2017 World Riichi Championship
The 2017 World Riichi Championship is a Japanese mahjong tournament that took place from October 4-8, 2017. The tournament was held in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Palms Casino Resort. This is the second edition of the World Riichi Championship series, hosted by the United States Professional Mahjong League (USPML).
 WRC logo | |
| Location | Las Vegas, Nevada, USA |
|---|---|
| Host | USPML |
| Date | October 4-8, 2017 |
| Type | World championship |
| Player count | 240 (est.) players |
| Finalists | |
| Champion | {{{First}}} |
| Runner up | {{{Second}}} |
| Third | {{{Third}}} |
| Fourth | {{{Fourth}}} |
Rules in effect
The rules in effect will be the World Riichi Rules, nearly identical to the 2014 WRC, with a minor revision in 2015.
- Kuitan ari
- Akadora nashi
- Atamahane ari
- 30000 point start, tobi nashi
- Oka nashi ("30000 point return")
- Negative score does not end the game
- 15/5 Uma
- Kuikae nashi
- None of the following (all nashi): Abortive draws of any kind, Agari yame, Nagashi mangan, Kazoe yakuman, Multiple yakuman
- False pon/kan/chii call results in dead hand
- Chombo is 20 points deducted from the overall score of the player. It does not effect the current game, other than forcing a reshuffle and redealing of the tiles.
- 90-minute time limit (75 + 15 for current and last hand) applied
Quota distribution
As of February 12, 2017, the distribution of the 240 available seats has been made as follows.
The rough split is currently fairly evenly distributed between four groups: Europe, Japan, North America, WRC (invites and players who got to top 32 in WRC 2014) + RoW.
—World Riichi Championship, on Facebook
Actual participation
| Country | Number | Invites | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| USA | 44 | 2 | 46 |
| CAN | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| MEX | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| North America | 47 | 2 | 49 |
| RUS | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| DEN | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| GER | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| GBR | 9 | 2 | 11 |
| NED | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| POL | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| AUT | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| FIN | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| FRA | 6 | 2 | 8 |
| SVK | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| SWE | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| UKR | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| HUN | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| SUI | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Europe | 73 | 5 | 78 |
| JPN (Japan) | 80 | 0 | 80 |
| ARG | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| AUS | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| BRA | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| CHN | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| CHL | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| IRN | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| KOR | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| NOR (non-EMA) | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| SGP | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Rest of World | 18 | 0 | 17 |
| Total | 224 | ||
Notes:
South Korea and Switzerland did have registered participants that had to desist. Total attendance is thus 224 players from 25 countries (not 27).
Tournament format
Players will play out 9 hanchan. They will be subdivided into Groups A and Group B. Out of the total participant count, the top 32 will proceed into an elimination tournament. At each stage, they will play 2 hanchan. Tournament days 1 and 2 will have 4 hanchan each, while day 3 will have the 9th hanchan immediately followed by the first two stages of the elimination tournament. Day 4 will include the semifinal and the final.
Participant list and preliminary results
Elimination stages
Summary of results by country
As there is no official rankings by country available, the table below is presenting the best, average, median and worst scores, as well as a composite score (the average of all four). Players placing equally with another player are ranked as a half-rank lower, in order to maintain statistical comparability.
| Country | Best | Average | Median | Worst | Composite |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chile | 77.00 | 77.00 | 77.00 | 77.00 | 77.00 |
| Brazil | 56.00 | 79.50 | 79.50 | 103.00 | 79.50 |
| Hungary | 81.00 | 81.00 | 81.00 | 81.00 | 81.00 |
| Singapore | 44.00 | 90.50 | 91.00 | 136.00 | 90.38 |
| Ukraine | 60.00 | 95.33 | 111.00 | 115.00 | 95.33 |
| Japan* | 1.00 | 000 | 000 | 200.00 | (100.50) |
| Finland* | 22.00 | 000 | 000 | 187.00 | (104.50) |
| Sweden | 54.00 | 108.63 | 108.75 | 163.00 | 108.59 |
| China | 88.00 | 110.00 | 104.00 | 128.00 | 110.00 |
| Austria* | 7.00 | 000 | 000 | 214.00 | (110.50) |
| United Kingdom* | 23.50 | 000 | 000 | 205.00 | (114.25) |
| United States* | 26.00 | 000 | 000 | 223.00 | (121.50) |
| Australia | 76.00 | 126.50 | 126.50 | 177.00 | 126.50 |
| Slovakia | 46.00 | 129.75 | 132.00 | 209.00 | 129.19 |
| Poland | 69.00 | 132.17 | 134.50 | 188.00 | 130.92 |
| Netherlands* | 23.50 | 142.10 | 139.00 | 222.00 | 131.65 |
| Russia | 59.00 | 140.75 | 163.00 | 178.00 | 135.19 |
| France | 42.00 | 148.94 | 146.75 | 217.00 | 138.67 |
| Denmark | 62.00 | 000 | 000 | 219.00 | (140.50) |
| Argentina | 120.00 | 153.33 | 124.00 | 216.00 | 153.33 |
| Germany | 79.00 | 180.57 | 204.00 | 221.00 | 171.14 |
| Norway | 189.00 | 189.00 | 189.00 | 189.00 | 189.00 |
| Canada | 197.00 | 204.00 | 204.00 | 211.00 | 204.00 |
| Iran | 215.00 | 215.00 | 215.00 | 215.00 | 215.00 |
| Mexico | 224.00 | 224.00 | 224.00 | 224.00 | 224.00 |