Japanese Riichi Mahjong

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Contents

1.1 Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Seating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Winds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 Dealing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4.1 Breaking the walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4.2 Distributing the tiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4.3 Betting Sticks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4.4 Dealer Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.5 Dora Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.6 Gameplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.7 Arrangement of Tiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.7.1 Discards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.7.2 Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.7.3 Kongs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.8 Post Hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.8.1 Noten Penalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.8.2 Abortive Hands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.8.3 Counters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.8.4 Riichi bets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.9 Post Round . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.10 Post Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.10.1 Uma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.11 Initial Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.12 Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.13 Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.14 Scoring Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.14.1 Yaku Table (han/fan) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.14.2 Minipoints (fu) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.14.3 Payment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.14.4 Limit Hands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.15 Chombo and Foul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.15.1 Erroneous Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.15.2 Empty Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.15.3 Touching a Tile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

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 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 an
odd numbered tile. Shuffle the wind tiles face down and arranged them
sandwiched in between the odd and even tile.
A player rolls two dice and counts off, starting with himself as one, the
next player as two, etc. continuing counterclockwise. The indicated player,
then rolls the dice once more noting both the total and if the total is an
even or odd number. This will determine who draws first and from which
side. 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 face
down wind tile closest to the odd-numbered tile (in this case South). The
next player in turn draws the next wind tile (North), and so on (East and
last West). The wind tile drawn is your seat wind. The player who is east
remains stationary while the other players arranges themselves accordingly.

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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 player’s wind change. The
player who was originally East position is now North, the player starting as
South 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 (deals
again) 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 the
prevalent 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.

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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 player’s 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

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 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

Player’s 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 4
tiles). Continue to the next wall if you reach the end.

After each player has 12 tiles, the last five tiles are distributed to players
in 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:

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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 the

starting dealer, and left there for the remainder of the game. This tells
players where the first of the 8 mahjong hands began.

2. Indicates East or South round (round 1 or round 2–each round consists

of 4 hands). Face up, ( ), it indicates the East round (first round of
Mahjong). Face down, ( ), it indicates the South, or second, round
of Mahjong.

1.5 Dora Indicator

The third tile from the end of the dead wall is turn face up. This tile
indicates which tile is dora.
The object of the game is to complete a hand before anyone else using
14 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 end
of 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.

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 • Kong: Claimed from any player. A replacement tile is drawn after-
wards. Another tile in the dead wall if turned face up to reveal the
kan dora.

• Concealed and Small Melded Kong: Announced only after drawing

a tile (i.e. not after claiming a tile). A replacement tile is drawn
afterwards. Another tile in the dead wall if turned face up to reveal
the 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 had
discarded it.

1.7.3 Kongs
Concealed kongs have two outer tiles face up and two tiles face down. This
is 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 away
from 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 player
to 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 points
to 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-point
counter is placed to the dealer’s right-hand side.

1.8.2 Abortive Hands

An abortive draw may occur under these four conditions:

• Nobody wins after four kans are declared.

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 • 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 first
uninterrupted go around.

• Four player’s declare riichi. Hands are shown if nobody can win on
the last discard.

Under these conditions the noten penalty is not applied. A 100-point

counter is placed to the dealer’s right-hand side.

1.8.3 Counters
A counter is placed on the dealer’s right-hand side after a draw or after East
wins. Each counter increases the payout to the winner by 300 points. In case
of a self-drawn win each opponent plays 100 for reach counter. Counters
are removed when another player declares a win. When there are five or
more counters on the table a minimum of two yaku are need to win. If the
deal passes the previous dealer’s counters are returned and the new dealer
replaces 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 winds
are 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 top
players and punish the losing players. Rank Adjustment 1 + 9000 2 + 3000
3 - 3000 4 - 9000
A minimum of one yaku is needed to call for mahjong. Emphasis is
placed on concealed hands. After winning add up all the minipoints and
yaku then convert the values using the charts below.

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

1.12 Criteria
A minimum of one yaku is needed before going out. When there are five
counters out (due to Dealer’s consecutive wins or draws) a minimum of two
yaku are needed to go out. Dora and red five tiles do not count towards the
yaku 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 for
other players as well.

