2014 Anime Central Mahjong Tournament

This is the 2014 edition of the Anime Central Mahjong Tournament, which is a mahjong competition held within the anime convention, Anime Central. The convention itself is held at Rosemont, Illinois near Chicago. The tournament is hosted by the Chicago Area Mahjong Players.

2014 Anime Central Mahjong Tournament
Location Rosemont, IL
Host C.A.M.P.
Date May 17, 2014
Type Anime convention event
Player count 20 players
Finalists
Champion Taka
Runner up Aaron
Third Erik
Fourth Adam

Rules

 
ACEN tournament room

These are rules planned for the 2014 edition. The rules primarily emulate Tenhou.net, with some slight modifications due to time.

Yakuless hand gains yaku on winning discard.
No wind rotation when dealer is tenpai.
Discarding a tile from an existing tile group (e.g. discarding 1 from 123, after calling on 4).
Open tanyao.
  • Double ron(ari)
Two players winning off of one discard.
Riichi sticks awarded to player closest to the discarder clockwise.
For triple ron, then abortive draw is invoked.
Riichi while furiten is neither subject to chombo or noten payment.
Immediate flip with ankan (closed kan).
Flip after discard with other kans (open kan).
Half of yakuman payment if player upgrades opponent hand to apparent yakuman (daisangen, shousuushii, or daisuushii).
Full of yakuman payment in the event of yakumantsumo.
  • Daiminkan pao(nashi)
Pao rule not applied to rinshankaihou acquired by daiminkan. Rinshan tsumo operates like any other tsumo.
Karaten does not imply noten at ryuukyoku.
  • Renhou(yaku set to mangan default)
Renhou is set to mangan regardless.
Cannot ron off an ankan (closed kan).
The penalized pays 3000 to each player, at the end of the game. If the dealer commits chombo, wind rotates.
  • Time limit cap (90 minutes): Time limit of 90 minutes is imposed.
Game clock begins at judge’s call, where the judge will ensure that all games start simultaneously.
Time stalling is discouraged and may warrant point penalties if necessary.
Soft Cap: Near 85 min mark, one more hand may be played after the current hand.
Hard Cap: Current hand when past 90 minutes is the last hand.
No West Round.
Game ends after wind rotation at oorasu, regardless of point standing, if the game ends before 90 minutes.
  • Agari yame(ari)
Last dealer may have the option to end game prematurely after one hand in oorasu, with or without the lead.
Otherwise, the last dealer may call for additional hands, if time allowed.

Rotation system

Sixteen Players Twenty Players
Table 1 Table A Table 1 Table A
Table 2 Table B Table 2 Table B
Table 3 Table C Table 3 Table C
Table 4 Table D Table 4 Table D
Table 5 Table E

Given the time allotted, the tournament itself will feature two hanchan "preliminary" plus a single hanchan for a final. For now, the number of entrants will be slated to either 16-players or 20-players. Players will be randomly assigned to the tables in the first hanchan. For the second hanchan, player results from the first hanchan will decide table designations.

Rotation after the first hanchan (Sixteen):

  • First -> Remains at the current Table
  • Second -> Table to the Right
  • Third -> Table across
  • Fourth -> Table to the Left

Rotation after the first hanchan (Twenty):

  • First -> Remains at the current Table
  • Second -> Table to the Right
  • Third -> Table across Right
  • Fourth -> Table to the Left

Full results

Tournament final
Rank Player Town Club +/- Score
1st Taka Elk Grove, IL CAMP 67 56500
2nd Aaron Detroit, MI DDRMTU 25 44600
3rd Erik Palatine, IL CAMP -34 5800
4th Adam Tulsa, OK n/a -58 -6900
Hanchan 1 and 2 - Aggregate
Rank Player Town Club +/- Score
Q Taka Elk Grove, IL CAMP 121 100500
Q Adam Tulsa, OK n/a 107 86400
Q Erik Palatine, IL CAMP 107 86000
Q Aaron Detroit, MI DDRMTU 106 85600
5 Jason Arlington Heights, IL CAMP 24 64500
6 Ben Kirksville, MO n/a 19 59400
7 Bim Rockford, IL NIU 16 55900
8 Tom Ellisville, MO n/a 9 49000
9 Kedama Vernon, WI DDRMTU 9 48100
10 Laura Sarasota, FL n/a 8 48500
11 Elle Indianapolis, IN n/a -8 52200
12 Trotskey Lakewood, OH DDRMTU -31 39700
14 Dustin Wheaton, IL NIU -36 43400
13 Derek Dekalb, IL n/a -38 42500
15 Troi Chicago, IL n/a -45 35500
17 Nick East Moline, IL n/a -57 33400
16 Kevin Chesterfield, IL n/a -63 27200
18 Kenton Hannibal, MO n/a -73 26800
19 Lance/JasonC * Chicago, IL n/a -80 10000
20 Ryan Murphysboro, IL n/a -95 5400

This year, instead of the raw score, the uma/oka, or +/- score, is used to determine final standing. Within the past year, I was able to figure out a fast short cut to determine +/- numbers, which allowed manual processing to be possible. Unfortunately, as much as we tried, it became apparent, that maintaining a running score using this spreadsheet was outright impossible. Therefore, the point stick scores had to be used to determine the +/- results during the tournament. That is despite the inaccuracy of point stick scores to begin with. Nevertheless, the tabulation results verify the outcome determined by the point stick scores. If any errors are found, please let me know.

A time limit was applied to ensure relative timeliness of the tournament's conclusion. Out of the ten hanchan prior to the final, only three have completed the full hanchan, all the way to the conclusion of oorasu (South 4). All the others had to be capped due to time. Until general player speed improves, it may be necessary to simply use tonpuusen (East only) for preliminary games. Overall, a total of 103 hands were played, averaging 9.4 hands a game. Chombo is significantly reduced. Only one instance of chombo occurred, which involved a ron declared while furiten. Last year, five instances of chombo occurred. So, this is a great improvement. Likewise, out of the twenty players, only one opted out of the tournament midway, requiring one substitute.

As far as the numbers go, all four finalists won both of their games, as they each had a combined +/- result greater than 100. As a result, this produces a large difference between the finalists and the rest of the field. In comparision, not a single player produced a +/- aggregate greater than 60. Ultimately, the finals feature the four strongest players of the field, that day. In total, twenty-two hands resulted in mangan or greater. Some of the notable ones include Jason's haneman on table 5, which included rinshan kaihou. Two in table 4 included a baiman that dropped Kevin to 1000 pts. However, he saved himself in oorasu with an open chiinitsu for mangan, which allowed him to gyakuten (surpass) and pull out of fourth into third. No sanbaiman nor yakuman were scored in the tournament.

Going into the final, neither Aaron nor Taka were subject to ron during their first two games. Eventually, Taka takes the championship without being subject to a single ron, as he ended Aaron's clean streak.

External links