Mahjong madness has hit Fort Worth with the opening of the Bamboo Room, a mahjong lounge now open in The Village at Camp Bowie shopping center, in a former mortgage office at 6115 Camp Bowie Blvd. #144. The lounge, which opened on August 31, is a game parlor hosting mahjong sessions and classes, as well as a retail shop selling mahjong gear.
Mahjong is a centuries-old tile game that started in China, but has been enjoying a massive surge in popularity in the U.S. Fans love that it encourages in-person socializing and is a hobby that is not online. There's a huge collector market for the colorful tiles that are used in the game, and it counts celebrities like Meghan Markle and Sarah Jessica Parker among its fans.
Mahjong began to surface in DFW in recent years with mahjong nights hosted by restaurants, hotels, boutiques, and bookstores, as well as a few dedicated mahjong clubs opening such as the Charleston Club in Dallas and the Mahj Clubhouse in Fort Worth.
The Bamboo Room is a mother-daughter venture from Kristen Trapnell and her mother Carolyn Penny, who've created a space in which every detail is designed with players in mind: inviting tables, elevated sets, and a nurturing atmosphere that accommodates beginners, seasoned players, and everyone in between.
"To us, mahjong is more than a game — it is conversation, connection, tradition, and joy," Trapnell says.
Penny was the first to get into the game.
"My mom has played mahjong for 20 years with her girlfriends," Trapnell says. "They began when a friend needed a distraction, and they would play with the same group. I never had interest — I'm a radiologist, and had two daughters, now in college. But my mom decided she would teach us. We had a party where I invited my friends whose mothers are my mom's friends, and all our daughters. So it was three generations who got together, and we all very quickly got obsessed. I started buying sets and going crazy, and finally asked my mom, 'Would you like to open a lounge?' She said yes."
From there, it was finding a location and creating a welcoming space.
Bamboo Room game room.Photo courtesy of Bamboo Room
They're in a 2,000-square-foot storefront with two large rooms, including a game room and a retail space up front, with a bar serving beer, wine, and a few wine-based cocktails, plus packaged snacks like popcorn, cheese straws, and cookies.
The playing room is designed with a gentle nod to the game's Asian roots with a pale green and pink color scheme, bamboo chairs, mirrors with geometric frames, and evocative flowered wallpaper. An adjoining "high-roller room" is where they'll host classes and private events.
"Our spiel is that we wanted to be a beautiful space for community where people can come and play or learn to play," Trapnell says. "To provide a pretty place to sit and play mahjong and feel a sense of community — and that's for anyone, whether you're in a group or you can come alone. You book a seat and show up and play with whoever is at your table."
One priority was to be open and offer mahjong all the time, versus the limited hours observed by some other venues. They're open 9 am-9 pm Monday-Thursday, 9 am-4 pm Friday-Saturday, and are considering opening on Sunday afternoons.
"Our goal is to have open play sessions going all the time, plus classes running throughout the month," she says.
They also have an electric mahjong table, a show-stopper that does all the heavy lifting of shuffling the tiles and building them into the elaborate wall that's a cornerstone of the game.
"Mahjong is appealing for people looking for an escape from their phones and computers," Trapnell says. "It's wise to take a lesson, but it's pretty easy to learn, and then it only takes a time or two to get the hang of it. But as my mother says, it also takes a lifetime to master."
