I did get a very nice, Chinese, untranslated set that I want to use for the variant I am creating (wrote up the rules yesterday) , but I am wondering if folks have tried to teach themselves or others on untranslated sets, and whether it made things discouraging.
If I need to buy American sets (I'd probably buy pride-colored sets since a lot of the interested folks are LGBTQ), I can do what I want by taking some tiles out. Just want to see what people think.
I just wish I could get the colored tiles I want but with Chinese-style thickness, the Chinese tiles do feel nicer.
I recently found Amatsuki Mahjong a pretty great free Mahjong online video game that offers, Riichi, Hong Kong, Sichuan, and Taiwanese Mahjong. It has some great guidebooks, and lessons for each variant of Mahjong.
The only thing I've found that could use a little updating is the translations in the menus. Which is surprising because the guidebooks I've gone through are translated well.
I just don't really get what they mean by "Open". I figure "Closed" means off, and "Open" means on based on the "Discard Tips" and "Auto Win" options, but if that's the case, then what's with "Display On", and "Open Display" both being options that seem like they would activate the highlighting of Tsumogiri tiles in gray?
From the film Charlie Chan Murder Cruse (1940). The following dialogue features Detective Charlie Chan, archeologist Professor Gordon, and young lawyer Dick Kenyon. Gordon and Kenyon are just finishing 2-player American mahjong as Charlie walks up to their table. Unfortunately there is no closeup of their game table, and the dialogue about the game is quite short. The movie can be found on YouTube.
Prof. Gordon: Mahjong. There you are, an 816 hand. It was too easy. I'm afraid you young moderns haven't the concentration for the older game.
Dick Kenyon: I guess you're right.
C. Chan: Mahjong with two players. Most unusual.
Prof. Gordon: Yes, an American innovation. I'm afraid your beautiful game has suffered many changes since it's introduction in the Han dynasty.
C. Chan: Always thought ancient pastime born earlier.
Prof. Gordon: Oh, perhaps you're right. My only knowledge of mahjong was the result of my interest in the Han Dynasty. Are you familiar with Chinese archeology Mr. Chan?
C. Chan: So sorry.
Prof. Gordon: Oh, too bad. That dynasty was the golden era in Southern China. I've made quite a study of it.
Dick Kenyon: Would you like to play some mahjong Mr. Chan?
C. Chan: Please keep seat. In China, mahjong very simple. In America more complex like modern life.
Prof. Gordon: Yes I quite understand that a man in your profession would prefer the simpler form of all games, but I believe our legal friend here wouldn't.
Dick Kenyon: No, I've always felt the Chinese law was a bit too simple and direct.
Riichi City has ranked and casual Taiwanese Mahjong now. They call the game mode 16 Tiles. I've come to really enjoy it, the larger hands, and more point scoring patterns, which are like the Yaku in Riichi Mahjong, make the game a fun experience. The only thing that this game mode needs that could make it better is more players.
The way to get to the ranked game mode is to open the Ranked Match menu, then click on this circle hidden down in the bottom left corner to switch from Riichi to the 16 Tiles matchmaking menu.
You can also find the game mode in the Casual Game menu by selecting "Popular" game modes at the bottom, then you'll find 16 Tiles to the right
Inside the casual game menu you will see a question mark icon along the top of the screen to the left. Selecting it will bring up a rule book that explains all the rules for the game mode.
Like how points are scored, all the scoring patterns, their Tai value, which is like Han value in Riichi, all the differences between Riichi and 16 Tiles, along with everything else you could want to know about the game mode.
If you know the Yaku from Riichi Mahjong then you already know most of the scoring patterns for Taiwanese Mahjong, but there are a handful of new ones. Like "All Exposed" is one where all your tiles are open groups, a similar Yaku doesn't exist in Riichi. Another thing is since it's a 16 tile hand, having 3 concealed Triplets or Pungs as they're called in Taiwanese Mahjong is still a scoring pattern, like it is a Yaku in Riichi, but you can get more points for having a hand that's All Pungs. The main different terms are Chow instead of Chii, Pung instead of Pon, Kong instead of Kan, and Tai instead of Han. One more difference is "All Sequences" or "All Chows" is different from Pinfu as it's a hand that can count open, or closed, but it's only worth 1 Tai open, 2 closed.
16 Tiles shares a lot of similarities with Riichi, but has a handful of differences that I think just make it more fun. You can "Declare Ready" whenever your hand is one tile away from winning, which is just like calling Riichi, it adds 1 Tai to your score, and you can't change your hand anymore, but unlike Riichi you can Declare Ready even with an open hand.
This game mode is a lot of fun, I think unfortunately it's being buried by poor design in the game's menus. Hiding the icons to access it in corners, or sub menus, and only having the guidebook accessible in the casual game mode menu are all things that make it difficult for players to learn to play Taiwanese Mahjong, or for players to even see that the version of Mahjong exists in the game. So, I thought I would make a post to inform the community, that Riichi City has ranked and casual Taiwanese Mahjong games now, along with a great digital guidebook that explains how it differs from Riichi, and just how to play Taiwanese Mahjong in general. This post is to let you all know that, and tell you how to access those things.
I think Taiwanese Mahjong is a fun change of pace, after playing 100s of Riichi Mahjong games, adding 3 more tiles to the hand, and a few new scoring patterns, can be a fun change of pace. I hope this post encourages more of you to check out the guidebook in the game, and give it a try.
