My co-producer Angelo Bautista has long been fascinated with a certain complex game, mahjong. When he decided to do a radio piece on it, he found deep cultural roots in the development of the tile-based game, tensions in race and religion and much we can learn from it in historical context.
This week we’re re-airing what he found.You can check out an interactive timeline that traces the creation of the game and puts it into a political perspective, including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers to the US.
It’s part of our show this week, “More Than Just A Game,” which also features interviews with board game critic Eric Thurm and sportswriter and competitive chess fan Brin Jonathan-Butler.
The world seems very serious right now, but we're finding there's also room for what's known as "serious play." Maybe we need it more than ever.
What are you playing these days and are you learning anything surprising from the game? Let us know at listen@ttbook.org.
–Shannon