Teaching Reach Mahjong to Beginners

[HotelFSR]

I\'m not really sure why everyone finds the Missed Win (furiten) rule so scary.



I always explain it to beginners like this:

Imagine you only need one more tile to win the hand, and that you\'re hoping to steal it off another player. If you have already discarded any tile that would have allowed you to win had you kept it, you will not be allowed to steal your winner off another player. Your only option is to hope that you draw it yourself.

For example, if you are waiting for a 4 or 7 of dots, and you have discarded EITHER of those previously in the hand, you may not steal off another player to win. You could have won already had you not discarded a winning tile, hence the rule being called \'missed win\'.



It\'s easy to understand. The harder part is introducing concepts like Missed Win Defense (1-4-7, 2-5-8 safe discard patterns, etc.) These are simple enough in their own right, but take a little explaining.

[Ruro]

I explain at first that they need 4 sets and a pair, then i tell about what type of sets exists and some little tips for what to do to get a \"high point\" hand. After 1-2 rounds i tell about dora,riichi and furiten, and i add the \"special hands\" rule at the end and hand out a yaku list. What annoyed me in a real bad way was that we play with a rule that you can claim win for a 0 yaku hand, and i lost like 12 times for 0yaku hands worth like 0-1000 points....

[iandstanley]

I\'m not really sure why everyone finds the Missed Win (furiten) rule so scary.

Not really scary but I just think they have enough to get to grips with ... reacquaiting my brother with mahjong after a decade or so it only took a couple of sessions to go through my steps 1..4 (a little more with my kids)