Riichi Mahjong Basic Rules
Riichi Mahjong is a popular variation of the traditional Chinese game of mahjong. The game is played with four players and involves collecting and arranging tiles to form winning combinations.
Tiles and Equipment:
The game is played with 136 tiles, consisting of four sets of man(characters), pin (dots), sou(bamboo), and jihai(honors). Each player is also given a rack to hold their tiles and a dora indicator, which is used to determine the value of certain tiles.
Suited tiles are divided into three suits and each are numbered from 1 to 9. The suits are bamboos, dots, and characters. There are four identical copies of each suited tile totaling 108 tiles.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Man (Characters) | |||||||||
Pin (Dots) | |||||||||
Sou (Bamboos) |
There are two different sets of jihai(honors) tiles: winds and dragons. The winds are east, south, west, and north, beginning with east. The dragons are red, green, and white. Like the suited tiles, there are four identical copies of each honors tile, for a total of 28 honors tiles.
| Kazehai | Sangenpai | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
East | South | West | North | Red | Green | White |
Dealing:
The tiles are shuffled and then dealt to each player, who will have 13 tiles in their hand at the start of the game. The dealer is determined by a dice roll and rotates clockwise after each game.
Drawing and Discarding:
The goal of the game is to form a winning hand of four sets and a pair, which must include at least one set of pons (three tiles of the same type) and one set of chi (three consecutive tiles of the same suit). Players take turns drawing tiles from the wall and discarding tiles they do not need.
Calling:
When a player has a tile they need to complete a winning hand, they can call it by placing it in front of them and declaring their intention to win. This is known as a "ron." If multiple players have the opportunity to win on the same tile, the player closest to the right of the discarding player wins.
RiiChi:
If a player believes they have a strong hand, they can declare "riichi," which involves placing a point stick on the table and discarding one tile face-down. This is a declaration of readiness and a player who has declared riichi cannot change their hand until they win or the game ends.
Dora:
The dora indicator is used to determine the value of certain tiles, and is revealed periodically during the game. The dora tiles are worth additional points and can significantly affect the outcome of the game.
Scoring:
Points are awarded based on the combination of tiles in a player's winning hand and any bonuses they may have earned, such as rinshan (winning on a kan) or tsumo (winning on a self-drawn tile). Points are deducted from the losers and added to the winner's score.
Game End:
The game ends when one player reaches a certain score. The player with the highest score at the end of the game is declared the winner.
For more in-detail game rules, players are able to learn from in-game tutorials and yaku list.
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