The real Mahjong was invented millennia ago and probably started off as a card game (and is still played with paper cards in some places). It has absolutely no relation to the computer version. Some people might write off your question for being dumb, but the computer version actually has an amazing history people should know about.

The computer version of Mahjong you are referring to is actually Mahjong Solitaire, which was invented by Stanford programmer Brodie Lockhard in 1981. Brodie had just been paralysed from the neck down in a trampoline accident in 1979, and as part of his rehabilitation was encouraged to play simple matching games. One of these involved matching Mahjong tiles to each other, which Brodie was convinced could be well rendered on the new PLATO system, one of the first computer systems to feature games.

This was not easy at all. Computer gaming was very much in its infancy, Freecell Solitaire had just been released in 1979, and dnd, the first RPG had been released in 1975. Each of these featured very basic and primitive graphics, more words than images really. In contrast, the new PLATO system had 512x512 graphics and a touch screen, which Brodie could use to render the intricate calligraphy and images required for Mahjong tiles pixel by pixel. Also because he was paralysed from the neck down, he did this with a stick. In his mouth.

Source: Dear, Brian (2017) - The Friendly Orange Glow