The game has seen a resurgence of interest in recent years.

More than 40 variations are played around the world today, although the core tiles and the way the tiles are shuffled and stacked to begin the game remain the same. Alex Wong/Getty Images A ...

Historians believe mahjong, a game where players seek to create specific sequences of tiles, started in China and spread to other countries including the U.S. around the turn of the twentieth century.