How to play riichi mahjong

Riichi mahjong is a four-player game played with 136 tiles. Each player builds a fourteen-tile hand; the first to complete a valid one wins the points. The rules are genuinely simple — what makes riichi deep is when you commit. This course teaches the rules in eight short lessons, each illustrated. Read them in order; each builds on the last.

Mahjong hand: 2 of characters, 3 of characters, 4 of characters — 5 of characters, 6 of characters, 7 of characters — 4 of circles, 5 of circles, 6 of circles — 9 of circles, 9 of circles — 6 of bamboo, 7 of bamboo, 8 of bamboo — Where the whole course is headed: a complete hand of four sets plus a pair.

The course

1 · The tiles
All 136 tiles: three suits, winds, dragons, and the red fives.
2 · The shape of a hand
Four sets and a pair — sequences, triplets, and what “tenpai” means.
3 · Setup and the wall
Seats and winds, building the wall, the deal, and the dora indicator.
4 · Turns, discards, and calls
The draw-discard loop, and when chii, pon, and kan interrupt it — at a price.
5 · Riichi
The declaration that names the game: when you can call it and what it buys you.
6 · Winning a hand
Ron, tsumo — and the rule that surprises everyone: you need a yaku.
7 · Furiten
The rule beginners hit hardest, explained until it feels fair.
8 · Your first game
Rounds, dealer rotation, and what actually happens over an east-only game.
Extra · Riichi vs other mahjong
Coming from Chinese, Hong Kong, or American mahjong? What changes.
Extra · From poker to riichi
Reading riichi through hands, position, and pot odds.

The game in one paragraph

Everyone starts with thirteen tiles. On your turn you draw one and discard one, keeping thirteen. You are trying to reach a fourteen-tile shape of four sets (sequences like 4-5-6 or triplets like 8-8-8) plus one pair — and the hand must contain at least one yaku, a recognized scoring pattern. When you are one tile away, you may declare riichi, betting 1,000 points that you will finish. Complete the hand by drawing the last tile yourself (tsumo) or by claiming an opponent's discard (ron), and the scoring system prices your win. Hands repeat, the deal rotates, and the highest score after the final round wins the game.

What you need

Nothing, to learn: the diagrams here are the tiles. To play online, the major free clients (Mahjong Soul, Tenhou, Riichi City) all follow the rules taught here. To play in person you need a riichi set — Japanese sets use smaller tiles than Chinese sets and include red fives — and scoring sticks. If your group plays regularly, an automatic table shuffles the tiles and builds the walls for you; that is what ALBAN builds, and it is exactly the kind of thing to try at a club before buying.