“You play for yourself, so you don’t have anyone to abuse you if you do the wrong thing,” she said.

“You play as an individual so if you lose it’s your own fault.”

To this she adds “it’s a good social afternoon”.

Mah-jong has similar rules to cards but uses a set with 144 tiles.

“It’s not hard but it requires a bit of concentration,” Mrs Leek said.

“You’ve got the have a good memory and remember what tiles are in the centre.”

The origins of the game are unclear but it is believed to have originated in China centuries ago.

Mrs Leek’s involvement in it began in Hobart in 1978.  

“I was there with my family and we were out one night and keen to go to the movies,” she recalled.

“There was no movies we were interested in seeing and so we went to the casino.

“There was a group of Malaysians playing and we watched them for a while. Some of them had piles of chips two-feet high. The ones that had gone broke were just sitting on milk crates.”

She has since been overseas and seen the intensity with which the game can be played.

“We watched people play in Hong Kong,” she said.

“If you want to see animated people then watch the Chinese play mah-jong.”

Mrs Leek helped form the Eurobodalla mah-jong playing group in 2006.

“We play twice a week, on a Thursday and Saturday, and not for money, for fun,” she said.

“It’s not expensive or hard to learn.

“I have taught my grandchildren how to play and they learnt very quickly.”   

The Bay Post/Moruya Examiner profiles the hobbies of people in our community each week in the feature, ‘Get on your hobbyhorse’. Do you have an interesting hobby? Email journalist Josh Gidney at josh.gidney@fairfaxmedia.com.au or phone him at 4472 6577.