Impact & Insight: Marchesa Mahjong Founder Arabella Hibbert

Podcast host Jane Howze sits down with Arabella Hibbert, founder Marchesa Mahjong, on this episode of Impact & Insight.

After more than 20 years in marketing, communications, and event planning, Arabella stepped away from her career to raise her family, searching for something that would challenge her mind and restore her sense of community. That something turned out to be mahjong. 

What began as a single casual lesson quickly grew into a passion she now plays five to six times a week, and ultimately, a business. Arabella founded Marchesa Mahjong to share the joy, laughter, and connection the game had brought to her own life.

Find more at www.thealexandergroup.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

We all talk about how we need to keep our bodies short and we need to eat healthy, we need to work out, we need to do all of these things. But guess what? It's not working out. Our brain. A lot of times, if we're in a mundane job or if we're studying a subject that maybe just is a little too easy for us, our brain's not getting that elasticity and that exercise. And guess what? Mahjong is like igniting that.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Welcome to Impact and Insight. I'm Jane House, and today I am so thrilled to have one of my personal favorites on as we head on into our Memorial Day weekend. We have Arabella Hibbert, and she is a Houstonian, a mom of two uh events veteran and founder of Marchessa Mahjong. And you're asking, well, what is Mahjong? Why are we talking about Mahjong today? Um, Mahjong is the new golf, everyone. And since uh the last couple of years, numbers show that Mahjong clubs are up 45,000 percent. Uh, you're seeing stories in the New York Times, the Washington Post. Mahjong is everywhere. And I wanted to talk to the top person in Houston about Mahjong and how you take your passion and turn it into a business and something that benefits charities, not for profits, and just humans. So welcome, Arabella. Welcome to Impact and Insight.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Thank you so much, Jane. I'm so happy to be here and so excited to talk a little bit about Mahjong. Um, it is a little bit of a passion project for me. So um I'm thrilled to share it with everyone.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Well, talk a little bit about your background pre-Mahjong.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Pre-Mahg. Okay. So I actually worked in several nonprofits here in Houston and worked on the event and fundraising side of things, expanded my career into a little bit of marketing, communications. Um, but that fundraising component was always something that I was very passionate about. Um, but events was always a part of my responsibilities as well. So um I love putting a lot of work and effort into something creative and then seeing it flourish and blossom. And when everybody attends and everybody says, What a great event. I absolutely loved it. I had a wonderful time. There's just a sense of reward that is irreplaceable. And then when it's a fundraising event on top of that, and you walk away and you're like, wow, this is gonna make a great impact in the community, it's just a double win-win for me. Um, so I enjoyed that. I did that for gosh, almost 20 years of my career and left the workforce to be a full-time stay-at-home mom. Um, my sister also got um very sick. She was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer, and I just felt pulled and called to be at home in that moment in time. Um, how did I start Mahjong from there, though? You're probably thinking, wow, okay, so you have a fence background for now you teach this random title game. Um, so I was invited to a lesson with some friends, and it just it clicked. It made sense. It's a pretty complex game. There's a lot of rules involved, but it ignited something in my brain that I hadn't realized or hadn't really been paying attention to, had been missing for a few years. Um, being a stay-at-home mom is the hardest job I've ever done. Um, I reward anybody who chooses to do that full time. And yet I felt like I lost a little bit of a sense of self and I hadn't been utilizing my brain to its full capacity. So when I discovered Mahjong and it ignited my brain and, you know, it was like putting together a giant puzzle, I fell off the deep end of addiction. I mean, I went from one lesson to playing five days a week and was like, do you play mahjong? Do you want to play mahjong? Do you want to come to my house? Should we play mahjong? Um, and so um I just I fell in love with the game and then the community. Um, the community was just, it was so wonderful and welcoming. And so, how did I teach? I suddenly found myself every time I was playing that somebody would say, Oh, my friend Sally's coming or my friend Jane's coming. She's gonna sit with you tonight. And finally, after the 10th or 15th time this happened, I looked at my friends and I go, Whoa, whoa, whoa, guys, is it just because I'm nice and I say, I don't say no to the newbie sitting next to me? Or what why? Why me? Why am I always stuck teaching when we play? And they all unanimously agreed. They said, you have a way of breaking down this super complex game into tangible bite-sized pieces that after somebody sits with you for two hours, they get it and they walk away excited and wanting to learn it. Um so I said, okay, very selfishly, can we play? Can I play when we play? And I'll host a lesson in my house once a month or something for your your friends. Um, so it actually all started by accident, all started for free um as just a way to teach others this incredible game.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

