The Chinese gambling game Mahjong becomes a mind sport, is put forward as a contender for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and is responsible for a series of epileptic seizures.

“What’s that game?”

It’s the same question each time I walk into the casino with a newbie. It’s the corner for the Chinese. The sound of rattling tiles overpowering the sound of riffling poker chips. It is, of course, Mahjong, and earlier this week, fans of the Chinese tile game got the thumbs up from the International Mind Sports Association (IMSA).

The gambling game is the sixth game to be officially recognised as a mind sport by the IMSA behind Chess, Bridge, Go, Draughts, and Ziangqi. The addition of Mahjong is interesting because it is such a popular gambling game, which one assumes is the primary reason the IMSA doesn’t recognise poker as a mind sport.