Bev Hayes of the Village of Duval never played Mahjong before coming to The Villages in 2006.
While raising six kids with her husband, Tom, she never had the time.
But she recently marked her seventh anniversary hosting the popular game from noon to 3:30 p.m. Wednesdays at Colony Cottage Recreation Center.
The game, which started in China, is played with 144 tiles that feature Chinese characters and symbols. Players receive 13 tiles apiece and they draw and discard tiles until they have a legal hand, which includes four groups called melds and a pair called a head.
Originally from New Jersey, Hayes moved to The Villages from Hobe Sound along the Atlantic Coast.
A golf cart accident shortly after she arrived evolved into her passion for Mahjong.
“I was always a physical person,” she said. “I never sat down and played games.”
The accident left her with facial injuries and she was forced to give up water aerobics and other physical activities for a while. She decided Mahjong would give her something to do.
She found a Mahjong group, but the existing players already had their partners and she didn’t find the group very welcoming to new players.
So Hayes decided to start her own group at Colony Cottage, which had opened a month earlier.
“Coming here to Colony was like therapy for me,” she said. “When I was here, I was well. Once you play Mahjong, you become addicted to it.”
Unlike that first Mahjong group, Hayes said she makes sure her group always welcomes new players.
“All of the women who come to The Villages, we don’t have our friends and families with us and we want to be welcomed,” she said. “Here, every level of play is accepted.”
The group is predominantly women, although Hayes said men show up once in a while.
Congeniality is the main thing Marilyn Astor said she likes about the Mahjong group. She is among the original players who have been coming since the first session.
“It’s a pleasant afternoon,” said Rosalie Plotkin, another original player.
It’s just a great group to get together with,” said Louise Turner, a newer player who’s been coming to the group for three months.
