ML writes: “I play Vita Mahjong on my phone every day but my friend says it’s based in Chinese religion. Is this true?”I’m happy to say that there is no spiritual basis to the mobile app game of Vita Mahjong, or the Chinese board game known as Mahjong with which it is related.
The mobile app, known as Vita Mahjong, is a free puzzle game designed for seniors that was developed by Vita Studio. The solitaire-like game is played by one person who attempts to match pairs of tiles that contain various Chinese symbols. The app is a relatively new development with some versions debuting as recently as 2024.
Mahjong is a completely different game. Although also tile-based, it is a board game played by four people for entertainment or gambling. There are 144 tiles in the game which are based on Chinese characters and symbols, some of which are used in the Vita Mahjong app. For example, there are three suits of characters in the game - the Circles or Dots which represent Chinese coins, the Characters which represent the numbers of 1-9, and the Bamboos or (Sticks) which also represent money.
In addition, there are Honor tiles which represent the Winds (East, South, West, and North) and the Dragons (Red, Green, White). The Flowers represent the plants of Confucious. Although some of these Honor tiles have meanings such as “wealth” and “prosperity” the drawing/playing of these tiles does not represent any kind of superstitious belief but is simply meant to be matched with another of the same tile.
There are many different versions of Mahjong such as American, Japanese, Hong Kong, South African, European, Taiwanese and Korean.
While the game itself does not appear to be linked to any particular religious beliefs, players may incorporate superstition into the play such as wearing a lucky shirt, or sitting in a particular chair to improve one’s feng shui, etc. But the game itself appears to have no connection to religion.
© All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace® http://www.womenofgrace.com
