Japanese Mahjong

8/6/2019 Japanese Mahjong

1/15

Japanese Riichi Mahjong

1


2/15

Contents

1.1 Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.2 Seating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.3 Winds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.4 Dealing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1.4.1 Breaking the walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.4.2 Distributing the tiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61.4.3 Betting Sticks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61.4.4 Dealer Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

1.5 Dora Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71.6 Gameplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71.7 Arrangement of Tiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

1.7.1 Discards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81.7.2 Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

1.7.3 Kongs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81.8 Post Hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

1.8.1 Noten Penalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81.8.2 Abortive Hands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81.8.3 Counters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91.8.4 Riichi bets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

1.9 Post Round . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91.10 Post Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

1.10.1 Uma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91.11 I nitial Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101.12 Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

1.13 Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101.14 S coring Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

1.14.1 Yaku Table (han/fan) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101.14.2 Minipoints (fu) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131.14.3 Payment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131.14.4 Limit Hands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

1.15 Chombo and Foul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141.15.1 Erroneous Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141.15.2 Empty Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141.15.3 Touching a Tile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2


3/15

1.15.4 Wrong Tile Count . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

1.1 Terminology

Chi (chow) - Three tiles in a sequence, 2,3,4; 7,8,9 etc.

Pon (pung) - Three of a kind, 6,6,6; 8,8,8 etc.

Kan (kong) - Four of a kind, 7,7,7,7 etc.

Dora (bonus tile) - A tile which is worth 1 fan.

Ron - Win on a discarded tile.

Tsumo - Win on a self-drawn tile.

Furiten - Missed win.

Tenpai - A ready hand waiting for a tile to win.

Chombo (foul) - A foolish error incurring a points penalty.

1.2 Seating

Before the tiles are shuffled and the wall is built, each player sits down

arbitrarily at the table. Set aside one of each wind tile, an even, and anodd numbered tile. Shuffle the wind tiles face down and arranged themsandwiched in between the odd and even tile.

A player rolls two dice and counts off, starting with himself as one, thenext player as two, etc. continuing counterclockwise. The indicated player,then rolls the dice once more noting both the total and if the total is aneven or odd number. This will determine who draws first and from whichside. Again, he counts off starting with himself.

Wind tiles face up for illustration purposes.

If the number is odd, for example, the indicated player draws the facedown wind tile closest to the odd-numbered tile (in this case South). Thenext player in turn draws the next wind tile (North), and so on (East andlast West). The wind tile drawn is your seat wind. The player who is eastremains stationary while the other players arranges themselves accordingly.

3


4/15

Shuffle up all of tiles and build the wall.

1.3 Winds

Seat winds are winds assigned to each player

The player sitting at the star is East in the first hand

If the deal passes when the hand is over the players wind change. Theplayer who was originally East position is now North, the player starting asSouth is now East, etc. In other words, the winds rotate counterclockwise.

The player sitting at the star is now South

When the player who was originally East becomes East again (dealsagain) a new round begins.Each round is assigned a wind, known as the prevalent wind or round

wind. After each round the prevalent wind changes. For the first round theprevalent wind is East, for the second South, third West, and fourth North.A marker or indicator is commonly used to keep track of the round.

4


5/15

1.4 Dealing

1.4.1 Breaking the walls

Dealer rolls the dice. Count counterclockwise from dealer.

This determines which wall will be broken.

Count from players right the same number of tiles as dice roll.

This determines where to break the wall.

Count 7 tiles to the right of the break. Create another break here.If you reach the end of a wall, continue on to the next.

These tiles are set aside as the dead tiles

5


6/15

Count three tiles into the dead tiles from the original break in the wall.

Turn the top tile over to determine the dora indicator

Dora indicator is East (South is dora).

1.4.2 Distributing the tiles

Players follow suit, taking four tiles at a time, in the standard order (East-South-West-North). Repeat until all players have 12 tiles (3 stacks of 4tiles). Continue to the next wall if you reach the end.

After each player has 12 tiles, the last five tiles are distributed to playersin the following manner: (2 to the dealer, 1 each to the other 3 players)

1.4.3 Betting Sticks

Each player begins the game with 25,000 points worth of bettings sticks.There are 4 different values for the sticks:

6


7/15

100 points: 8 black dots ( ).

1,000 points: 1 red dot ( ).

5,000 points: 5 red dots ( ).

10,000 points: 7 red dots and 2 black dots ( ).

Players thus start the game with the following sticks each:

1x 10,000 ( )

2x 5,000 ( )

4x 1,000 ( )

8x 100 ()

1.4.4 Dealer Indicator

The dealer indicator indicates two things.

1. Signifies starting dealer. It is placed on the table to the right of thestarting dealer, and left there for the remainder of the game. This tellsplayers where the first of the 8 mahjong hands began.

