Riichi mahjong for beginners

Give the hand a shape and a yaku

The usual structure is four sets and a pair. A set is a three-tile sequence in one numbered suit or a triplet of identical tiles; declared kongs and special hands need separate treatment. Your numbered suits are dots, bamboo and characters. Winds and dragons are honors, so they can make matching groups but not numerical sequences.

A finished structure alone is insufficient. You need a yaku. For a beginner, start by recognizing a dragon triplet, all simples, or a closed hand that can declare riichi. All simples means every tile is a numbered 2 through 8: no 1s, 9s or honors anywhere, including the pair.

Pause before making an open call

Taking a discard for a chow or pung makes that set open. It can help finish your hand faster, but it also removes closed-only routes. You cannot declare riichi after opening the hand. Some other patterns remain valid when open, including a qualifying dragon triplet and the all-simples pattern allowed by this app.

A useful beginner question is, “What is my yaku after this call?” If you cannot answer, keeping the hand closed is a sensible learning default. It is not a rule to refuse every call; it is a way to avoid accidentally building a complete hand that cannot win.

Understand the commitment before pressing Riichi

Riichi is a declaration that a closed hand is ready to win after the declaring discard. In this practice mode, it requires a funded 1,000-point deposit, a legal discard into a waiting shape, and enough tiles left in the live wall. The button appears only when the game’s conditions are satisfied.

Choose the declaring discard carefully. After that discard, the hand is locked and subsequent ordinary discards are the newly drawn tile. You cannot treat the declaration as a free scoring bonus while continuing to rearrange your hand. The deposit is an in-game point stick, not a payment or purchase.

Learn the two wins and the discard restriction

Tsumo means winning on your own draw. Ron means winning on another player’s discard. Furiten can prevent ron: if one of the tiles that completes your current hand appears in your own discard history, you cannot claim someone else’s discard to win that hand.

The restriction applies to the whole current wait, not only the tile you discarded. A self-draw can still win if the hand otherwise qualifies. Passing a winning discard introduces further furiten rules. Tournament rules keep a passed win after riichi restricted for the remainder of the hand; this app currently clears its passed-win flag on the next personal draw, so do not learn that edge case from the practice behavior.

Worked wait: ready does not mean every win is claimable

Assume your only structural winning tiles are 1 dots and 4 dots: your unfinished group is 2–3 dots, and the rest of the hand is already arranged correctly. You have a qualifying yaku, but 1 dots appears in your own discard history.

1. The shape is ready: either listed tile would complete it.
2. Because one current winning tile is in your discards, the current hand is furiten.
3. You therefore cannot ron on another player’s 4 dots either. The restriction is not limited to the discarded 1 dots.
4. A self-drawn winning tile can still win if the hand otherwise qualifies.

Without a riichi lock, changing the hand can change its waits and remove this own-discard restriction if none of the new winning tiles appear in your discard history. That is different from the passed-win restriction, and different again from the permanent restriction after passing a win in standard riichi-declared play. The practice caveat above matters for that last case.

Closed does not mean “never take a winning discard”

Chow and pung calls open the hand. Winning by ron does not, by itself, change a previously closed hand into an open hand for closed-only yaku. This is why a riichi hand can win from someone else’s discard. Do not confuse “taking a discard to expose a set” with “taking the final winning tile.”

Some scoring details still depend on the winning method. The closed-self-draw yaku requires tsumo, so a closed hand winning by ron cannot claim that particular yaku. Likewise, a triplet finished by ron can be treated differently for concealed-triplet scoring. You only need the first distinction for your opening lessons: closed-hand status and self-draw are separate facts.

A pause before the Riichi button

• Closed: have I avoided open set calls?
• Ready after discarding: which permitted discard leaves a waiting hand?
• Funded: do I have the 1,000-point deposit required here?
• Committed: am I willing to lock this hand rather than keep rearranging it?
• Informed: have I checked my current waits against my own discards?

A declaration announces readiness to opponents. It also limits your later freedom to defend by choosing a different tile. The fact that the button is available tells you the engine permits the action; it does not settle whether declaration is the best strategic choice.

Use a short first-session routine

1. Read the rack as possible sets and a pair.
2. Name one yaku you could finish.
3. Check that yaku before an open call.
4. When ready, identify the actual winning tiles.
5. Before discarding, look for an opponent’s riichi declaration.

You do not need a complete scoring vocabulary to use this routine. One correctly explained decision is more useful than guessing quickly through a whole hand. The discard guide adds a concrete way to compare two candidates.

Know what this practice does and does not teach

The current game recognizes common yaku, requires a qualifying yaku to win, supports riichi deposits and shows dora information. Its point calculation currently omits dora bonuses and does not implement every situational yaku; it also does not use red fives or ura-dora. Treat its scores as this practice implementation, not a complete tournament reference.

Read yaku and dora to keep eligibility separate from bonus value. For a formal event, use that organizer’s current rules; World Riichi publishes its own competition rulebook and clarifications.