A mahjong card series
Dottie, Bea, Kiki and Birdie have played American mahjong at the same table for twenty years. Each card in this series is one of their adventures: a new scene on the cover, a new set of hands inside, and a new story on the back.
Why sparrows? The game's name comes from máquè, the Chinese word for sparrow. Players say the clatter of tiles sounds like a flock chattering. Our four friends took the name for their club.
The cast
Each friend wears the color of the tile suit she stands for, so the cast teaches the card. A hand printed in Dottie's blue is a hand in Dots.
Dottie started the Thursday game, and twenty years later she still sets the table. She keeps the score pad, the snacks and the peace, in that order. She swears she isn't competitive, then throws a fist in the air when she wins. Her tote has tiny sparrows printed all over it. Nobody remembers who gave it to her.
"Same time next Thursday?"
Bea grows bamboo, tomatoes and an unreasonable number of herbs. She is calm in a way that unsettles the others, and she quietly wins more often than anyone keeps track of. She never takes off her straw hat, not even indoors. At Christmas she tucks a sprig of holly in the band. When chaos breaks out, she pours another round.
"I've seen this before."
Kiki is the loudest person at any table and the life of every party. She orders the mimosas, then a second round "for luck." Her gasps can be heard across the patio. She is famously terrible at concealed hands because her face gives everything away. She has not won an episode yet, and she would like everyone to know she is due.
"One more round. For luck."
Birdie is the oldest of the four and the most unflappable. She is always just back from somewhere: Lisbon, Kyoto, her sister's place in Tucson. She arrives last, waving a postcard, and brings gifts wrapped in paper from far away. The little sparrow brooch on her lapel was her mother's. She won on Christmas Eve, and she has not let anyone forget it.
"Did I tell you about the time in Lisbon?"
Dottie's cat, named for the white dragon tile, which players call the Soap. Soap is unbothered by mahjong, the friends and most of the world. He naps in bread baskets, picnic baskets and occasionally the tile box. When anything goes missing, he is the first suspect. He is never the culprit.
A magpie in a jester's collar who adopted the group one spring and never left. Magpies love anything shiny, and Jojo loves mahjong tiles most of all. He has stolen tiles, a cake topper and, one Christmas, the star off the tree. He hides somewhere on every cover. Finding him is half the fun.
And look closely at every cover for the other sparrows: a few real ones, pecking at crumbs or peering through a window. They see everything, and they never tell.
How the series works
Each card is a working American mahjong card, the large-print tri-fold size, played with standard rules. It also tells one chapter of the Sparrows' story.
The section names change with every episode. The owner stays the same.
| Friend | Hands | Brunch Club | Christmas |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dottie | 2468 | Dottie's Reservation | Dottie's Cookie Swap |
| Bea | 13579 | Bea's Garden Plate | Bea's Evergreens |
| Kiki | 369 | Kiki's Rosé | Kiki's Eggnog |
| Birdie | Winds | Birdie's Postcards | Birdie's Sleigh Ride |
| Jojo | Quints | Jojo's Heist | Jojo's Mischief |
| Soap | Singles & pairs | Soap's Nap | Soap's Snow Day |
Each episode, a different friend wins. Dottie took No. 1 and Birdie took No. 2. Kiki and Bea are due.
The magpie is hidden on every cover, always holding something that isn't his.
Whatever goes missing, everyone looks at the cat first. It is never the cat.
Every story has a moment of chaos, and every time, Bea has seen this before.
The shelf
Every episode comes two ways, both sold through the MahjHero shop on Etsy: a printed, laminated card mailed to you, or a printable PDF you can take to a print shop like FedEx Office or The UPS Store.
A Sparrows Story · No. 1
Every Thursday at ten, the Sparrows claim the corner table under the yellow awning. This Thursday, Dottie was one tile from Mahjong. Nobody noticed Jojo up on the awning with a stolen tile in his beak.
A Sparrows Story · No. 2
Halfway through the night, Birdie laid her tiles down and laughed. Then someone looked up. The star was gone. In its place sat a Red Dragon tile, and on top of that sat Jojo.
In the sketchbook · No. 3
Kiki is getting married, and the Sparrows throw her a rooftop bachelorette under string lights. Finally, it's Kiki's turn to win. Jojo has his eye on the cake topper.
In the sketchbook · No. 4
Spring in Bea's garden, among the flower beds and potted bamboo. Bea wins, the others act shocked, and Kiki's hat is far too big. Soap chases a butterfly.