2. Indicates East or South round (round 1 or round 2each round consistsof 4 hands). Face up, ( ), it indicates the East round (first round ofMahjong). Face down, ( ), it indicates the South, or second, roundof Mahjong.

1.5 Dora Indicator

The third tile from the end of the dead wall is turn face up. This tileindicates which tile is dora.

The object of the game is to complete a hand before anyone else using14 tiles. The hand will consist of four sets and a pair (with the exception of

special hands). The number of points (not the number of wins) at the endof the game determines the winner.

1.6 Gameplay

During the game a player may call to complete any one of the following sets:

Chow: Claimed from the player to your left or for mahjong.

Pung: Claimed from any player.

7


8/15

Kong: Claimed from any player. A replacement tile is drawn after-

wards. Another tile in the dead wall if turned face up to reveal thekan dora.

Concealed and Small Melded Kong: Announced only after drawinga tile (i.e. not after claiming a tile). A replacement tile is drawnafterwards. Another tile in the dead wall if turned face up to revealthe kan dora.

1.7 Arrangement of Tiles

1.7.1 Discards

Discards are placed rows of six in front of the respective players wall.

1.7.2 Sets

Tiles claimed are rotated 90 degrees within the set to show which player haddiscarded it.

1.7.3 Kongs

Concealed kongs have two outer tiles face up and two tiles face down. Thisis the distinguish concealed and exposed kongs when scoring.

1.8 Post Hand

The dealer wins the current hand or earns points for tenpai (one tile awayfrom a complete hand) he/she deals again, retaining the East position, oth-erwise the deal passes. The hand ends in draw the deal passes to the playerto the right. A round is over when all players get a chance to deal.

1.8.1 Noten Penalty

If a draw occurs any player who is tenpai can show their hand. Players who

are noten (not one tile away from winning) have to pay a total of 3000 pointsto players who are tenpai. For example, Player A is in tenpai whereas B,C, and D are not, Player A receives 1000 from each player. A 100-pointcounter is placed to the dealers right-hand side.

1.8.2 Abortive Hands

An abortive draw may occur under these four conditions:

Nobody wins after four kans are declared.

8


9/15

All four of the same wind tile is discarded within the first go around.

A player has nine different terminal and honor tiles within the firstuninterrupted go around.

Four players declare riichi. Hands are shown if nobody can win onthe last discard.

Under these conditions the noten penalty is not applied. A 100-pointcounter is placed to the dealers right-hand side.

1.8.3 Counters

A counter is placed on the dealers right-hand side after a draw or after Eastwins. Each counter increases the payout to the winner by 300 points. In caseof a self-drawn win each opponent plays 100 for reach counter. Countersare removed when another player declares a win. When there are five ormore counters on the table a minimum of two yaku are need to win. If thedeal passes the previous dealers counters are returned and the new dealerreplaces the counters with the appropriate amount.

1.8.4 Riichi bets

Riichi bets are collected by the winner. Should a draw occur the riichi bets

remain on the table.

1.9 Post Round

After the round is over the prevalent wind changes. The order of the windsare East and South.

1.10 Post Game

The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.

1.10.1 Uma

At the end of the game a scoring adjustment is made to reward the topplayers and punish the losing players. Rank Adjustment 1 + 9000 2 + 30003 - 3000 4 - 9000

A minimum of one yaku is needed to call for mahjong. Emphasis isplaced on concealed hands. After winning add up all the minipoints andyaku then convert the values using the charts below.

9


10/15

1.11 Initial Points

As these rules are based on tournament play there are no initial startingpoints. If you are playing casually everyone can start arbitrarily with 25000points.

1.12 Criteria

A minimum of one yaku is needed before going out. When there are fivecounters out (due to Dealers consecutive wins or draws) a minimum of twoyaku are needed to go out. Dora and red five tiles do not count towards theyaku minimum. The dealer usually pays more upon losing but on the same

token receives more when winning.

Win by a discarded tile Discarder pays winner full score plus values forother players as well.

Win by self-drawn tile All players pay the value of the winners hand.

1.13 Outline

If you have less than five yaku in your hand you must add up any minipoints and follow the values based on the charts below. The minipoints (fu)

are then rounded up to the nearest multiple of 10. If you have five or moreyaku in your hand you must use the limit hands chart below.

The winner of the hand will also collect any riichi bets on the table. Ifthere is more than one winner, the player closest to the discard collects theriichi bets.