And so from the first time you played to where you're teaching it, how much time elapsed?

SPEAKER_01 5:56

Oh goodness.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Um four or five years, four or five years. Oh wow, how interesting. And and I have to say now your classes are sold out in your each class at your homes holds 30 people. About 28, yes. 28 people, and they're sold out in five minutes.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

They do sell out pretty quickly. So yeah, I I'm very, very grateful. So word of mouth is really kind of our our number one um I would say marketing tool, right? Yeah. Um, we are on social media, we do have a website, and we try to make it as easy and seamless as possible for people to book. Um, but we we are getting a great reputation. So um people are loving the game and they're learning it from us. And so I'm so so grateful.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

I'm so, and then you know, you combine the business part of I'm gonna teach people to how do I take this for non-for-profits and especially breast cancer, which is obviously very dear to your heart. Can you talk a little bit about that? Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

So um Mahjong is such, I mean, it's grown like wildfire across the country. Really, it kind of spearheaded that that was in Texas, um, but it has spread across the country. And I um I lost my sister um to breast cancer when I left the workforce. That was kind of one of the reasons why. And she had asked me to support MD Anderson, specifically the boot walk, um, in her memory. She said, please go year after year. Um inflammatory breast cancer kills about, I think it has a 4% survival rate. So it's one of the worst cancers you can get, specifically breast. And because there are no survivors, there's nobody raising funds for research. And so I kind of felt called. One, I was asked, um flat out asked by my sister to do this. And so to honor her wishes, um, I started this journey. And then two, I just felt called to. Um, there aren't survivors to be to share their stories. And so I want to share it on behalf of those family members who have been through this. So that first year, I asked my friends, I said, Would you like to come to my house, make a donation to MD Anderson, and we'll all just play mahjong. And it all started as a very casual, um, fun, laid-back thing. Well, those friends told some friends, and those friends told other friends, and suddenly everybody wanted to get involved. And they said, How can I help? How can I support? What can I do? And a very sweet friend, Kimmy Miner, who owns Kids Garden in West Hugh, said, Host it here, host it at my preschool. You can fit way more tables. Forget 30 people, let's do 75. Um, and so we started selling tickets and it sold out in less than a day. We had 75 people there. And my goal was to hopefully raise five or six thousand dollars. And we ended up leaving that night, raising 20. Oh my gosh, that's so exciting! I know it blew me away. Um, I felt so much love and compassion and support in that room. And when the event was kind of finishing up, one of my friends, my best friend actually stood up and she said, Hey guys, we're doing this again next year. Who's on the host committee? Raise your hand. Um, and if you raise your hand now, oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna come find you, you're signed up. And so I would like, wait, hold on, we're doing this annually. Like it kind of caught me off guard. Um, and I said, But yes, I would love to do this annually. And so we did it again last year, sold out again. This time it was 165 people. So we doubled. And so my goal again, mentally, I was like, all right, we made 20,000 last year. Let's double our goal, double the people, double the goal. Um, no, we made $75,000 last year. Oh my gosh, that's so exciting! It's so exciting, and I'm so grateful for the team of people that have come together to help support this mission. And just so excited that Mahjong, which is this incredible community, has brought this type of event to life. Um, and so this year, hosting it again. This time we're expecting 300 people. Um, tickets don't go on sale until September. So fingers crossed, we'll sell out. Um, and our goal is 125,000.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

