Competition Mahjong Manners

[@sergeyolson7815]

I love your way of expertly explaining all these complex rules with clarity and ease. Enjoyed this video along with the rest of the series!

[@PhilippTimokhin]

Hey man. I'm enjoying your previous videos on Riichi Mahjong Guide. Thank you for making them! I'm learning a lot!

[@leo-windrider]

Wow, the guy is back!

[@rinkashikachi]

Watched all of your videos. Just wanted to tell you, that you did a very good job. Learned mahjong with your videos in a couple of weeks, recently got my first couple of Baimans

[@grizzly900]

Hi. I just want you to know that your videos helped me understand Mahjong in a very interactive way. I am loving this game a lot and in just three days I was able to play online and remember most yaku. I need a lot more time to practice, but I would love a physical mahjong set :D

[@stocksoul178]

This was very useful. I'm slow at calculating points, as I'm still a beginner, but I hope to get fast enough at it one day that I can just tell the score as soon as I reveal my hand.

[@demithefiend]

What I do is calculate it when I get tempai, so that if I don't get any uradora I already have the numbers in my head :) It gets a lot easier after a while and you have some of the han/fu values memorized.

[@haughtygarbage5848]

​@@demithefiendI've tried doing this and sometimes I miss people dropping my wait 😅 my brain is not yet molded into mahjong mode it's so hard

[@bessias2748]

thank you friend

[@HanemanHunters]

Good upload, thanks!

[@SHINJIxCORE]

Nice video, very helpful! So, while playing, both hands must be off the table? Can I keep one hand on the table? I know that keeping both hands on the table could look suspicious. So, what about keeping just my dominant hand on the table? This is for automatic table and for non-automatic. Thank you and cheers from Argentina!

[@LightGrunty]

Very strict competition rules may ask that players keep both hands off the table, but it is usually okay to rest your dominant hand on the table.

[@jdemartino27]

welcome back to riichi mahjong guide

[@ahmeddehma4100]

Where I can buy those Riichi Mahjong tiles from ? And what size are they ?

[@LightGrunty]

@@ahmeddehma4100 The tile set used in these videos is a 28mm set, but it was discontinued years ago. You can find other AMOS mahjong sets online fairly easily though.

[@pokemastericon]

Hi! Your videos are great! Not sure if you're still reading these comments but I have a question about etiquette on call priority in competitions and/or casual. I know that priority goes ron > kan > pon > chi. Is there a set delay you should wait before revealing tiles when calling for such circumstances, or is the expectation that if you didnt call IMMEDIATELY as it gets revealed you've missed your opportunity. If someone places the tile but there want was slightly covering so one player sees slightly first, I could see people speaking up at slightly different times. E.g. a player calls chi then another immediately calls pon as they start to speak (or after). It reveals information about the lower prio call. I imagine it could be used maliciously to target as well

[@LightGrunty]

In a competition setting, the rule or expectation is that a player who wants to declare chii waits about second to confirm that no one else calls the same discard. However, players declaring ron, pon, or kan are expected to make their declaration immediately. This way, there should not be any overlapping pon and chii calls. As an aside, it's good practice to use the time during your turn to think about which tiles you would call for a pon or kan. This way, you can make the calls immediately as expected. After all, it's improper to ask the other players to stop and wait after the tile is discarded and would give them information about your hand if you did.

[@pokemastericon]

@@LightGrunty Thanks for the great explanation! I've mostly played online or in person with a very casual group where I was teaching. I moved a while back and have been looking to find some people in the area to play in person, so I wanted to make sure I knew the proper etiquette on things like this before playing with new people. Thanks a bunch!

[@LightGrunty]

@@pokemastericon You're welcome. Though I will note that the etiquette varies based on the group. It's good to know these competition standards, but it's always better to ask the group to know what the expectations are.

[@moxder565]

Very useful mahjong guide! I'll recommend it to my friends! And I wonder if u can make a video about how to set up a sanma game, recently i'm confused and i really can't find such videos

[@LightGrunty]

Thanks for the kind words. As for sanma, I don't have any plans to make any such videos. There are just so many sanma variants that I wouldn't really feel comfortable nor want to make a series about them.

[@_No_Time_]

One dumb question : (two in fact) 1) How much time could you stall a call you're unsure to do ? Is it rude to ask "Matte !" just to think if you're calling Pon or not ? 2) What if you're incompetent at counting fu ? Is it percieved bad to ask someone for your score ?