1.14 Scoring Table

1.14.1 Yaku Table (han/fan)

10


11/15

Value Hand Japanese Description Pattern Type1 Ready Riichi Waiting hand with declaration and 1000

point buy in. Hand must be concealed.Special

1 One Shot Iipatsu Winning within the first uninterrupted goaround after declaring riichi.

Special

1 Daburu Riichi Declaring riichi within the first uninter-rupted go around.

Special

1 Fully Concealed Hand Menzen ts umo Winning on a s elf-drawn tile. Hand must b econcealed.

Going Out

1 All Simples Tanyao chuu Hand contains only simple tiles. Hand mustbe concealed.

Suit-Based

1 All Chows Pinfu All chows hand with valueless pairs. Thehand must be completed on a chow with atwo-sided wait. Hand must be concealed.

Chow-Based

1 Pure Double Chow Iipeikou Two identical chows. Hand must be con-cealed.

Chow-Based

1 Mi xe d Tri pl e C how S an s ho ku do uju n Th ree ch ow s of th e s am e nume ri cal s equ enc eof different suits. +1 if concealed.

Chow-Based

1 Pure Straight Itsu Three chows of the numerical sequences from1-9 of the same suit. +1 if concealed.

Chow-Based

1 Dragon Pung Fanpai/yakuhai A pung/kong of dragons. Terminals/Honors1 Se at /Pr eva lent W ind Fa np ai /ya kuh ai A p ung /ko ng o f s eat o r p re va le nt wi nd . Te rmi nal s/ Hon ors1 Outside Hand Chanta Hand contains terminals/honors and one ter-

minal chow. + 1 if concealed.

Terminals/Honors

1 Ou t o n a Re pla ce me nt Ri ncha n Kai hou Wi nni ng a ft er dr aw ing a r ep la ce me nt t il e. G oin g Ou t1 Robbing the Kong Chan Kan Winning on off a tile used to extend a kong. Going Out1 La st T il e D raw/ Di sc ar d H ai te i/h out ei Wi nni ng o n th e ve ry l as t t il e o r t he fo ll owi ng

discard.Going Out

2 Seven Pairs Chii toitsu Seven unique pairs. Hand must be con-cealed.

Special

2 Triple Pung San shoku dokou Three pungs of different suits. Pung-Based2 Three Concealed Pungs San ankou Three concealed pungs/kongs. Pung-Based2 Three Kongs San kan tsu Hand contains three kongs. Kong-Based2 All Pungs Toi-toi hou Hand contains only pungs/kongs and eyes. Pung-Based2 Half Flush Honitsu Suit-Based2 Little Three Dragons Shou sangen Two pungs/kongs and a pair of dragons . Terminals/Honors2 Al l Te rmi nal s a nd Ho nor s H on rou tou Ha nd c ont ai ns on ly t erm ina ls or h on ors . Te rmi nal s/ Hon ors2 Te rm ina ls i n A ll Se ts Ju ncha n t ai yai Ha nd c ont ai ns s et s wi th t erm ina l t il es . H an d

must contain one terminal chow. +1 if con-cealed.

Terminals/Honors

3 Twi ce Pur e Do ub le Ch ow Rya n p ei kou Two ti mes two i de nt ic al chows . Ha nd mu stbe concealed.

Chow-Based

5 Full Flush Chinitsu Hand contains one suit. +1 if concealed. Suit-Based5 Nagashi Mangan Only discarding terminal/honor tiles (none

claimed). Game ends in a draw.

Special

Yak uma n Th ir te en O rph an s Koku s himu so u On e of e ach h ono r/t er mi nal a nd a p ai r of honors/terminals. +1 yakuman if 13-sidedwait.

Special

Yakuman Nine Gates Chuuren p ooto 1112345678999 of one suit and a matchingtile of the same suit. + 1 yakuman if 9-sidedwait.

Suit-Based

Yakuman Blessing of Heaven Tenho East go es out on the initial draw. Hand mustbe concealed.

Going Out

Yakuman Blessing of Earth Chinho Player goes out in the draw. Hand must beconcealed.

Going Out

Yakuman Blessing of Man Renho Player goes out on a discard in the first goaround. Hand must be concealed.

Going Out

Yakuman Four Concealed Pungs Suu ankou Four concealed pungs/kongs and a pair. +1Yakuman for unique wait.

Pung-Based

Yakuman Four Kongs Suu kan tsu Hand contains four kongs and a pair. Kong-BasedYakuman All Green Ryuu kan tsu Hand consists only of 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, of bamboo

or Green Dragon tiles.Suit-Based

Yakuman All Terminals Chinrouto Hand consists of only terminal pungs/kongsand a pair.

Terminals/Honors

Yakuman All Honors Tsuu Iisou Hand consists of only honor pungs/kongsand a pair. Terminals/Honors

Yak uma n Bi g Th ree Dr ag on s Da i s ang en Ha nd c on si st s of t hr ee pu ng s/ kon gs o f d ra g-ons.

