Recently, Yelp, a US-based local business platform similar to China's Dianping, named mahjong one of the hottest trends for 2026. Data shows that between September 2024 and August 2025, overseas searches for "mahjong clubs" experienced an explosive year-on-year growth of 4,467%, while searches for "mahjong classes" soared by 819%.

Driven by Social Needs

Overseas "Mahjong Craze" Takes Off'

Marissa Broman, a mahjong instructor from New York, stated that human connection is driving the current wave. She noted that following World War I and the Spanish Flu pandemic, mahjong enjoyed a surge in popularity during the 1920s. After the recent pandemic, people are eager to gather again, and this is also an activity that allows us to put down our phones.

Mahjong may be having its financial moment. While it may appear to be merely a game involving tiles, luck, and socializing, there are clear parallels between a round of mahjong and managing your finances. Mahjong can also offer deeper insights into financial management. The game mirrors many decisions people face in their financial lives: when to take risks, when to exercise restraint, when to pivot strategies, and when to accept the fact that you cannot control everything.

In response, Weyl, a senior wealth advisor at a U.S. private wealth firm, also noted, "You go into every game knowing you might have to pivot and make changes, which absolutely holds true in financial planning—life happens, and we adjust accordingly."

Senior Wealth Advisor

Teaches Financial Planning Through the Game

Specifically, mahjong can teach the public lessons about financial planning across multiple dimensions. First is embracing uncertainty. A financial services executive, also Weyl's mahjong partner, stated that no matter how perfectly you plan your initial strategy, market conditions and life itself will bring unexpected twists and turns. For example, you may target a specific hand combination, but if the tiles you need are discarded by other players early in the game (becoming dead tiles), your strategy falls apart. As she put it, "The landscape changes very quickly".

Meanwhile, diversification is also key. Every spring, the National Mah Jongg League issues a new card featuring various winning hands and rules. Lisa, a financial advisor based in Missouri, explained that these constantly changing parameters mean you can win through many different hand combinations, which is very similar to investing. Lisa, who took up mahjong six months ago, pointed out that the best-performing mix of asset classes varies each year, depending entirely on the prevailing macroeconomic environment, such as inflation trends, interest rate movements, and actual stock market performance.

Balancing offense and defense is equally critical in both financial management and skill development. Weyl noted that the "offense" of pursuing returns is only half the battle; the "defense" of protecting wealth through risk management and tax planning is equally decisive to overall success. She believes this mirrors mahjong: to truly master the game, one must constantly observe other players' moves and adjust strategies accordingly, because "sometimes, the best offense is a good defense".

Furthermore, optimizing limited resources is another commonality between the two. Weyl stated that just as mahjong players are constrained by the finite number of tiles on the table, people in real life are similarly limited by their income and time. Therefore, individuals must allocate these scarce resources very prudently to avoid incurring unnecessary costs.

Finally, long-term discipline eventually pays off. Both financial literacy and wealth benefit from the compounding effect of patience; the longer you maintain a disciplined investment strategy, the more intuitive the process becomes.

Weyl pointed out that mahjong also improves with practice; she co-hosted a mahjong boot camp last month for over 60 women. Similarly, in financial planning, the more often you talk about money, the easier decision-making becomes. Whether playing mahjong or investing, the ultimate reward is achieving your goals. As Weyl said, "Winning is more fun, and being financially successful is more fun, too."