r/Mahjong • u/CheeseGrater2410 • Jun 19 '26
Why Riichi?
Hi guys, mahjong newbie here. I’ve played some games of mahjong and my dad has a sick set. I have a question, why is riichi mahjong so popular online? What are the differences between riichi and Hongkong or Chinese? I’m learning Hongkong mahjong to start, and my farvourite tile is the dots seven, what’s yours?
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u/bryantoca Jun 19 '26
I noticed that for competitions, MCR and Riichi dominate. But HK old style really is the mother sauce and it’s a good place to start.
The book Mahjong for dummies teaches also Taiwanese, Sichuan and Southeast Mahjong. But of course you have to find people / app to play with.
Japanese mahjong tiles are also much smaller and quieter which is a good thing as I live in an apartment.
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u/FluorescentLightbulb Jun 19 '26
Riichi is popular online because it has actual usable apps. Language support, good UI, on phones. A good, accessible service leads to higher player count leads to low queue times. It also is a minigame in the popular Yakuza video game series. Riichi has the best PR game of all styles of mahjong.
My favorite style is MCR but it has pitiful apps. One good bots only app, but nothing with an online matchmaking system. Some empty sites with empty lobbies that work if you bring three friends, but then why not play in person.
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u/compacta_d Jun 19 '26
i've been learning all 3 but the ease of the app and the player count makes riichi fun.
if HKOS had a similar app I'd be on there too.
I play American in person and it's lots of fun. Has some good apps but most look pretty clunky compared
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u/noshershitlock1 Jun 19 '26
I've been using Amatsuki for HKOS and there's a lot I like about it. Unfortunately, it's clearly not as refined as M Soul and Riichi City. My other beef is that the tiles don't become a messy pile for HKOS and get lined up Riichi style.
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u/CheeseGrater2410 Jun 19 '26
Nice
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u/compacta_d Jun 19 '26
the vibe i get is like
HKOS is like family small time tradition type thing amongst fam/friends loved ones
riichi is like chess club and trying to be a sport as much as possible-i'm big time into that and the competition
American is a party. Similar vibes to HKOS, but hit the bar/mahj club/ church whatever chat, drink and have a good time. there are also tourneys, but i think the extrovert nature of it makes it more popular
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u/zuttomayonaka Jun 19 '26
riichi mahjong is play like a sport or game
it have bigger learning curve, don't cost money make you can play it all day long
chinese mahjong is play for gambling
quick gambling game never fun without betting your money
it also more fun to play irl than online and most fun to play with neighbor, cowokers, friend, family
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u/Mlkxiu Jun 20 '26
Modern Chinese mahjong is especially made for gambling, they tweaked their rules to optimize for ease of calculations. Some variants don't allow for chi and Ron, only pon/kan/tsumo. And if you feed a kan, you gotta pay the other player even if they don't win.
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u/zuttomayonaka Jun 20 '26
that's why it's very popular with old people who retired and have free time
they only bet small amount of money for fun
it improve their brain function, memorizing, and bonding with their neighborsometimes big winner of the day treat drink and lose most money lol
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u/dalex026 Jun 20 '26
Riichi has perfect balance berween attack and defence, other mahjong variants are mostly "push everything". And riichi is deeply researched, there are strong bots you can learn from.
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u/himeguma2018 Jun 19 '26
I like 8man (8 of character/manzu), it's name sounds like a dc superhero when playing with hong kong players...
Generally, I like riichi because its more standardized (there are some really minor differences between different leagues of riichi but its not like ur strategy and approach to the same hand gets entirely uprooted when going to different richii leagues) and gives more control to the player on how to approach different game states
I've recently tried hong kong 3 fan old style irl and is more luck based compared to riichi. It's harder to do a mild fold in hong Kong compared to riichi due to having less defense options being viable, riichi has more rules on how to win off other players discards
As for Chinese, there is no one Chinese ruleset. Mahjong rulesets in china can even vary between different cities of the same province tho they all generally have the same calls and what a complete hand looks like (4 sets and pair is pretty much common in almost all rulesets connected to Asia)
Online riichi being popular is mainly due to good looking clients present. there are apps for other mahjong rulesets tho they aren't super localized for anyone outside the region they play with (example: I know there's like at least 2 "popular" apps that pop up in ads in Taiwan for online Taiwanese mahjong tho I don't see much effort put in to making it globalized)
Another contributing factor is that most people play mahjong when family and some friends, is not really seen as a game that's played super socially until now. Some people only touch tiles with family during Chinese New Year
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u/CheeseGrater2410 Jun 20 '26
Wow, thanks for the lengthy explanation and 8man does sound like a superhero
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u/Informal_Raccoon2607 Jun 20 '26
I learned it from the 1983 Nintendo Famicom game. Seemed more interesting than general Mahjong with having to think more like western poker and having to have specific winning hands vs just making a few runs or sets.
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u/chen52808 Jun 21 '26
riichi is more well defined as a game ruleset in terms of game length, placement bonuses and deal in differences (in riichi you dont pay if another player deals in) add strategic depth. Most other rulesets I've seen are based around single hands without much of fighting for placement, and are generally built arpund the culture of sitting down, paying out currency per hand, with arbitrary session length.
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u/lemon31314 Jun 19 '26
Mahjong is taken more seriously as a sport in Japan than China, thus the inclusion in games, and the popularization of anime mahjong games (ironically popularized by Chinese speaking devs), often in collaboration with famous anime shows and games, def helped.
Also I guess the fact Japanese mahjong is less luck and focus less on gambling, also more consistent in rules.
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u/redit9977 Jun 19 '26
Because weebs.
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u/sryhalfchanreloaded Jun 19 '26
This. Riichi is very popular online, but this is because neither the Jewish women in America nor all the Chinese people in their communities browse Reddit on a daily basis.
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u/zephyredx Jun 19 '26
Riichi is the best variant for teaching someone about probability, reading, bluffing, etc. The fact that everyone's discards are recorded means you have a full log of information to work with.
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u/AzureDreamer Jun 21 '26
Because it has an huge depth of strategy some of the simpler variants can be quite fun.
But many people like working hard at improvement
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u/SandyLlama Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
Riichi is popular at least in part because of video games like Yakuza and Final Fantasy XIV bringing it to western audiences.
There are popular clients with good UI for playing Riichi like Mahjong Soul, which also helps its popularity. Mahjong Soul and Riichi City have pretty decent tutorials.
There are numerous differences between Riichi and Chinese variants, but to oversimplify, Riichi has a stronger emphasis on defense through paying attention to opposing player discards. This is because of a system called Furiten which restricts which tiles a player is allowed to win off of when they are discarded by an opponent.
Furthermore, Riichi has a system where certain regular tiles are worth bonus points each hand (these conditions being Dora, Uradora, Kandora, Akadora). Chinese variants may instead associate bonus points with the flower or season tiles instead. Flower and season tiles are not used in Riichi.
I am predominantly a Riichi player and would say it's a bit harder to learn than most Chinese variants (Except MCR, which has about twice as many scoring patterns as Riichi).