There is a particular kind of stuck that no course fixes. You know the mechanics. You can read the card. And then you sit down with three friends on a Tuesday afternoon and something comes up that nobody at the table can answer, so you all guess, and you move on, and the same thing happens the next week.

Guided Play is for that. I come to your home, sit at your table, and play alongside you. When the question arrives, it gets answered in the moment, with the actual tiles in front of us. That is worth ten times what the same answer is worth a week later in a classroom.

You will ask things you would never raise in a lesson. Whether that exposure was a mistake. Why she passed you a joker. Whether you should have gone for it. Small questions, the kind that feel too minor to bring up, are exactly the ones that decide games.

Thirty dollars an hour per person, with a minimum of four players for the full experience. Four is not an arbitrary number. Mah jongg is a four-handed game, and reading a table requires a table.

Before you book: every player should have completed a MAHJ 101 course with an instructor. This is not a first-tiles session. If you have bought the Advanced Beginner Playbook, reviewed it, and put it to work at a real game, you will get considerably more out of our hours together.

What I bring: tiles, table mat, racks, dice, and forty years of opinions.

What you provide: the room, a table and chairs for everyone playing, and a current National Mah Jongg League card for each participant. Coasters, please, for anything anyone is drinking. Tiles and water do not forgive.

Why four players? We are only three.

Mah jongg is a four-handed game, and half of what I teach in Guided Play is how to read the other three racks. With three, we can still work, and you will still learn plenty, but the full experience needs a full table. Bring a neighbor.

Does the thirty dollars cover the whole group?

No, dear. Thirty dollars an hour, per person. A four-player table for two hours comes to two hundred and forty dollars total.

We are total beginners. Can we book this?

Not yet, and I say that kindly. Guided Play assumes you already know how to play. Everyone at the table should have completed a MAHJ 101 course with an instructor first. Start there and come back to me. If you have also worked through the Advanced Beginner Playbook, you will get considerably more from our hours together.

What do I need to have ready?

A room, a table, and chairs for everyone playing. Each participant needs their own current National Mah Jongg League card. Coasters for drinks, please, on the table or nearby. Wet tiles are a sorrow.

What do you bring?

Tiles, table mat, racks, dice, and forty years of opinions. You do not need to own a set.

Is there a package discount?

Not for Guided Play. Package pricing applies to lesson series, where the discount reflects a commitment across several weeks. Guided Play is booked by the session.

How far will you travel?

Rochester and the surrounding area is straightforward. Farther out, write and ask. If the drive does not work, we can meet over Google Meet instead, though the in-home version is the better one.

Can I get a refund?

Write to me. If something has gone wrong, I would rather hear about it than have you quietly stop coming. We work these out one at a time.

Do I pay when I fill out the form?

No. Nothing is charged when you press send. You will hear back with dates, we settle the plan, and payment happens then.