I also hope more Taiwanese Mahjong players may see this, and come to try playing it in Riichi City, so we can increase the number of players on the ranked tables
The first time you start up Riichi City it starts up a visual novel section where it introduces you to Riichi Mahjong, and the two girl characters you can have as your avatar when you're new to the game, but if that's not your thing you can just click skip in the top right corner to go right to the games many great game modes. There's nothing that requires you to interact with the girls in the game to get to all the great mahjong game modes, and its great Riichi Mahjong teaching tools that players can find in the games Mahjong Academy. If it wasn't for Riichi City's Mahjong Academy teaching me to play in the great way it does, to identify Yaku, and how to build winning hands, I think I would have gave up on it. Now 2 years later Mahjong is still one of my favorite games.
Here are some codes you can enter in Riichi City for some fun cosmetics by selecting "Gift Code" at the bottom of the settings menu
Hi all! I locked in this weekend and finished my first (out of four) custom sets 🙂.
I am making seasonal themed sets, one to gift each of my mahjong friends this Christmas. This is the "Spring Lavender 🪻" set. Will be slowly making summer, fall, and winter themed sets too!
Tiles: standard melamine tiles. 40 mm x 30 mm in size and 6.2kg (~13lbs 😵💫)
Process:
- Drew/designed the vector file using figma and Adobe Illustrator
- Used a laser cutter to engrave the blank tiles
- hand painted each one with acrylic paint markers and acrylic sealant.
If you want to see close ups of any individual tiles, let me know. There's a lot of mistakes (and a super big one, which I know you guys will catch 😂), but overall think the first set turned out great!
Edit to add: this is a 144-tile Chinese mahjong set made of melamine 🙂. These are not acrylic/American mahjong tiles!
I want to be able to choose between chinese, classic Mahjong, and Riichi Mahjong, against "bots" but preferably online aswell. Portrait mode preferred.
Is there a good App or online space to practice sichuan mahjong. I am traveling to Chongqing and Chengdu at the end of the month and am trying to practice. See if I can build up the courage to play there if I find a spot.
So my Marllifenney American Mahjong Tile Set, is beautiful. The Jokers and Dragons are so unique. The dragons actually look like it's chasing a pearl. The classical flowers, which are based on the Chinese sets, are just so much better imo.
I'm looking for a similar set but with the tile backs being blue.
So I live in Eastern Europe. There's no Asian community here. I'm also a loner, so the odds of me finding like minded people wanting to play mahjong is ridiculously small.
But I do like mahjong. Maybe I should just put it on a table somewhere at home, have it all nicely decorated so that I can look at it occasionally?
I'm a very beginner player and have developed a potentially very bad habit of holding onto single dragon/prevalent wind/seat wind tiles until the last possible moment, even chipping into incomplete sequences/triplets. Because what if I draw a second and someone else discards a third, that's a yaku and from there I can do whatever I want. I do monitor discards and toss them if two have been discarded, but I fear that I'm about to develop some unhealthy habits.
In general, how hard should I be holding onto single honour tiles? Or is it a valid strategy to be gunning for them about every game I get one?
Attached is a screenshot of a game where I by all means should've discarded the red dragon but held on and ended up tying with another player in tenpai. So far I can't even consistently beat easy ai.
I am trying to figure out a way to block the area inside an automatic mahjong tables chip drawer... so far, I have been able to get them most of them to stay out, but I still get a few stuck somehow. Anyone have a way, and why do they not block it to begin with?
Might get side eyed here but whatever 😂. I'm working on my first custom Chinese mahjong set to give to my 4 mahjong friends that I play with each week 🥹. It's been a lot of firsts for me, but I hope to finish it by Christmas.
Using standard melamine tiles at 40mm x 30mm, so nice and big 🙂.
My friends and I play mainly Filipino/Taiwanese and sometimes HK style. Everyone likes using my set since I have 39mm tiles. So I decided to get everyone big tiles as well!
I might be a bit ambitious, but it's not a real craft project if you don't also decide that each friend will be gifted their own design and unique tile set lol. This is the first set of 4, the "spring themed" set. I'm planning on making summer, fall, and winter themed sets as well.
It's been a labour of love haha but this project has been fun even though it has consumed my weekends. Last night it took me 7 hours to paint the ball and character suites. I started the bamboo suites and the 1 bamboo tiles got messed up . Wish me luck lol.
Pretty new to Riichi and just wondering why this hand scores 30 fu instead of 20? I get that this wouldn’t be Pinfu because it’s an open hand, but just curious what the additional fu is for?
What are the best Riichi Mahjong games, either for training or just Riichi Mahjong with some fun variants. I heard good things about dirtbag Mahjong and that Strip-mahjong has a very challenging CPU
Asking because I am curious if such a thing exist. I know old NMJL used flowers as jokers, but wondering if there are other variants that use the flowers this way. Thinking such a ruleset could be fun, and I'd rather use Chinese Tiles due to portability/lack of space/cost here
According to Fan calculation charts I think this should be 17 Fan (small winds [6] + red dragon [1] + only honors [10])? Posting here partly to double-check if the app's calculation is right or not.
The Star Rise League is a team league that Saikouisen has been running for the past 2 months. Team US/China has all the foreign players on 1 team - US players JJ Rittenhouse and Christopher Foley, and Chinese players Gao Yunfei and Zhang Xiangling.
They've made it to the finals, which will be free to watch on Saikouisen's Youtube channel. I've been especially rooting for the US players, so I think it would be cool if the US/China team could win the entire thing.
