Karen Gooen lives in New Jer­sey with her hus­band and two daugh­ters. She has degrees from Brown and Colum­bia uni­ver­si­ties and has served as a bud­get ana­lyst, med­ical writer, and sum­mer camp admin­is­tra­tor, but found her true pas­sion in mah jongg. She has spent years ana­lyz­ing a ten-minute activ­i­ty that is for­ti­fied by pop­corn and M&Ms.