Hochi rules

Hochi rules 「報知ルール」 is a 1953 ruleset created by Amano Daizo, first published in the Hochi Shinbun newspaper. It is the oldest written ruleset for riichi mahjong.

Equipment and setup

All tenbou have tenth of their usual value.

All players start with 5000 points:

• Three 1000 point sticks
• Two 500 point sticks
• Nine 100 point sticks
• Ten 10 point sticks

Play

The game is played as tonpuusen. Two dice rolls are used during the deal.

Calling and riichi

Kuikae is allowed.

A riichi bet is 300 points. You cannot call closed kan during riichi.

Winning and furiten

There is no 1 han minimum; you can win without a yaku.

Furiten only affects discarded/skipped tiles; other waits can be ronned.

In the case of double or triple ron:

• One person is paid in full according to atamahane; others are paid half.
• Winners get their riichi bets back; other riichi sticks are divided equally.

Ryuukyoku

There are no noten payments. An exhaustive draw always results in renchan. There is no honba.

In the case of exhaustive draw, a player's riichi sticks are divided equally among the other players.

There are no abortive draws.

Sekinin barai

Sekinin barai applies to the following hands:

• Daisangen
• Daisuushii
• Suukantsu
• Tsuuiisou with 4 calls and tsumo
• Chinroutou with 4 calls and tsumo

Scoring

Fu

Fu function normally, except open pinfu is 20 fu.

Han

There is no dora.

Scoring tables

Non-dealer scoring table

Han/Fu	20	25	30	40	50	60	70	80	90
0	80 (20/40)	-- --	120 (30/60)	160 (40/80)	200 (50/100)	240 (60/120)	280 (70/140)	320 (80/160)	360 (90/180)
1	160 (40/80)	-- --	240 (60/120)	320 (80/160)	400 (100/200)	480 (120/240)	560 (140/280)	640 (160/320)	720 (180/360)
2	320 (80/160)	400 (100/200)	480 (120/240)	640 (160/320)	800 (200/400)	960 (240/480)	1120 (280/560)	1280 (320/640)	1440 (360/720)
3	640 (160/320)	800 (200/400)	960 (240/480)	1280 (320/640)	1600 (400/800)	1920 (480/960)	2240 (560/1120)	2560 (640/1280)	2880 (720/1440)
4	1280 (320/640)	1600 (400/800)	1920 (480/960)	2560 (640/1280)	3200 (800/1600)	3840 (960/1920)	4000 (1000/2000)
5	2560 (640/1280)	3200 (800/1600)	3840 (960/1920)	4000 (1000/2000)
Shoumangan 6+	4000 (1000/2000)
Daimangan	6000 (1500/3000)

Dealer scoring table

Han/Fu	20	25	30	40	50	60	70	80	90
0	120 (40)	-- --	180 (60)	240 (80)	300 (100)	360 (120)	420 (140)	480 (160)	540 (180)
1	240 (80)	-- --	360 (120)	480 (160)	600 (200)	720 (240)	840 (280)	960 (320)	1080 (360)
2	480 (160)	600 (200)	720 (240)	960 (320)	1200 (400)	1440 (480)	1680 (560)	1920 (640)	2160 (720)
3	960 (320)	1200 (400)	1440 (480)	1920 (640)	2400 (800)	2880 (960)	3360 (1120)	3840 (1280)	4320 (1440)
4	1920 (640)	2400 (800)	2880 (960)	3840 (1280)	4800 (1600)	5760 (1920)	6000 (2000)
5	3840 (1280)	4800 (1600)	5760 (1920)	6000 (2000)
Shoumangan 6+	6000 (2000)
Daimangan	9000 (3000)

Yaku

The list of yaku is somewhat different from modern riichi:

1 han yaku

• Riichi
• Yakuhai
• Tanyao
• Menzen tsumo
• Pinfu
• Haitei/Houtei
• Rinshan
• Chankan

2 han yaku

• Sanshoku, 1 han if open
• Ittsuu, 1 han if open
• Chanta, 1 han if open
• Honitsu
• Chiitoi
• Toitoi
• Sanankou
• Daburii
• Shousangen
• Sanshokudoukou
• Sankantsu

3 han yaku

• Junchan, 2 han if open
• Isshokusanjun, 2 han if open

Shoumangan (4000/6000 points)

• Chinitsu
• Honroutou
• Renhou, win during the first go-around
• Daichiishin
• Isshokuyonjun

Daimangan (6000/9000 points)

• Suuankou
• Daisangen
• Kokushi
• Suushiihou
• Tsuuiisou, excluding daichiishin
• Chinroutou
• Tenhou
• Chiihou, win from the dealer's first discard
• Suukantsu
• Chuuren, scored as 8000/12000 points

Optional rules

Honba

A rule similar to honba can be used:

• Each renchan adds 300 points to the winning hand.
• During renchan, a 1 han minimum is used.

Dora

Dora can be used, but no kandora or uradora.

Sekinin barai can be applied to the following hands:

• Hand with dora pon/kan and tsumo
• Hand with 3 chii containing dora and tsumo

References

• Suzuki Susumu & Amano Daizo. リーチ・どら麻雀の打ち方. Kin'ensha: 1957.