So fingers crossed we reach all of those things. And I know um um we have a lot of large and small not-for-profit clients, and I can hear them in my head saying, how do you figure out how much and do you charge for two hours worth? Do you provide food as their winner prizes? I can just hear all these questions in my head.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Absolutely, absolutely. So every nonprofit event is different. And at this point, we've probably helped with at least 20 or 30 over the last couple of years because after I hosted my own word of mouth spread, and they said, whoa, whoa, whoa, help me with mine. Um, so really there's a variety of different ways that you can do it. The most common that we see is that you charge a ticket or table price, and usually at least one beverage, if not open bar, um and light bites or some type of food are included. So just like you would go to a gala or any of the traditional event styles, you still have the same option. You can purchase an individual ticket or you can buy a table and invite your friends. Um, from there, I've seen everything from raffle tickets, um, prizes, um purchasing items um from stores around the city who pop up shops and proceeds from those go go towards their mission. Um, we've really kind of seen it all. And where we kind of come into play, and if somebody wanted to utilize our services, is we provide all of the linens, all of the sets, all of the tiles needed. So essentially you walk in and we set up the mahjong part for you. Um, and then other entities have also asked us to MC the event. So I clearly have no issue. Yeah, I clearly have no issue public speaking. Um, I love being in front of a crowd and getting people excited and involved. Um, so whenever they ask me to MC, I'm like happy to do it. And uh and then we just kind of go from there. And so we work within their budgets and work within um the city of Houston as far as venues and and making sure that we we put all the pieces together. But with my extensive event background, I'm also able to provide, I think, more guidance than just your average Mahjong teacher.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

Well, this is such a in a way, a novel concept because I mean, all of us have gone to, in fact, um my husband always says, I'll pay money not to go to, I'll pay more money if I don't have to go to a gala than if I do, you know, uh loud music, you can't talk and you know, mixed speakers, everything. But this is something that fits into a lot of people's passion and the idea of meeting people who care about the mission. That seems so compelling.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

Absolutely. Well, and I would compare it, and you started this conversation um very wisely by saying it's essentially an a version of golf, right? So for a long time, um, golf was utilized for business development, for client entertainment, and all of fundraisers and all of the things, golf tournaments, right? Um, or in the state of Texas, clay shoots. Um, and I feel like this is that same essentially concept. You have a force of right, you sit at a table and you have an opportunity to get to know those people. You sit, you play, you are actively doing something. So if the conversation runs a little dry, which can happen over the course of a game or while you're out on a course, you're still with a group of people and still playing an active game, right? And so your mind is still kind of thinking, there's multiple things going on. And so it works really nicely and seamlessly, but instead of being out in the heat of Houston, you get to do it sitting at a wonderful, beautiful table.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

