Lisa Noble, age 14, of Harrisburg, Penn., for her question:

HOW OLD IS THE GAME OF MAHJONGG?

Mahjongg is a game that has been played in China since about 500 B.C. Today it is still being played in many parts of the world.

Mahjongg is similiar to many card games. But instead of cards, small rectangular tiles with Chinese drawings and symbols are used. the "deck" is made up of 136 standard tiles and several additional tiles.

In the Orient, players use eight additional tiles. In the United States the number of additional tiles varies from year to year, according to the National Mah Jongg League in New York City.

The object of the game is to form winning combinations of tiles by drawing from a pile of tiles, exchanging tiles with other players and by discarding tiles. Players use a rule book that lists point values for various winning combinations.

Usually each player starts with chips equaling 5,000 points. Losers give chips to the winner equal to the value of the winnning hand. Play continues for a set number of rounds or until one player wins a certain number of points.