The Mahjong Meetup on Twitch.tv

[Frenetic]

Hi everyone,

Frenetic here! I've embarked on a new channel called The Mahjong Meetup, similar to the other to the other show I've co-founded STGWeekly. Please join us! We talk about Riichi Mahjong events and cool stories all across the world.

twitch.tv/TheMahjongMeetup

Please join us!
F

[BareKnuckleRoo]

It depends on how easy Tenhou is to setup. Having an english patch or something would be handy, I haven't played much Riichi on the computer, I'm actually more used to playing with tiles in person.

[Skykid]

I'm interested to practice Mahjong, although the Chinese ver. rather than the Japanese so I can play people around real tables. I'm pretty confident with the basics, but could someone the distinct differences between the two versions?

Also, dunno what Tenhou is, and is it Mac compatible?

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I'm interested to practice Mahjong, although the Chinese ver. rather than the Japanese so I can play people around real tables. I'm pretty confident with the basics, but could someone the distinct differences between the two versions?

Once you know how to play one, you can pretty much play most variations. Chinese Classical and European style Mahjong both tend to be simpler whereas Japanese and other variants tend to introduce more complicated mechanics. Just steer clear of Americanized Mahjong (you have to pay 20$ a year to buy a card that has all the 'hands' you can make for the year which are totally arbitrarily ass-pulled, essentially it's more about luck than having static hand types and focusing on strategy). Each variant differs slightly on how you build the wall and in other ways, but for the most part it's like playing a shmup, the basic elements are there in each and it's not hard to learn a different variant if you already know how to play one.

The main draws of Japanese Modern (Riichi) over other variants are:

* You can see who discarded what tiles instead of tiles being placed randomly in the pond. There's a huge strategic element in reading who discarded what tiles and trying to figure out what other players are waiting for to win.

* Players can't win on a tile they previously discarded (so say early on you throw a White Dragon out then later you need one to win, you can only win on a self-draw). This is what makes every player's discards (their 'ponds') safe tiles to throw against them. This rule is referred to as 'Furiten' when you can't win on a discard (there's also temporary Furiten until you draw a tile or a call is made if you pass on one person's winning tile because you want to win off another person).

* Payments come from all players if you win on a self-draw ('Tsumo') as per normal, but unique to Riichi Mahjong is that if you win on someone else's discarded tile ('Ron'), that person is the only one who pays, but they make everyone else's payments (you get the same number of points, but it hits one person much harder). This motivates players to play defensively and try to get a winning hand while avoiding dealing into another person's waits, much moreso than other Mahjong variants tend to.

* The special Riichi rule lets you lock in your hand if you're one away from winning ('Tenpai') and your hand has no exposed sets (you haven't made any Chiis/Chows, Pungs, or exposed Kongs). You can no longer change your wait after you declare Riichi, and if it's not a winning tile you must immediately discard any tile you draw (if you pass on someone's tile for the win, you are permanently Furiten for the remainder of the hand). The benefit is that if you win after declaring Riichi, you get to look at the reverse Dora/bonus tiles under the exposed ones on the wall, including ones revealed after Kongs. Basically, you can potentially get more bonus tiles and thus a much better scoring hand, not to mention the Riichi itself is worth a yaku.

* You need at least one yaku/double/big point to go out, so compared to versions with no point minimum it's not as focused purely on speed alone.

There's a few special winning hand types/yaku not found in other variants (pretty sure Chinese doesn't allow Riichi, Seven Pairs, Mixed Triple Chii/Chow, etc), but the standard ones like dragon pungs and half/full flushes all apply. Basically, just have a sheet with all the yaku/doubles/hands you can make in front of you and you're good to go.

For in-person play I just use the European Mahjong association's Riichi ruleset because it's a convenient ruleset in PDF form (the only differences between that and Japanese modern are minor variations like no exposed all simples, 2 yaku minimum if 5 counters are out, etc). Give it a read and you'll pretty much be able to play any version of Mahjong once you're used to each's individual quirks (for instance this flash version allows open all simples). The really cool bit is the last page which has a convenient yaku sheet that also lists the order of dragons/winds for dora tiles, what each character is (if you're playing on a set without numbers), etc.