So I think I love the idea. And I have to tell you, and I'm pivoting for one second from not for profit, but I have to tell you, um, I was in New York last month for um the top legal marketing person in the country has written a book. And her book, I've known her for years, and I was at this fancy club with the top marketing people for the top 50 law firms in the country, and um they're talking about marketing, how do you build relationships? And one woman stands up and she's got multi-million dollar litigation practice, and she said, My practice has exploded since I hired a Mahjong leader, and every once a month I have people to the firm. We set up Mahjong in the in the kitchen, and it's oversubscribed every month now. And the women, uh mostly women, bring other women who are partners of law firms, and they've given me so much business. I would say this is the number one thing, and probably easier than golf, cheaper than golf, and more social than golf. So I I could hardly wait to tell you that because I I know a lot of business executives watching this podcast will go, Mahjong, I hadn't thought about that. But it is a it just along with the not-for-profit, it's fabulous for relationship building.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Well, and and you hit the nail on the head there because um we actually do work with a ton of law firms and a ton of corporations. So we have been brought in um for law firms. In fact, I think we have nine different law firms bringing us in in the month of June alone for their summer associates programs. So that is fabulous. I know. I mean, it just makes sense. Their summer associates, um, you know, get to learn something new. They I encourage them to do it at the beginning of the summer program because then what can the summers do while they're eating lunch together or in the break room? They can take a few minutes, sit down, play a game of mahjong, get to know each other a little better. Um, we've also been brought in um by a couple of um oil and gas companies to do team building. And so we encourage those teams to keep a set in their cafeterias. And so go play a game of mahjong. Don't sit at your desk and eat lunch at your desk like you do every day. Take a break. A game can take 10 minutes if you're advanced, maybe 30 or 40 if you're a little bit more on the beginner side, but still go find a couple people, knock on somebody's door and say, hey, you want to go catch a quick game of mahjong while you eat your lunch and then go back to your desk. But you took a mental break, you still ignited that brain power, and you socialized with some colleagues that maybe you otherwise wouldn't have reached out to. Um, so I mean, we've seen it from client development, we've seen it from um summer associates or intern development, team building. We're kind of seeing it grow across tons of facets in the workforce. Um, and we're also seeing it not only from a lesson perspective when people bring us in. Um, I now host with a title company. We host quarterly events. Um they are they are um they invite their clients, and their clients are told, bring a bring a friend, bring a guest. And guess what? Mahjong is a fun game to play with people you know as well. So not only did you just invite a client or a potential client, that potential client brought in an additional potential client for you, right? Um, so you've provided a venue and maybe some light bites and a glass of champagne, and they're bringing in the people that you wanted to be in front of in the first place. They're doing your marketing task. They're doing your marketing for you. You just exactly you just provided something fun. Um, and so where do the teachers get involved, right? Because a lot of people are like, great, can I do this on my own? Yes, you absolutely can. But where the teachers get involved is everybody loves mahjong, everybody plays at a different pace. All right. So if you have a mahjong event and you have some beginners and some more advanced folks in the room, it might throw off the quality of that experience or the quality of the game. So we tend to seat people based on their experience level, and then we tend to support those beginners a little bit more than those advanced players. Now, we don't abandon the advanced players at all. We level up their game. We ask them questions if they have started exploring every section of um of the card. We have a card annually with hands that we're allowed to play, right? And so we ask them, have you been playing the full card? Um, if they have and they're looking to explore some other things, we go, well, how's your defense? This is a game. There's offense, but there's also defense.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

So have you started to play that defense? And so by bringing the instructors in, we provide that level of support that everybody in the room gets suddenly comfortable at the same level, right? Yes. Versus just hosting it without. Um, I have talked to a lot of students and actually some friends, and I host um several other um nonprofit fundraisers throughout the year. I support my um the Westview Little League and the Westview Elementary School, because those are our neighborhoods. And I have friends tell me, oh, but I don't really play well, or I took a lesson a long time ago, or I'm really intimidated. I I'm still such a novice. I I don't think I'm gonna go. And they get scared. They get scared of showing up. And by saying, Oh no, don't worry about it. There's a teacher there. That suddenly that fear goes away. They're like, oh, great, I will be supported. Okay, I I think I can do that. And so having us in the room, it's yes, again, can you do it on your own? Absolutely. But having us in the room levels the playing field.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

Well, and from a business standpoint, uh, it raises the level of sophistication. And hey, we aren't just, you know, lollygagging, getting together and hopes we understand how do you put out the tiles and how do you do this? Well, you've got somebody who's knows how to organize it. It's really a game, but it's an event planning, especially from a business standpoint. So a curiosity, um why do women play more than men?

SPEAKER_01 21:29

Oh my gosh, that's the age-old question, right? Um, if you actually look at the history of the game, it um American Mahjong stems from Chinese Mahjong, which dates back all the way to the Ming dynasty and was predominantly played by men. So it's so ironic almost that it's now being seen as a game that only women play. When it turned into American Mahjong in New York, it was the Jewish community that kind of transformed the game and created this new set of rules. And it Was played across the Jewish community. It was not gender specific. I think that the reason why it has exploded with women in particular is the tiles have suddenly become beautiful collector's items and feminine in design. The majority of them are pink and purple, as you can probably see from all the masculine. Yeah, I'm looking. Yeah. And they're colorful. That's not to say that there aren't some very attractive, very masculine sets. There's sets with golf clubs on them and other things. But it suddenly was, wow, there's all this pretty pink stuff. I want to learn how to play this game. Well, I now that I've been in some capacity in this community for five years, I am starting to slowly see a shift. And we are starting to get the men involved. Men, I think for a while were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's that's the game that my wife plays. Then suddenly they're on a family vacation or they're on vacation with another couple and the wives go, oof, there's four of us. We're gonna teach you two how to play. And they suddenly realize there is nothing feminine about this game at all.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