Terminals/Honors

Yak uma n Li tt le Fo ur Wi nd s S ho o s uus hi i Ha nd co ns is ts o f t hr ee p ung s/ ko ng of wi nd sand a pair of winds.

Terminals/Honors

DoubleYakuman

Bi g Fo ur Wi nds Da i s uus hi i Ha nd co ns is ts o f f our p un gs /ko ngs of wi nd s. Te rmi nal s/ Hon ors

11


12/15

Yaku Examples

All Simples

All chows

Pure Double Chows

Mixed Triple Chows

Pure Straight

7 Pairs

All Pungs

Half Flush

Little Three Dragons

All Terminals and Honors

Twice Pure Double Chow

Full flush

Thirteen Orphans

Nine Gates

All Green

12


13/15

1.14.2 Minipoints (fu)

For winning

Concealed hand 30

Seven pairs (no further minipoints) 25

Open hand and/or self-drawn 20

Minipoints for sets Open Concealed

Pung of simples 2 4

Pung of terminals/honors 4 8

Kong of simples 8 16

Kong of terminals/honors 16 32

When going out

Pair of dragons 2

Pair of seat/prevalent wind 2

Edge, closed, single wait 2

Self-draw (not in case of pinfu) 2

Open pinfu 2

1.14.3 Payment

East on self-drawn (tsumo)Tsumo 1 fan 2 fan 3 fan 4 fan20 700 1300 260025 1600 320030 500 1000 1300 3900

40 700 1300 1300 400050 800 1600 1300 400060 1000 2000 1300 400070 1200 2300 1300 400080 1300 2600 1300 400090 1500 2900 1300 4000100 1600 3200 1300 4000

Others on a self-draw (tsumo)Tsumo 1 fan 2 fan 3 fan 4 fan20 400/700 700/1300 1300/400025 800/1600 1600/400030 300/500 500/1000 1000/2000 2000/400040 400/700 700/1300 1300/2600 2000/4000

50 400/800 800/1600 1600/3200 2000/400060 500/1000 1000/2000 2000/3900 2000/400070 600/1200 1200/2300 2000/4000 2000/400080 700/1300 1300/2600 2000/4000 2000/400090 800/1500 1500/2900 2000/4000 2000/4000100 800/1600 1600/3200 2000/4000 2000/4000

payment: non-deal/dealer

East on a discard (ron)

Ron 1 fan 2 fan 3 fan 4 fan

25 2400 4800 960030 1500 2900 5800 11600

40 2000 3900 7700 12000

50 2400 4800 9600 12000

60 2900 5800 11600 12000

70 3400 6800 12000 12000

80 3900 7700 12000 12000

90 4400 8700 12000 12000

100 4800 9600 12000 12000

Others on a discard (ron)

Ron 1 fan 2 fan 3 fan 4 fan

25 1600 3200 640030 1000 2000 3900 7700

40 1300 2600 5200 8000

50 1600 3200 6400 8000

60 2000 3900 7700 8000

70 2300 4500 8000 8000

80 2600 5200 8000 8000

90 3900 5800 8000 8000

100 3200 6400 8000 8000

13


14/15

1.14.4 Limit Hands

Limit HandsHand Han/Fan East Others Dealer

Mangan 5 4000 2000 4000

Haneman 6-7 6000 3000 6000

Baiman 8-10 8000 4000 8000

Sanbaiman 1 1-12 12000 6 000 12000

Yakuman 13+ 16000 8000 16000

1.15 Chombo and Foul

A chombo is a severe penalty. The offender pays 4000 to East and 2000 toothers. If East is the offended he pays 4000 to each. Chombo penalty occursunder these circumstances:

Invalid declaration of a win

Declaring riichi on a hand that is not waiting (determined in case ofa draw)

Declaring a concealed kan after declaring riichi (determined in case ofa drawn or the player wins)

Exposing five or more tiles from the wall, the players hand or oppo-nents hand.

Claiming a tile after a dead hand.

After a chombo, riichi bets during that hand are returned and there is are-deal. No counter is placed and the deal does not rotate.

1.15.1 Erroneous Call

If a player makes an error in making a chi, pon, or kan, and fails to correctthe error, he forfeits the right to win the current hand.

1.15.2 Empty Call

Calling a tile. A player will be penalized 10000 points second or 20000 pointsthird time during a session.

1.15.3 Touching a Tile

If a tile is touched from the wrong side of the wall and was revealed ortouched the image surface the player forfeits the the right to win thecurrent hand. The tile is returned.

14


15/15

Exposing tiles from an opponents hand or from the dead wall results

in a dead hand.

1.15.4 Wrong Tile Count

A player with more than 13 or fewer than 13 tiles forfeits the right towin the current hand.

A player who does not take a replacement tile after a kan before dis-carding has a dead hand.

15

Documents

Japanese Mahjong