[@LightGrunty]

The answers to both of these questions ultimately depends on whom you're playing with. 1) Among newer players, it might be okay to ask for some time, but in general it is bad form to make the rest of the table wait because you were unprepared. You should try to think of which tiles you would like to pon in advance so that you will be prepared to call them (or not) when they are discarded. 2) In most cases, it is okay to ask other players to help you score hands if you are unsure. However, this would be frowned upon if you were playing in a serious competition setting where players are expected to not only be able to count fu but also score hands quickly. If you plan on playing in person, you should try to ask whomever is running the games to see what the expectations are.

[@Duskshine749]

Glad to see another video from you Grunty, are you planning on streaming again soon? I’ve enjoyed watching your stream vods and would like to see you live

[@LightGrunty]

I don't really play Tenhou anymore, so I'm not planning on streaming any time soon.

[@karlowerewolf9721]

Hey man, where did you buy that mahjong table and what mahjong set are you using, yellow mountain ?

[@LightGrunty]

No, both the mat and set are AMOS products that have since been discontinued. If you're looking for mahjong sets, I would personally recommend any AMOS-brand mahjong tiles (there are different sizes and weights depending on your preference) and an AMOS Junk Mat.

[@Shazzner]

Hi there, could you do a video on two player rules? I can't seem to find any official rules for it and yet most of the mahjong games I play has two-player options.

[@LightGrunty]

Many older mahjong games are some form of 2-player mahjong, but there are no "official" rules for it. However, most games I've seen just have you play normally, except the game ends once each player has discarded 18-20 tiles.

[@QuanticBlob]

The order for saying points doesn't apply to 500, 300 as it turns out because it's said with the cleverly chosen pronounciation of 5 and 3 respectively go and mi. This makes gomi, which also means trash. Other scores have weird pronounciation aswell but they aren't wordplays.

[@LightGrunty]

In competition mahjong, players are expected to say the whole numbers in the correct order. Slang like "gomi" or "zanku" is not accepted.

[@QuanticBlob]

@@LightGrunty Yeah in retrospect that makes sense. It would be bad if there was a misunderstanding due to a regional slang or someone not knowing the commonly used ones I guess. Anyway thanks for the response.

[@jameshalleluyah8133]

I have officially watched all of your videos with likes. I'm waiting for the Akagi cheating video, for educational purposes of course...

[@kotatsku5195]

Link to mahjong set?

[@LightGrunty]

Unfortunately the mahjong set and mat featured in these videos have long since been discontinued. If you are looking to buy a Japanese mahjong set, I would recommend any AMOS-brand set as well as a Junk Mat, also made by the same company.

[@kotatsku5195]

@@LightGrunty thanks, and also…any suggestions for auto tables?

[@LightGrunty]

@@kotatsku5195 That would depend largely on your budget. You could easily find low-end autotables online, like through Amazon. Anything better, like ones with point displays, would require importing them from Japan. The two most common brands for that would be AMOS and Alban.

[@kotatsku5195]

ohh okay, rn im looking for a riichi auto table, i don’t care about point scoring.

[@paulbates3441]

I would've thought competitive Mahjong would have someone to tally the points for you. Is every pro player expected to know all the han and fu calculations and instantly figure out their hands worth in points?

[@LightGrunty]

Yes, in competition mahjong, players are expected to be able to score hands quickly. Knowing how to score hands also allows you to make better judgements during the game, so it's an important skill in such an environment.

[@paulbates3441]

@@LightGrunty And I thought learning Riichi Mahjong in general was difficult, that scoring table is almost impossible to memorize, how can you remember every dealer/non-dealer Tsumo and Ron number confidently? What if a player forgets?

[@LightGrunty]

There is a pattern to the table, and like anything, it gets easier with practice. If you are still getting used to the game, there's absolutely no need to memorize the score table. In most cases, someone else can help you score hands, or you will be able to look up the scores on the table. It is only necessary to memorize the score table in a serious competition environment, so please do not worry about it.

[@Sry342]

Thank you for the interesting video! I was already familiar with some of these rules as I enjoy watching professional games, but to hear them listed neatly confirmed my impressions. Is there a reason why you should only use one hand for every action? I've always assumed it's to prevent any type of cheating. Or is it simply seen as bad manners?

[@LightGrunty]

All of these things that are considered bad manners have some sort of logical explanation, rather than just being based on tradition. In this case, only using one hand is primarily to avoid the appearance of cheating.

[@Sry342]

@@LightGrunty I see, thank you!

[@cerradin]

Can you smoke during a competition?

[@LightGrunty]

Not during the game, no.