It's very analytical.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

It's very analytical, it's very logical. It's like a giant puzzle and having to put those pieces together. So the game itself is not um girly girl, right? Um, the tiles might be, but the game itself is not. And so we have started to see the shift where now all of our um female students who have hired us over the course of the last two or three years are saying, Oh, I want my boyfriend to learn, or I want my son to learn, or my husband, or my dad, or whatever that may be. And so now those men are starting to get involved, and it's also starting to make it a family event, which is so fun.

SPEAKER_00 23:51

Well, you know, it's interesting. There's a there's an article in the Washington Post last month talking about the number of men coming into the game, but also that young college kids which you know you couldn't pay them to learn bridge, which is what I learned. But they love mahjong, and that that that is one of the areas where people are it's becoming so popular.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

Yes. Well, I mean, a game of mahjong, I think the reason why it's also just become popular is for a long time, if you wanted to see friends, you would go out to dinner or go to a bar, right? You go eat or drink. That was kind of what we felt like we had to do in order to socialize. And now suddenly we don't have to eat or drink, and we can sit and play. Um, now we can eat, sit, drink, and play all at the same time as well, which is kind of the trip active, but um, but it's something else to do, right? And it is allowing for more intimate conversation, um, which is probably my favorite part about Mahjong is the conversations that happen at the table and the friendships that come out of it. You come to a lesson, you know nobody in the room, you exchange numbers by the end of the lesson. And I have clients who have been with me for three years on this journey who now travel all together across the world with their husbands because they're all best friends. And they met adolescent at my house playing mahjong, right? So it really is this incredible community. But I love that college students are learning it because it's so good for the mind. It is so good. It's essentially like brain exercise. So I get really passionate about that part of it because we all talk about how we need to keep our bodies sharp and we need to eat healthy and we need to work out, we need to do all of these things. Well, guess what is not working out? Our brain. A lot of times, if we're in a mundane job or if we're studying a subject that maybe just is a little too easy for us, our brain's not getting that elasticity and that exercise. And guess what? Mahjong is like igniting that. It is, yes, it is, but it's fun workout for the brain.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

You know what I was telling, um, I was telling my colleague Heather um that one of the things about it, now this is more a feminine thing. I love feeling the tiles under my hands when you shuffle them before, and that's the time you're kind of connecting with the people you play with. It's just so much fun. So I have to ask you, I'm looking at all of the material. Are those tabletops uh behind you?

SPEAKER_01 26:44

Uh, all of the things behind me are mahjong mats. Yes. So um, it's funny, this office was originally my husband's, and so it's very masculine in style. There's dead ducks on the walls and everything, and then all of my mahjong stuff came in. Um, so yes, um, the equipment you really need is uh ideally a mahjong mat, more than anything, because it silences the tiles a little bit. When we shuffle them, they can get a little bit loud. You need the tiles themselves and then racks to play on. Um, now a lot of people think that because I buy one line, I have to buy everything in that same brand. No, you can buy racks from this store and a mat from this one and whatever you want. You can kind of piecemeal it together. Um, now I love that you said that it's um a little cheaper than golf. I I would maybe disagree with that because your average um Mahjong player does not own just one set. They will typically own more than one, and your tiles alone can range from $250 to $700. Um, so yes, on average, each game you play once you own the set gets cheaper and cheaper the more you play.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Correct. No big fees just to sit down. And no time driving to a golf, yeah, the time element. But yeah, no, I know it. I mean, you start looking and it's like golf clothes. Uh oh, I've got to have this outfit, this outfit. Oh, I've got to have this table covering and everything. So pivoting back to the business, how do you do, how do you do inventory? How do you know how many sets you need? What are your limits? And how do you, as you think forward about your business, which is booming, how do you scale up? How do you think about it?

