🇯🇵 Riichi Mahjong
Also known as: Japanese Mahjong · Riichi · Mahjong Soul rules · Tenhou rules
The most-played mahjong variant online, and the deepest competitive scene anywhere. You declare riichi, hunt dora tiles, and — just as often — fold your hand to keep from paying someone else's win.
Overview
Riichi mahjong is the Japanese take on the game and the standard ruleset of online platforms such as Mahjong Soul, Tenhou and Riichi City. Players build a 14-tile hand from 136 tiles (no flower tiles), and every winning hand must contain at least one yaku — a defined scoring pattern.
What sets riichi apart is the riichi declaration itself: when your hand is fully closed and one tile away from winning (tenpai), you may declare riichi, lock your hand and pay a 1,000-point deposit for a chance at extra dora and bigger payments. Defensive play is equally important — because you can lose points on a deal-in, reading discards matters as much as building your own hand.
The variant rewards patience and precision. Four-player games are the default; three-player (sanma) versions remove the 2–8 of characters and change the wall setup.
Rules Highlights
- ✓136 tiles: 3 suits + honors, no flowers or seasons
- ✓Every winning hand needs at least one yaku (e.g. riichi, tanyao, yakuhai)
- ✓Closed tenpai hands may declare riichi for a 1,000-point deposit and one extra dora per kan
- ✓Uradora (hidden bonus dora) is revealed for each riichi winner
- ✓Furiten: you cannot win on a discard you previously passed, and a winning tile in your own discards blocks ron entirely
- ✓Four calls (pon/kan/chii) are allowed; chii only from the player to your left
- ✓Draws resolve with the ready hand(s) collecting penalty points (noten penalty)
Scoring at a Glance
Han
Yaku value and dora bonuses; 1 han minimum to win (5 han limit at kakuhen thresholds)
Fu
Minipoints from pair types, waits and calls; a baseline of 20–30 fu applies to simple hands
Payment table
Han and fu together map to a fixed table — e.g. 4 han / 30 fu ≈ 7,700 from the discarder, ≈ 5,200/2,600 split on self-draw
Yakuman
Limit hands (e.g. kokushi, suuankou) pay a flat 32,000 (dealer doubles) regardless of han
Riichi Mahjong FAQ
▸Is riichi mahjong hard to learn?
It has more rules than Hong Kong mahjong, but the core loop is learnable in an afternoon: understand the yaku list, the riichi declaration and basic defense. Most beginners play their first full games within a week using online clients that highlight valid calls.
▸Where can I play riichi mahjong online?
The three most popular clients are Mahjong Soul (friendly for beginners), Tenhou (the traditional competitive standard) and Riichi City. All are free to play with optional cosmetics.
▸Why must every hand have a yaku?
The yaku requirement prevents trivially fast wins and gives the game its strategic texture — you choose a yaku direction early, and dora tiles only score when they ride on a valid yaku.
Related Variants
Riichi Mahjong in the Community
When you finish our guide, keep reading here — these are the places theRiichi Mahjong community actually hangs out:
- Tenhou ↗The traditional Japanese online server — where serious ranked play has lived for 20 years.
- Mahjong Soul ↗The beginner-friendly anime-styled client. Free, fast matchmaking, cute characters.
- Riichi Book 1 ↗Daina Chiba's free strategy book — the standard next step after learning rules.
- r/mahjong ↗The main English-language mahjong community — rules debates, set photos and beginner questions answered daily.
Next: learn the tiles
Every variant runs on the same tile set. Our illustrated tile guide covers every tile — suits, honors, flowers and jokers — with usage notes.
Open the Tile Guide →