A game of Mahjong was held amid soaring views Wednesday on the summit of the Sydney Harbour Bridge as Australia prepares to host its first ever International Mahjong competition.

It was certainly a sight to remember as East meets West on top of one of Australia's most recognizable icons.

The intrepid players, Pauline Heng, Tony Liu, Ling Khor and Jak Heng, scaled to the summit of the bridge, 134 meters above sea level, and tested each other's metal in this sport that combines skill, strategy and luck.

Mahjong has been moving out of China in recent years to become a globally recognized game. After three competitions held in Macao, the World Series of Mahjong Tournament is moving to Australia next month. This year, players will be competing for a prize pool of 1 million Australian dollars ($988,040).

Pauline Heng, the CEO of Mahjong Australia, said "Sydney is a fantastic place to have this tournament. Mahjong has become a popular cross cultural sport with a large number of local Chinese and Australians playing on a daily and weekly basis."

World Series of Mahjong 2013 aims to attract 500 players from Australia and overseas. International players will mostly come from the greater China region but it is expected that up to 15 countries will be represented.

Hailing from very different backgrounds, but all sharing a passion for Mahjong, the Chinese tradition is finding its feet in Australia.

The game atop the iconic bridge features Ling, a paralegal; Tony, the proprietor of Jade Express Travel and a winner of various Mahjong tournaments; Pauline, a business migration agent and organizer of Mahjong tournaments; and Jak who is a postgraduate student.

"The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a powerful symbol of Australia. Similarly, Mahjong is an iconic game that originated in China, so it was a rewarding as well as unusual sight to have the two brought together in such exceptional circumstances," Heng said.