Deep dives into advanced tactics, tournament strategies, and pro-level insights from Japan's competitive mahjong scene.
The three guides I send every new student first. About 30 minutes in total.
Start with step 1
Osaka has dozens of mahjong parlors and almost nothing written about them in English. Here's where a visitor can sit down without gambling, how Kansai three-player mahjong works, and what to say at the door.
NewAt Master 1, a perfectly average record earns you zero rank points per game. At Saint 3, the same record loses 15. Here's the point math behind every Mahjong Soul rank, and what to study at each one to keep climbing.
NewTenpai means your hand is one tile from a win. How to read and count your wait, what tenpai pays when the wall runs out, and when a tenpai hand still counts as noten.
NewA suji tile can't deal into a two-sided wait. A kanchan, penchan, tanki, or shanpon still can. How to read suji, kabe, and genbutsu, and where the traps sit.
NewThree players, 108 tiles, and no chii. On Tenhou and Mahjong Soul, North is a dora you set aside and a tsumo pays less than a ron. The two pay honba differently.
NewFuriten blocks ron once you've discarded a winning tile, after you pass a win, or for the rest of the hand in riichi. Tsumo still wins.
NewEvery dora is 1 han, and none of them is a yaku. How to read the indicator, when ura dora and kan dora count, and how many red fives each ruleset plays.
NewPlay riichi mahjong online in 2026 on Mahjong Soul, Riichi City, or Tenhou. The app, the alternative, and which Tenhou rooms are still free.
NewA mahjong efficiency trainer, a riichi scoring trainer, and chinitsu wait drills. What each one grades.
NewRiichi Book 1 is the free riichi mahjong strategy guide. Here's the PDF, the rules book before it, and the pro books after it.
NewAMOS, Alban, Aotomo, and the Amazon importers: what each automatic mahjong table costs, how big and heavy it is, which tiles it takes, and what happens to the voltage and warranty when you ship one abroad.
NewTsumo, ron, and tenpai in a line each, the eight terms to learn first, and a searchable glossary of 216 riichi mahjong terms.
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