SPEAKER_01 28:36

Yeah, absolutely. That's a great question. So um, the way that we had been working for, I would say the first year and a half was we kept and maintained 12 sets, which was typically our largest size event in stock. Then we upscaled to about 16, 17, 18, just because suddenly we had two instructors. So some nights there would be one instructor going one place, another instructor going somewhere else. Now that we're doing these nonprofit events, we keep in stock at all times 30 full sets, 30 full linens, 30 for everything. Um, because these nonprofits that are bringing us in for their fundraisers usually have 20 to 30 tables. Now, will our inventory continue to grow? Absolutely. Why are we not growing it yet? Because new tiles are coming out every day. So we don't want to have an inventory that's stale. We always want to have the newest, the cutest. Um, there are new brands popping up left and right. Um, so we want to make sure that our our business and our um product that we are able to bring is up to date. Now, does that mean that that we don't um that we don't ever eliminate things? No, absolutely. In fact, I'm gonna do a big sale this summer because we have probably about six or seven sets that we no longer use, um a handful of linens and mats and things that we're just we're moving along and bringing in new things. Um, so I I like to stay up to date on the most popular tiles. Um, I also, to be honest, get bored of playing on the same things. So I'm in a position that every time I buy a new set, it's a business expense. Um there's some personal wishes that they could do that too. Yes. Um, so and it is a business expense, it is the business, but I'm very fortunate that when I see a new pretty set, I go, okay, bye. Um, whereas most people can't justify owning 30 in their home.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

Well, and when you're doing these corporate events, I mean, you don't want to have the yugo of of tiles, right? I mean you want to have something that reflects your brand. And I guess some of the tile tiles, maybe tiles you bought five years ago, you might be they might not be as shiny and cool looking as exactly, as some of the newer things that are coming out.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

And um they're used, right? And they do get buffed and scratched and um tiles get lost over time. And so um, so that's why we also just kind of shift those out. So we're constantly bringing in the newest and kind of getting rid of some of that older um inventory or stock. Um, I get asked the question all the time, like, which set should I buy? Whew, talk about a personal decision, right? Um which dress should you buy? Which set, or what pair of shoes should you get? I don't know what fits comfortably, what's your color style? What, right? Um, there's so many different tiles out there. It really kind of started with a few brands out of Dallas. And I can say I when I first started this business, this wasn't even three years ago, it was November 23. There were six brands that I was aware of that I owned andor worked with. There are probably 40 that I am in touch with right now, right? And that's just over the course of three years. So we know that this is only going to continue to grow and continue to be a new trend. Um, I keep saying at some point there's gonna be the crash, right? Like every new hobby or trend has a peak, and then we fall off the other side of that. And every year I'm like, oh, okay, maybe this is the year we're gonna fall down. Nope, just keeps getting busier. Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

Well, have you thought, I mean, I'm thinking at from a business point, have you thought about co-branding with one of these companies?

SPEAKER_01 32:36

So we did start um co-branding mats. We do a design, um, a series of mats only currently. Um, I work with an artist um out of New York. The company is called Roy du Lac. It's a French-Italian-based company. And um, he's a painter by by profession. And so what we've done is we've created these pieces of art. They're limited edition mats, they're collector's items, because that's where my mind is kind of thinking is yes, you can own all of these generic sets. Yes, you can essentially buy them like the next, you know, little handbag that you get rid of next season, or you can buy the collector's items. Um, and so ours are limited edition minimum prints. Once we're sold out, they'll never be reprinted again. So we get questions all the time about some of our mats. And I go, I'm so sorry, that was our first collection, and we no longer have that. These are the prints we currently have in stock. Um, and so it's kind of a fun, different thing. We have been approached about um producing tiles as well. To be honest, um that's just not where I am in my phase of life is being able to you don't want to be a retail retailer, correct? Like I'm still um in all of this, you know, we work, we have an average of anywhere from four to eight mahjong events a week. Um, there's currently two full-time instructors. We do have some assistant instructors we bring in. And um I'm still a full-time mom. My kids are only eight and five. So I have to kind of be mindful of what my personal limits are. But right, I I get excited about the idea and sometimes I want to bite off more than I can chew and say yes. But for right now, we're just doing these limited edition mats and we'll see where we go from there.

