Optional Rules - Riichi Mahjong Guide

[@KhenbishM]

Thank you for making both this series and the beginner one! It was extremely helpful while transitioning from playing online to in person with friends. I especially like that you broke a huge, complete guide on the game into easily manageable and reference-able pieces.

[@M3rtyville]

suucha riichi I managed to get yesterday. Have you considered making a video on local yaku?

[@LightGrunty]

No. Local yaku are effectively obscure house rules and vary from place to place, so they're not really appropriate for a video series that's just trying to teach the basics and cover standard rule sets. The idea is that if a group or platform uses local yaku, the onus is on them to teach players about these nonstandard yaku.

[@M3rtyville]

@@LightGrunty I didn't know that. First time I heard of them was in Mahjong Soul and that is the only way I can play Mahjong where I live.

[@Kamoleplace]

Senior Japanese asked if he discarded a tile then later he changes his tiles and now can use that tile, can he Pung or Chee that card, not to go out, but to improve his hand?

[@LightGrunty]

You can call tiles to make melds (chii or pon) regardless of your discarded tiles, so you may make calls on the same types of tiles you have discarded before as long as it's not to go out.

[@Kamoleplace]

@@LightGrunty Thanks.

[@Yakkers]

Is that little gem also what I'm seeing on the haku tiles, and if so, do you know why? I had been wondering what the little hole on them was.

[@LightGrunty]

Yes, it is a little gem. My set has them in all four haku tiles, which is actually a little strange. Most sets do not have a gem in the haku tiles, but if they do, it's usually only in one of them. The reason is that there is an old gambling rule that revolves around that one haku with the gem, but it is not common nowadays.

[@Yakkers]

I see, thanks for the info. Because I don't think I've said it yet, thank you so much for this series! While most people seem to be learning Riichi just to play online I imported a set and have been playing in person so it's great to see all the info about table flow and handling tiles/tenbou/honba counters/pooled riichi sticks/etc works in physical play. No other English guides or info at all really seems to get into that.

[@LightGrunty]

It's my pleasure to help people learn the game. And it's great that you've been able to play with real tiles. That's not an opportunity many people outside of Japan have. In English-speaking countries, most people don't have a choice other than to play online, which is probably why most guides are set up that way. But I think that makes it even more important for players to be aware of how the game works in real life when they do get a chance to play. It's common for players to become experienced online players, but not to be comfortable at all when they try to handle real tiles. I just happen to be the opposite; I play almost exclusively with real tiles and very rarely online.

[@Crockist]

@@LightGrunty I just realized: if the gems are to accommodate colorblindness, then could the gems not help a player differentiate between a haku and the back of a tile? That way you can know you're not mistaking tiles in your hand actually facing your opponents by mistake as haku?

[@LightGrunty]

I never thought of that, but I suppose it's possible.

[@anoddrabbit8491]

What set do you use and which table mat?

[@LightGrunty]

The mahjong set I used in these videos is a top-notch modern set from Japan, which my friend got for me. Apparently the one I use isn't sold anymore. It's really too bad, since it's such a high quality set and includes color tenbou. And the mahjong mat I used is called a "Batmat". It's a hard mat with borders to help line up the tiles. They're pretty difficult to find outside of Japan, though. If you're looking for a mahjong set, I know one of my friends got a nice Japanese-style set from Yellow Mountain Imports and a "Junk Mat" mahjong mat through Amazon. A Junk Mat is a soft mat, but the quality is just as good as a Batmat. These are the sets and mats commonly used outside of Japan because they provide a good balance between price and quality.

[@Kamoleplace]

So in Riichi mah jong, if three players all go out on the same discard, the hand becomes null with no one going out, according to "house rules". But this is so uncommon that hardly anyone will sit down to play and discuss this possible occurrence before one starts the game. You said this "three ron resulting in null hand" is a rule in tournament play?

[@LightGrunty]

It varies by rule set. If you're playing in some sort of event, it would be clearly stated in their rules. But if you're playing casually among friends, I would recommend picking an established rule set so that you have something to refer to when a rare case like this comes up. For example, if you wanted to play by Tenhou rules, then a triple ron would abort the hand. Conversely, most in-person rule sets use headbump, only allowing one player to win per hand, but some allow up to three players to win on the same discard.

[@alexquinn2390]

So, under normal rules, you can't declare chi on a closed sequence and then discard the remaining tile?

[@LightGrunty]

That's correct. Most rule sets disallow discarding a tile that would have completed the chi you just called.

[@alexquinn2390]

This is only the case right after you call chi? Because, if playing with real tiles then you could discard it on the second round after you call chi and just pretend you drew it from the wall. @@LightGrunty

[@LightGrunty]

Yes, the restriction on swap calling only applied to the turn that you called. You are free to discard any tile from your hand after drawing another tile from the wall. And I would like to make clear that you do not have to pretend that you drew the tile on the following turn to discard it. In fact, you should not be putting the tile you draw into your hand until after you discard, so the other players will be able to see whether or not you discarded the tile you just drew, if they were watching carefully.

[@alexquinn2390]

Is discarding the tile that you just drew against the rules? @@LightGrunty

[@LightGrunty]

No, of course not. But putting the tile you drew into your hand before you discard is usually against the rules.