Reachmahjong.com

I\'ve started to play riichi mahjong, and I\'m having a fun time, however, I only know the very basic rules of it, and I\'d like to start learning the nuances of the game. The little rules that aren\'t mentioned at all. I mean, I learned a lot from sites like Mahjong Made Simple!!, and this site as well, but I feel that there are a lot of things going unsaid.

For instance, I had no idea about the rule where if someone makes a closed kan, and the kan is the winning tile for a Kokushi, that they can still claim the tile. I didn\'t even know it existed until I watched Akagi. I don\'t think it\'s even mentioned anywhere I\'ve been to so far.

Basically, what I\'m asking for, is if there\'s an Official Rule book for Japanese Modern, and if there is, is there any way I can read it in English?

Thanks for your time.

http://mahjong-europe.org/filer/riichirules.pdf

This is a PDF which tells the EMA-rules which are the rules used in european riichi tournaments, and don\'t differ much from japanese rules. That should cover quite all of the situations and rules. Also Reachmahjong.com has columns how to play.

The problem is that house rules and league rules and tournament rules all might vary a bit, so depending where you play you have to get accustomised to them, but for starters EMA-rules are quite \"regular\"

most of the little things I tend to ignore - draw game if 4 of the same wind are discarded in the first 4 discards, if someone starts a hand with 9 terminals, ren chan (extra 300 points get added to the hand whenever someone stays as dealer) because I just don\'t see the point.

Where in Akagi did they mention you could win from a kan if you\'re in tenpai with a kokushi? I don\'t remember them mentioning it there.

WorTeX: Thank you. I just finished looking over it, and it was exactly what I was looking for. As a follow up question though, are there any other variances out there that have documentation? I mean, there were a few things that were untouched, like open riichi. Also, I was looking through the forum and saw that some people mentioned something about \"a-rules\", implying that there\'s a \"b-rules\", or \"c-rules\", or even possibly \"z-rules\". If I might ask, what are the differences, and where can I read up on them? Thanks again for linking me to the EMA rules.


sir_seagill: About the Akagi thing, I believe that they mention it very briefly in one episode, but it\'s never actually used. I believe one of the characters thinks to themselves \"If he had a Kokushi. . .\" or something along those lines. However, I did see it in Tetsuya. I probably should have used that as an example, huh?

In tetsua the haku kong lead to a draw game because it was 4th kong made, in todays rules he would have got kokushi and rob the tile from closed kong.

Esh, there\'s an article about the variations of the a-rules and b-rules at reachmahjong.com if i remember correctly, a-rules have less luck factors, and b-rules have more luck factors. I think there isn\'t much documentation in english about them, because they are used in japan mostly/only.

Esh wrote:Also, I was looking through the forum and saw that some people mentioned something about "a-rules", implying that there\'s a "b-rules", or "c-rules", or even possibly "z-rules". If I might ask, what are the differences, and where can I read up on them?

Look here: http://www.reachmahjong.com/home/index. ... 3&Itemid=1

For "open riichi" I doubt this rule is realy used somewere.
Akagi and Tetsuya show it, but not in the same way.
And I\'ve not found any revelent description of open riichi on internet.
Plus, a furiten open riichi would be kinda strange.

Shirluban wrote:Look here: http://www.reachmahjong.com/home/index. ... 3&Itemid=1

For "open riichi" I doubt this rule is realy used somewere.
Akagi and Tetsuya show it, but not in the same way.
And I\'ve not found any revelent description of open riichi on internet.
Plus, a furiten open riichi would be kinda strange.

That article is interesting. So does that mean that there\'s only a base rule set for actually playing, and all those little rules are just optional rules that are added in and out of rule sets?

Also, yeah, I agree. I don\'t think that anybody would actually use that rule. But I\'m still interested in hearing about it.

Esh wrote:So does that mean that there\'s only a base rule set for actually playing, and all those little rules are just optional rules that are added in and out of rule sets?[/quote]

We can see it this way.
Even if it can makes a big difference for strategie, there are only minor variations between each riichi rule.

E.g. allowing ura-dora or not is not a big deal, but seriously alter the worth of a riichi declaration.

Esh wrote: sir_seagill: About the Akagi thing, I believe that they mention it very briefly in one episode, but it\'s never actually used. I believe one of the characters thinks to themselves "If he had a Kokushi. . ." or something along those lines. However, I did see it in Tetsuya. I probably should have used that as an example, huh?

Yea, Tetsuya was a good example (well sorta). It wasn\'t mentioned in Akagi. That part was basically about Akagi not taking his blood back when he won Washizu. They said if he then dealt into a kokushi, he\'d die. Anywho - I\'d like to see that in an actual game :) (only saw a screenshot)

For my dorm\'s house rules on Pun-ri (Open Reach):
-Can be furiten, tsumo only if so
-Counts as one yaku (2 total for reach and open) if tsumo (3) or ron by a reached player
-Yakuman if ron by a unreached player

This is mostly to show off one\'s luck or to break people\'s own hands and keep tiles they can\'t use/connect :D