SPEAKER_00 34:25

Um that's really exciting. Well, I have to tell you, one of I've got a couple more questions. One of my uh colleagues here heard I was talking to you. You guys, well, what age can a child learn to play mahjong and enjoy it? And I don't know, I'll ask. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 34:46

So I would say average is about nine years old that can get the full concept of the game, right? And play the adult version of the game. But there are wonderful companies out there, um, like Mini Mahger, who has created a kid version of the game. So they've created beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels to Mahjong to walk kids at a younger age up through the game, through time into that full advanced level, right? Um, my five-year-old personally knows the name of every single tile, and he can play that beginner kid friendly version of the game. My eight-year-old, on the other hand, plays full mahjong. Oh so it really, and I think it really also depends on the child, right? I have two boys, they don't love to sit still. So we can usually get in our family through one, maybe two games, and then they're like, let's go outside and play throw baseball, right? Um, we do see that um the students that tend to play more frequently are our female young students, um, and they get together with their neighbors, and uh, you know, the best lesson we ever did was with a bunch of uh 12-year-old girls. Um I was shocked how quickly they picked this game up. On average, we get through, I would say typically we get through one game in a 101 lesson. If we have a very kind of advanced attentive group, we'll get through that second game and we're very impressed. In this 101 lesson, it was 12 12-year-old girls. We got through five games in their first lesson. Ah, good barely needed to be told how to play it, and they were already 10 steps ahead where they needed to be, and they're sponges for this information. So I find that they're actually an even better audience for us, right? They're they're into it, they're excited about it, and they'll learn it.

SPEAKER_00 36:47

And maybe it's like you take kids out skiing at a young age and they become lifelong skiers and they learn fast, and it's much easier for them than you know, me in my 70s to learn to ski. And maybe it's the same with the brain picking up and learning things so quickly.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

Yeah. But I have to say, probably my favorite part about the family aspect of the game is don't worry about your child's age because they'll sit with you and they'll watch and they'll get bits and pieces of the game. They don't need to understand the full concept of it, right? Um, but it's a game that can be played across generations. So I can't go to a tennis court and play with my five-year-old and my 75-year-old mother on the same court, right? Um, we're all gonna be at different levels, we're all at different athletic abilities and in that point in time of our lives, right? But guess what? All three of us sit down at a mahjong table and play together. So I get to play with my my children, my husband, my parents, and we all sit down and play the same game. Um, so it's really incredible to see the generations being able to do something all together and utilize their brains.

SPEAKER_00 38:07

I love it. And the best thing I love, you know, um, our podcast is all about people who've had impact. It's about executives who found their joy and the impact. And I've I love talking to you because I I'm going to pull out my new card now and uh get back, get back into it. But I love and I know a lot of our clients who are on not-for-profit boards, and this is just such a great thing, both for the not-for-profit world and for the business, the business world and team building. And I think these are stressful times now, and things that will pull people together in a benign, impactful way, happy way, are really a good thing. Well, I thank you so much for being a guest on Impact and Insight. And uh we are um, I know so many people are looking forward to watching this uh podcast.

SPEAKER_01 39:14

Well, thank you so much, Gene, for having me. This was um wonderful. And as you can tell, I'm very passionate about Mahjong. So um I'm so grateful to share this.

SPEAKER_00 39:23

Well, and we will put all of your information on our website and we'll that uh we do uh email blasts to our multiple clients. They will love reading about this, and the timing is really good because Memorial Day summer is coming up, and so this will this will be great. But thank you again for being on Impact and Insight.

SPEAKER_01 39:46

Thank you today.