Win by self-drawn tile All player’s pay the value of the winner’s hand.

1.13 Outline
If you have less than five yaku in your hand you must add up any mini
points 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 more
yaku 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. If
there is more than one winner, the player closest to the discard collects the
riichi bets.

1.14 Scoring Table

1.14.1 Yaku Table (han/fan)

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Value Hand Japanese Description Pattern Type
1 Ready Riichi Waiting hand with declaration and 1000 Special
point buy in. Hand must be concealed.
1 One Shot Iipatsu Winning within the first uninterrupted go Special
around after declaring riichi.
1 Daburu Riichi Declaring riichi within the first uninter- Special
rupted go around.
1 Fully Concealed Hand Menzen tsumo Winning on a self-drawn tile. Hand must be Going Out
concealed.
1 All Simples Tanyao chuu Hand contains only simple tiles. Hand must Suit-Based
be concealed.
1 All Chows Pinfu All chows hand with valueless pairs. The Chow-Based
hand must be completed on a chow with a
two-sided wait. Hand must be concealed.
1 Pure Double Chow Iipeikou Two identical chows. Hand must be con- Chow-Based
cealed.
1 Mixed Triple Chow San shoku doujun Three chows of the same numerical sequence Chow-Based
of different suits. +1 if concealed.
1 Pure Straight Itsu Three chows of the numerical sequences from Chow-Based
1-9 of the same suit. +1 if concealed.
1 Dragon Pung Fanpai/yakuhai A pung/kong of dragons. Terminals/Honors
1 Seat/Prevalent Wind Fanpai/yakuhai A pung/kong of seat or prevalent wind. Terminals/Honors
1 Outside Hand Chanta Hand contains terminals/honors and one ter- Terminals/Honors
minal chow. + 1 if concealed.
1 Out on a Replacement Rinchan Kaihou Winning after drawing a replacement tile. Going Out
1 Robbing the Kong Chan Kan Winning on off a tile used to extend a kong. Going Out
1 Last Tile Draw/Discard Haitei/houtei Winning on the very last tile or the following Going Out
discard.
2 Seven Pairs Chii toitsu Seven unique pairs. Hand must be con- Special
cealed.
2 Triple Pung San shoku dokou Three pungs of different suits. Pung-Based
2 Three Concealed Pungs San ankou Three concealed pungs/kongs. Pung-Based
2 Three Kongs San kan tsu Hand contains three kongs. Kong-Based
2 All Pungs Toi-toi hou Hand contains only pungs/kongs and eyes. Pung-Based
2 Half Flush Honitsu Suit-Based
2 Little Three Dragons Shou sangen Two pungs/kongs and a pair of dragons. Terminals/Honors
2 All Terminals and Honors Honroutou Hand contains only terminals or honors. Terminals/Honors
2 Terminals in All Sets Junchan taiyai Hand contains sets with terminal tiles. Hand Terminals/Honors
must contain one terminal chow. +1 if con-
cealed.
3 Twice Pure Double Chow Ryan peikou Two times two identical chows. Hand must Chow-Based
be concealed.
5 Full Flush Chinitsu Hand contains one suit. +1 if concealed. Suit-Based
5 Nagashi Mangan Only discarding terminal/honor tiles (none Special
claimed). Game ends in a draw.
Yakuman Thirteen Orphans Koku shimusou One of each honor/terminal and a pair of Special
honors/terminals. +1 yakuman if 13-sided
wait.
Yakuman Nine Gates Chuuren pooto 1112345678999 of one suit and a matching Suit-Based
tile of the same suit. + 1 yakuman if 9-sided
wait.
Yakuman Blessing of Heaven Tenho East goes out on the initial draw. Hand must Going Out
be concealed.
Yakuman Blessing of Earth Chinho Player goes out in the draw. Hand must be Going Out
concealed.
Yakuman Blessing of Man Renho Player goes out on a discard in the first go Going Out
around. Hand must be concealed.
Yakuman Four Concealed Pungs Suu ankou Four concealed pungs/kongs and a pair. +1 Pung-Based
Yakuman for unique wait.
Yakuman Four Kongs Suu kan tsu Hand contains four kongs and a pair. Kong-Based
Yakuman All Green Ryuu kan tsu Hand consists only of 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, of bamboo Suit-Based
or Green Dragon tiles.
Yakuman All Terminals Chinrouto Hand consists of only terminal pungs/kongs Terminals/Honors
and a pair.
Yakuman All Honors Tsuu Iisou Hand consists of only honor pungs/kongs Terminals/Honors
and a pair.
Yakuman Big Three Dragons Dai sangen Hand consists of three pungs/kongs of drag- Terminals/Honors
ons.
Yakuman Little Four Winds Shoo suushii Hand consists of three pungs/kong of winds Terminals/Honors
and a pair of winds.
Double Big Four Winds Dai suushii Hand consists of four pungs/kongs of winds. Terminals/Honors
Yakuman

