Japanese mahjong: Difference between revisions

'''Japanese mahjong''' {{kana|麻雀、 麻将、 or マージャン}} is the Japanese varation to the 4-player table card game of mahjong, whose objective can be best described as a combination of gin rummy and poker. Even though tiles are primarily used to play the game, the game is available online and can be played with regular mahjong playing cards. It's a four player game that combines the elements of calculation and strategy that is found in many strategy board games with the elements of risk assessment, observation skills, and luck.

 

The Japanese variation is primarily played in Japan. Yet, it is available to everyone via a few Internet sites and video games.  With the past 10 years or so, the game is spreading its way into Western cultures.  While a few Westerners were exposed to the game prior to the creation of mahjong anime and manga, Western interest had significantly sparked a new wave of Western riichi players.  The formation of play groups across North America and Europe is indicative of that trend.

Besides the tile groups, players also need to meet another condition called [[yaku]]. The yaku can be synonymous to "poker hands", where yaku are a set of patterns or conditions. Just like a poker hand, for example the "full house", each yaku is associated with a name. In addition, yaku directly affect the value of a player's hand, as each yaku has an associated value. The yaku add richness and depth to the game but at the same time requires some additional starting knowledge. When mahjong is not played on/via a computer, scoring by hand also requires additional starting knowledge.  The game is otherwise known as '''riichi mahjong''', due to a feature in the game rules allowing [[riichi]].

Finally, the game is a zero-sum game. All players begin with a certain number of points, usually 25,000. Player hands are used to take points from other players.  So, it is the objective of each player [[Tile efficiency|to develop their hands]] to accumulate more points than any of the opponents.  Individual hands are scored with appropriate yaku and [[dora]].  Each [[Agari|winning hand]] value is determined with the number of [[han]] and [[fu]], that corresponds to a specific number of [[Scoring|points]].  On the flip side, it is also the objective of each player to [[Defense|minimize point losses]] against opponents.