Game on in Lakewood Ranch

Almost every Friday at noon, Edgewater’s Helene Levin sits with friends at Grove in Lakewood Ranch.

After they enjoy lunch, the atmosphere at the table changes from friendly to competitive. They begin playing mahjong.

Levin is part of a group of 15 people who meet at Grove every week to eat lunch and play mahjong.  

After not meeting in April and May during the pandemic, the players resumed in-person games in June at Grove. They meet at a restaurant as a way to support local businesses that might have been impacted by the pandemic.

“We don’t want to see anything happen to Main Street [at Lakewood Ranch],” Levin said.

But although they want to support local businesses, members of the group say the weekly get-together has been important to them as well.

“This is my support group,” said Sallie Feldman, a Country Club at Lakewood Ranch resident.

The games have become an opportunity to catch up on news in the community, make new friends and help one another during tough times.

Levin and Feldman sat at a high top table July 24 in Grove’s patio with Tidewater’s Bobbi Blackman and Riverwalk’s Suzanne Weitz. The ladies each wore a mask or a face shield and gloves as precautions while playing.

Every so often, a player would let out a sigh of frustration or a cheer to celebrate winning.

When the pandemic hit in March, the group moved their games online through Zoom, but it wasn’t the same.

The pandemic interrupted a weekly game that had been going on for the past decade.

Blackman, who was living in the Country Club at Lakewood Ranch at the time, started the group 10 years ago with four other Lakewood Ranch residents. They played in a locker room at the Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club.

“They didn’t have a room for us, so we played [in the locker room],” Blackman said. “Then the card room opened up, and we moved in there and invited more people.”

Throughout the years of playing with one another, some people have come and gone, which provides opportunities to meet new people and make new friends.

“It started as a game, but even though we don’t always socialize together outside of the game, we became friends,” Feldman said. “It became more than a game. It’s camaraderie.”