I can never tire of a classic. I often find myself returning to Backgammon, Chess and Checkers once every so often for a more 'sensible' challenge, as I like to call it. Slightly different to my usual intake of board games containing cute and fluffy animals in a macabre universe!

Hasbro has an updated cultural classic in their grasp. As Mah Jong gets a modernized retake with Not Your Ma's Jong, ready to hit retail before the Christmas season.

Not Your Ma's Jong // Hasbro

Originally being released in Canada only as part of an incredibly popular Kickstarter from an independent publisher and couple Jennifer Guo and Adam Szakacs. When Hasbro got upwind of Not Your Ma's Jong's increasing success - they wanted to stop this little gem from being hidden away in Canada, and open the opportunity to any player worldwide.

The couple spoke of their story of how they found the idea of building on such an iconic tabletop classic. Combining both their cultures of both Chinese and Jewish descent - putting both their grandparents in a room together proved problematic as neither of them could speak the same language. However, a bonding session over Mah Jong allowed their relationship to grow in strides, thus forming the genius idea of reimagining the ancient past time with a card drafting mechanic.

Board Setup // Not Your Mah's Jong

Speeding up the game and simplifying winning conditions - and considering the rules of Mah Jong: Players will find a combination of the classic game with added mechanics to modernize. Players must achieve 3 sets of cards and a pair to win a round to receive tokens, and whatever has the most tokens at the end of the game is the winner.

The game is readily available in Canada along with several stores in the US - however, you can bet the closer we get to Christmastime, the more we will see the ingenious little game in more FLGS stores worldwide.

What is your favourite classic tabletop game?