Over 200 top Mahjong players from around the world are gathered in the Dutch city of Utrecht this weekend for the 2nd World Mahjong Championship. This once controversial ancient Chinese board game has become increasingly popular throughout the world since the standardisation of rules in 2003.

Mahjong is a board game, usually played by four people. It requires calculation, memory and strategy – not to mention luck! The Communist Party attempted to ban the game after taking power in 1949, as it was associated with gambling and deemed an unacceptable remnant of feudalism and capitalism. But the Chinese continued to play and, while gambling is still banned, the game of Mahjong itself is now a mainstay of Chinese popular culture. Mahjong is not so well known here in the Netherlands, where fans are fighting for greater media recognition and a bigger pool of players.

Missing Chinese players
Even though Mahjong is much more popular in Asia than in the Netherlands, there are significantly more players at this year's championship than the first one, which was held in Chengdu in China. Eight Chinese players are missing out on this year’s event because they were unable to obtain visas in time. Jeroen Meijer, one of the organisers of this year's tournament, says staging the event was no easy task.

"Finding sponsors is difficult. So is figuring out each country's ranking system, which is the basis for deciding who is allowed to participate. But eventually it all came together."

Local rules
The Netherlands is the leading Mahjong nation in Europe. The 35-strong Dutch delegation is the largest competing at the three-day championships. According to Wil Meijer, who started playing Mahjong as a teenager, the game arrived in Europe in the 1920s as a result of the colonial relationship between the Netherlands and Indonesia:

"Many Dutch people living in Indonesia brought the game back to the Netherlands. At that time, most players were women. In the 40s, a commercial rivalry between two distributors almost brought an end to the game in Holland. Fortunately, there has been a revival in recent years."

There are currently 400 registered Mahjong players in Netherlands, but the number of people who play the game is much larger.

The Chinese characters and graphics engraved on Mahjong tiles are a challenge for non-Chinese speaking players. However, Dutch beginners play with a slightly modified set, which uses tiles marked with Western numbers. The official Chinese rules, established in 2003, are used in international competition but there are also local rules used in the Netherlands.

Game face on
Marianne Croeze from Rotterdam, who has been playing for 12 years, is competing in this year's championship. She admits to being something of an addict. "I often go on European tournaments. There’s one almost every week," she says.

"It’s a mental challenge. I like the fact that you can explore four or five different possibilities and strategies based on the tiles you are dealt. People can sit and play at the same table, even if they don't speak the same language. But of course you need to put your game face on."

"Compared to Asian players, who are accustomed to numerical thinking, we (Dutch players) are more alphabetically minded. But we are catching up,” Marianne told RNW. “The best Dutch player could probably make the top 10 in China."

Wil Meijer believes Dutch players need to speed up their play and get better at identifying opportunities and strategies. "But maybe because we don't see all that many opportunities in our hand, we often play simply, which might eventually sabotage Asian players' calculations."

The 2010 World Mahjong Championships are taking place on 27, 28 and 29 of August. The winners will be announced on Sunday.