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 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

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1.14.2 Minipoints (fu)
For winning
Concealed hand 30
Seven pairs (no further minipoints) 25
Open hand and/or self-drawn 20

When going out

Minipoints for sets Open Concealed
Pair of dragons 2
Pung of simples 2 4
Pair of seat/prevalent wind 2
Pung of terminals/honors 4 8
Edge, closed, single wait 2
Kong of simples 8 16
Self-draw (not in case of pinfu) 2
Kong of terminals/honors 16 32
Open pinfu 2

1.14.3 Payment

Others on a self-draw (tsumo)

East on self-drawn (tsumo)
Tsumo 1 fan 2 fan 3 fan 4 fan
Tsumo 1 fan 2 fan 3 fan 4 fan
20 400/700 700/1300 1300/4000
20 700 1300 2600
25 800/1600 1600/4000
25 1600 3200
30 300/500 500/1000 1000/2000 2000/4000
30 500 1000 1300 3900
40 400/700 700/1300 1300/2600 2000/4000
40 700 1300 1300 4000
50 400/800 800/1600 1600/3200 2000/4000
50 800 1600 1300 4000
60 500/1000 1000/2000 2000/3900 2000/4000
60 1000 2000 1300 4000
70 600/1200 1200/2300 2000/4000 2000/4000
70 1200 2300 1300 4000
80 700/1300 1300/2600 2000/4000 2000/4000
80 1300 2600 1300 4000
90 800/1500 1500/2900 2000/4000 2000/4000
90 1500 2900 1300 4000
100 800/1600 1600/3200 2000/4000 2000/4000
100 1600 3200 1300 4000
payment: non-deal/dealer

East on a discard (ron) Others on a discard (ron)

Ron 1 fan 2 fan 3 fan 4 fan Ron 1 fan 2 fan 3 fan 4 fan
25 2400 4800 9600 25 1600 3200 6400
30 1500 2900 5800 11600 30 1000 2000 3900 7700
40 2000 3900 7700 12000 40 1300 2600 5200 8000
50 2400 4800 9600 12000 50 1600 3200 6400 8000
60 2900 5800 11600 12000 60 2000 3900 7700 8000
70 3400 6800 12000 12000 70 2300 4500 8000 8000
80 3900 7700 12000 12000 80 2600 5200 8000 8000
90 4400 8700 12000 12000 90 3900 5800 8000 8000
100 4800 9600 12000 12000 100 3200 6400 8000 8000

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1.14.4 Limit Hands
Limit Hands
Hand Han/Fan East Others Dealer
Mangan 5 4000 2000 4000
Haneman 6-7 6000 3000 6000
Baiman 8-10 8000 4000 8000
Sanbaiman 11-12 12000 6000 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 to
others. If East is the offended he pays 4000 to each. Chombo penalty occurs
under these circumstances:

• Invalid declaration of a win

• Declaring riichi on a hand that is not waiting (determined in case of

a draw)

• Declaring a concealed kan after declaring riichi (determined in case of

a drawn or the player wins)

• Exposing five or more tiles from the wall, the player’s hand or oppo-
nent’s hand.

• Claiming a tile after a dead hand.

After a chombo, riichi bets during that hand are returned and there is a
re-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 correct
the 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 points
third 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 or
touched the image surface the player forfeits the the right to win the
current hand. The tile is returned.

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 • Exposing tiles from an opponent’s 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 to
win the current hand.

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

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