Frequency of high scores/certain yaku in 3er opposed to 4er?

[Goldeneye]

I usually try to play 4 player mahjong as opposed to 3 player (since I don't think 3 player mahjong is "real" mahjong), but I've played 3 player on a certain site long enough to notice that...

1) High scoring hands are far more common (including yakuman level hands)
2) Certain yaku are much more easily to be hit (eg honitsu and nagashi mangan)

In Point 1) I use baiman as the minimum level to be "high scoring," and it seems that one cannot go two full hanchan without seeing at least one baiman+ hand scored. This is very true if the pei are used as dora (most common) instead of a set of pei being a yakuhai set (like a set of sangenpai). A yakuman level hand (including counted yakuman) happens probably at least once per 10 to 15 hanchan or thereabouts, compared to something like once per 50-100 hanchan in 4er.

In Point 2) Since the manzu suit lacks the chuncheung tiles (2 to , honitsu is most likely one of the most common yaku to be made, even over tanyao. Nagashi mangan (if that is a valid yaku) is slightly easier to make since no chi calls are allowed and now 48% of the tiles are rotouhai and the jihai compared to just 38% in 4er. And with rules regarding the pei tiles could make a difference as some rules allow nagashi mangan WITH declared pei dora.

I wonder if anyone elses observations are similar to mine here.

[Gnom]

It's difficult to say since I only play it every once in a while (when we're only three, basically), but your observations seem accurate. I find it much more aggressive, since defending loses value when balanced with the higher value of hands and/or the higher speed to build a hand. Toitoi also seems to be a good choice more often than in 4-player mahjong. Also, I almost never attempt kokushi in 4-player mahjang but in 3-player I do allow myself to try it with a lower number of jihai in my starting hand (maybe also because when player 3-player I'm not as serious since I don't master the balance of the game and it's not my purpose).

Anyway, while unlike you I do consider it to be mahjong, I do not think it's the same game as the 4-player version since the balance is so different, it seems to me that it's more flashy and really not as defensive (especially since I play some 4-player games with less doras and the most common 3-player mahjong adds the pei-dora) ! I would recommend it to medium-level players though, at least for the culture aspect and also because seeing the differences may help to pinpoint some keypoints of mahjong that may help them up their skills...

[Heikai]

3-player Mahjong is pretty crazy especially with pei nukidora. Even if pei is treated only as a yakuhai and no akadora is used, it's still pretty wacky (one player in my group got a kazoe this way and we have played 3-player only a few times). I wanted 3-player Mahjong feel more like a regular 4-player Mahjong and came up with these rules which work pretty well I think:

• All tiles (136) are used in the game. No tiles are removed from any suit.
• The dead wall is 14 tiles long (and contains 28 tiles)
• Pei is treated as a normal wind tile (No one is ever north)
• Each Honba counter is worth of 400 points (200 from both players in case of tsumo)
• In case of tsumo wins, the north's portion of the payment is divided equally between the two players (Any number ending with 50 is rounded up to the nearest 100).

I still vastly prefer 4-player Mahjong and don't really want to play 3-player if there's a way to get the 4th player.

[Senechal]

Sarcastically speaking, it's easier to invent one or two more friends to play with than to make balanced rules for 3P.

[Gnom]

The thing is, you're looking for rules to play a 4-player game with only 3 players. 3-player mahjong isn't that, 3-player mahjong is 3-player mahjong! In Japan most 3-player lovers only play 3-player mahjong in 3-player jansōs (and 4-player lovers look a them in a kind of weird way).

[Kyuu]

http://tenhou.net/sc/prof.html

You can compare stats between 3p and 4p. Of course, the most stark difference is the dora frequency, by which 3p naturally nearly doubles 4p by virtue of "kita" (north dora).