Netherlands, in July 2010.

(Disclaimer)

This website is about mahjong; according to The Great Mahjong Book of Jelte Rep, mahjong is the most played game in the world. Mahjong is not the well-known solitary game, where mahjong tiles are clicked away; the only thing real mahjong and solitary mahjong have in common is that mahjong tiles are used.

Mahjong is an old Chinese game, developed in the eighteen-eighties and based upon old card games. In the nineteen-twenties, mahjong was exported from China to Japan and the USA. In both coutries, mahjong was an immediate hit. Not only in the US, but everywhere in the Western world, people started playing mahjong. Besides, they bought mahjong attribute: mahjong stockings, mahjong ties, mahjong jewelry, mahjong furniture; they ate mahjong cakes and ate lots of them while playing mahjong.

Before WWII, mahjong lost its popularity due to fight about the mahjong rules. It was rediscovered when people bought computers and discovered the internetr. Mahjong players from all over the world discovered that there were mahjong players in other countries as well. International tournaments were organized, where mahjong players from many countries gathered. In Japan, the first world championship in mahjong took place in 2002. A second mahjong world championship took place in China, 2007, the third mahjong event in this series was held in the Netherlands (2010).