[Skykid]

Supremely useful post BKR!

I haven't found as concise info anywhere on google. That explains a lot, actually, since I've been practising a Japanese ver. I DL'd for my phone, and often couldn't fathom why I'd ended in a draw and couldn't call a win even though I appeared to have a complete wall. It makes sense now based on the fact that what people discard into the pond (and what I discard) influence the outcome of the game.

More practice needed. Mainly, the Chinese version is really better for me to learn, as there's ample opportunity, but I don't mind giving Tenhou a shot. It's all in Japanese though and I haven't a clue how to navigate or enter a non-paid game.

http://tenhou.net/

[Icarus]

I play riichi, usually on Tenhou and Janryumon.

For those wondering about Tenhou, you can play directly in browser using the Flash client, no installation necessary. (You need to subscribe to be able to install the Windows client, anyway.) The default loaded lobby is the free unranked lobby, while the other lobbies are for players with specific rankings.

A good site for Tenhou documentation is http://arcturus.su/tenhou/ but really, all you need is the lobby and room list, here: http://arcturus.su/tenhou/lobbies-games.html

My particular flavour is four-player open tanyao with red fives (喰アリ赤), hanchan length (東南戦).

You definitely need a translation list or knowledge of Japanese if you're playing on Janryumon, however, but visually, it's a far superior game. The better players are on Tenhou, though.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

That explains a lot, actually, since I've been practising a Japanese ver. I DL'd for my phone, and often couldn't fathom why I'd ended in a draw and couldn't call a win even though I appeared to have a complete wall.

Granted, being Furiten doesn't come up often, so the issue is usually more not having a yaku that forms your hand, so if you're starting out playing Riichi, it's best to go for simpler ones like Riichi, or getting a pung/kong of a dragon/own wind/round wind (all these are valuable in pretty much all variants), or a half-flush (one of the basic suits + winds/dragons). Another thing to note is that there's actually a tenpai payment made if the wall runs out - a total of 3000 points is paid from the people who are not tenpai (one tile away from winning) to the people who are (no points paid if everyone/noone is tenpai), and East gets to stay East if he's tenpai. So, if one person was in tenpai and the rest weren't, he'd get 1000 from each player. A small bonus, but it helps.

Chinese is probably the best to learn on, though. The group I play with locally actually started with European Classical which is very similar to Chinese (no worrying about having a double/yaku, simpler scoring mechanics where even non-winners get points for having pungs/kongs, no flowers/seasons though) because the guy who got us into Mahjong happened to know European Classical. It took a while but we eventually made the switch to Riichi (it seemed a natural progression, like going from a basic shmup to Hellsinker, lol).

If you're interested in a good PC Mahjong game, http://www.4windsmj.com/ is solid and its main draw is that it comes with a massive number of rulesets to choose from (pretty much every variant out there) as well as the ability to make your own if you wish. The interface is a bit dated, and you'd need a Windows emulator I imagine to run it on a Mac, but even if you don't get the game itself, it has a massive knowledgebase on its website for every imaginable ruleset so if you wanted to play Chinese you could print out the list of scoring hands (Rule Collection -> Chinese Classical -> Scoring, for some reason a direct link to the page simply returns to the home page).

[febas]

Dear All!!

A little question,

Exist a english patch for Tenhou win software?

Thanks!

Regards

FEB

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Sorry, I only play mahjong with hot girls.

[Frenetic]

Hi everyone,

Frenetic here! I've embarked on a new channel called The Mahjong Meetup, similar to the other to the other show I've co-founded STGWeekly. Please join us! We talk about Riichi Mahjong events and cool stories all across the world.

twitch.tv/TheMahjongMeetup

Please join us!
F