Peter Gao

I am a code writer, machine teacher, manga reader, video gamer, and graphic design dilettante. I love and suck at Riichi Mahjong.

This is the “Standard” ruleset as I learned from Koichi N. It’s a 4-player shuugi riichi mahjong ruleset.

Each chip is worth 5000 points.

Major Rules

These are changes that commonly affect gameplay.

  • Abortive draws are
    • off if hand-shuffling
    • on if playing on auto-table, except for 4-riichi.
  • Kiriage Mangan is on.
  • Agariyame and tenpaiyame are off.
    • furthermore, all-last must end with a non-dealer win. Dealer no-ten leads to a repeat.
    • if 1st player has less than 31,000 pt, west extension is on until 1st player has no less than 31,000 pt. No North extension.
  • About aka:
    • there are 2 red fives in each suit.
    • Red fives become regular fives if the winning hand is open. I.e., an open winning hand gets no dora or shuugi from red fives.
  • About extra dora indicators:
    • if the dice roll is 16, 11, or 66: 3 dora indicators.
    • if the dice roll is 22, 33, 44, or 55: 2 dora indicators.
    • otherwise, 1 dora indicator.
  • Open Riichi is on and is free (no need to bet 1000). Only reveal tiles relevant to the wait.
  • Basengo: honba bonus is 500 per player.
  • Wareme.
  • Pinfu-tsumo together is worth 1-han-30-fu (instead of 2-han-20-fu)
  • Chiitoi is worth 30-fu (instead of 25-fu)
  • These local yaku are on: Kanburi, Sanrenko, Renhou (Yakuman), Shiisanpuutaa (Yakuman).
  • Nagashimangan is a special win (yakitori off) that replaces no-ten payments.
    • i.e., All other game progression stays unchanged (riichi sticks stay in the center, honba counter +1, dealership rotates if dealer is not tenpai).
  • If you are in riichi, you can peek at adjacent players’ hands (even if you can kan)

Shuugi

  • Menzen only: each of ippatsu, aka, and ura is worth 1 chip.
  • Yakitori is worth 3 chips paid to the table
    • Re-yakitori: if no one is yakitori, everyone becomes yakitori again.
  • Yakuman shuugi is 20 chips if ron, and 10 chips each if tsumo. Applies to kazoe yakuman.
  • Tobi: 2 chips in East-West, and 1 chip in South-North. (Atamahane order, for first one to cause the bust, in case of multi-ron)

Oka and Uma

Oka is 20k total. I.e., 25k start -> 30k return.

Uma is paid in chips:

  • 9/1/-3/-7 (if the 2nd place is below 30k)
  • 6/2/-2/-6 (all other scenarios)

House rules

At my place, I usually play with these modifications/clarifications:

  • wareme is off
  • split uma (if triple tie, round down).
  • chonbo penalty is 2 chips each.
  • empty win call without revealing the hand results in a dead hand, NOT chonbo.

Updated: