Japanese mahjong: Difference between revisions

Mahjong as a whole is only a roughly 100 year old game. Originating in China, the game managed to spread across the country, East Asia, and even to the United States during the 1920s. The riichi variant itself only started emerging in Japan after World War 2. The modern riichi variant today began in the 1960's, while the addition of red 5's started appearing in the 1980's. It originated as a gambling game, though play for fun or sport are also common.

The object of riichi mahjong is to score the most points. At the start of each round, players draw and discard tiles, competing to be the first to get a winning hand. Then, the hand is scored based on its value. If the hand is won directly off another player's discard, the discarder must pay the winning payer. If a player draws their own winning tile, everyone else splits the payment. After a player wins, hands reset, and the next round starts. Once the final round ends, the game ends, and whoever has the most points wins first place.

*A hand must have at least one [[yaku]]. Yaku can be synonymous with "poker hands" - they are patterns/criteria that score points. For example, a "pair" in poker means having two of the same number card. [[Toitoi]] ("All Triplets") is when the hand consists entirely of triplets (that is, having 4 triplets in total). In general, yaku that that are harder to get scores more [[han]], which calculates to more points.

Mahjong is a zero-sum game - whenever a player gains points, the other players lose a total of that many points. Therefore, [[tile efficiency|developing hands quickly]] and [[defense|minimizing point losses]] are important aspects to the games. Sometimes, it may be best to [[betaori|give up winning]] in order to prevent paying for others' hands.

The rules to the game is complex. Gameplay is generally similar to most Asia-originated variants of mahjong. For a more detailed overview, see the [[rules overview]] the page, or the rest of this article.

The game of mahjong itself has numerous variations across the world, including an attempted standardization of "World Mahjong". Virtually every country in East Asia and the United States has a form of mahjong. While they all have the same general principles, they each have very distinct rule variations.

*'''Pinzu''' (dots/circles)<!--Dots is used in most translations. Coins seems to be the best from a historical viewpoint and they do look like coins. But pinzu may actually mean circles in Japanese.--> - Look like coins/circles. The number of circles is the number of the tile.

*'''[[Kazehai]]''' (wind tiles) - labeled Ton (east), Nan (north), Xia (west), Pei (north).

Modern Japanese mahjong sets also come with four [[red five]] dora tiles. One number five character tile, two number five circle tiles, and one number five bamboo tile are replaced with their matching red tiles. These red dora tiles can replace the appropriate number of standard five-tiles. Usage of the red dora tiles is optional.

However, in mahjong, you can only hold 13 tiles in your hand. Therefore, players must get to '''[[tenpai]]''' (ready hand) - a hand that is one tile away from winning - first. Once reaching tenpai, you can win the hand by either drawing a winning tile, or winning from an opponent's discard. With a normal hand structure, there are two ways to get to tenpai:

'''Three complete groups + 1 incomplete group + 1 pair'''

'''Four complete groups + 1 tile waiting to be paired'''

:{{#mjt:234m666888s3567p}} - May win off: {{#mjt:3p}} to complete the pair.

A hand that is one tile away from being complete is in tenpai. A hand that is one away from tenpai (two from winning) is 1-[[shanten]]. A hand that is two away from tenpai (three from winning) is 2-shanten, and so on. A hand with a high shanten count is far away from winning, and may be too slow to be worth winning.

*Kan: Call to complete a quad. See the [[kan]] page for the procedure.

*Cons: Riichi declares that you are about to win, and you are required to bet 1000 points. The 1000-point bet goes to whoever wins next (which may or may not be you). Also, you are not allowed to change your hand anymore. Therefore, you may end up dealing into other players.

*Pros: Riichi is a yaku, allowing otherwise yakuless hands to win. It is always worth at least one han, and gives the chance for even more han, which can greatly increase the value of the hand.

Riichi is a huge part of the game's strategy. It is the single most common yaku. Even if you do not know any other yaku, you can always use riichi if you have a closed hand. However, it is not always a good idea to declare riichi. In addition, you should watch out when other players call riichi.

When ''any'' of the tiles you've discarded could've completed a winning hand, you become ''completely'' unable to win off of another player's discard. In other words, you cannot win by [[ron]]. It does not matter if the tile you discarded and the tile the opponent discarded are different, when you are in furiten, all tile types are affected. It does not matter if you could not actually win off the tile you discarded. It is still possible to win by drawing the tile yourself.

In the event of chombo, the player must pay out a penalty of points, usually [[mangan]]. In casual settings, chombo may be ignored. In serious settings, it may be increased. Often, the chombo penalty is done after the game ends, in order to not waste time.

*Hands score [[han]] (based on [[yaku]]) and [[fu]] (based on certain hand composition).

A game is organized into rounds, which are named after winds. Each wind round, every player gets a chance to be a dealer. For example, East 1 means it is the first round, and the first player's dealer turn. East 2 means it is the first round, and the second player's dealer turn. This continues until East 4, then the game continues to South 1.

For shorter games, players may play a single East Round. Here players only have the opportunity to hold the dealer seat once. After the conclusion of four wind rotations, then the game is brought to the end. Yet, the points may invoke the extra round and bring the game into the South Round.

Typically, the game ends after the final hand of the last round, when at least one player is scoring 30,000 or more. This number may differ (depending on ruleset). However, the entire game may end prematurely. This may occur under the following conditions:

* '''Extra rounds'''. When no player has scored 30,000 points or more, players may opt to continue playing rounds until a player does reach that goal. (Again, whether this happens or not will depend on the rules.)

Finally, the player with the greatest number of points at the end wins. For additional scoring, another final [[Uma|uma score]] or +/- score may be applied. While this additional calculation has its origins around gambling, the adjusted points also allows comparison between games.  For example, in two different games, a player may score exactly 34,000 points. However, in one game, the player finished 1st; while in the second game, the player finished 2nd.  The point adjustment becomes a better reflection on player performance, rather than just using the raw scores.

Many rules of the game may be subject to various customization and house rules. Many simply resort towards allowing or disallowing certain rules and even [[yaku|hand patterns]].  Others involve different methods of enforcement and point values.

For any 1-on-1 situation, even a two-player variation is possible. Though gameplay becomes even more limited than that of the three-player variation. The tile count is even less; and often, it is down to a single suit.

'''Washizu mahjong''' is a particular variant, that changes the nature of the tiles.  Here, three out of ever four tile type uses transparent tiles.  This enables other players to be able to see most of the other players' hands.

The game may be played under a number of different environments. Light play or new players may engage under casual settings, where rule enforcement is not so strict.  Plus, the player pace may not be so rigorous either. Likewise, less emphasis on winning and losing is placed below that of merely enjoying the game and other players' company. Formality to the game is increased under tournament settings. Here, scores are pressed to the utmost importance, with the objective of placing well in the tournament and/or outright winning the event.  Naturally, participants are expected to be knowledgeable of the rules and strategies.  Commercial play are hosted in [[Jansou|mahjong parlors]], where players come to pay-to-play.  Either at the parlors, casinos, or residences, gambling may be involved, whether it be legal or not legal. Finally, professional play involves televised games; and a staff may take detailed record of games and their results.