A Practical Guide to Riichi Mahjong
Rules, yaku, scoring and table manners, from your first hand to your first tournament
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NPMahjong
2026 edition
A Practical Guide to Riichi Mahjong
Rules, yaku, scoring and table manners, from your first hand to your first tournament
Nicolas Pro
What you'll learn
- The 136 tiles, how the table is set up, and how a turn runs
- Calls: chi, pon and kan, and when they open your hand
- Every yaku and yakuman, with examples and their open and closed values
- How to count fu and han, and read any score table
- Furiten, draws, honba, and the rules that change from table to table
- The manners a Japanese parlor or a tournament expects
Chapters
- PrefaceWhere this book comes from, what changed in 2026, and how to read it.
- What is mahjong?The game at a glance: where it comes from, how you win a hand, and how long a game lasts.
- The tilesThe three suits, the honor tiles, the full set, and tricks to recognize every tile.
- Setting up the tableSeats, winds, points, the wall, the dice, dora, and the deal: everything that happens before the first discard.
- The turnDraw, discard, call, and win: what you do on every turn, from the first tile to the last.
- The end of a handTenpai, draws, honba, and riichi sticks: how a hand ends, and when the game does.
- Rules and penaltiesFuriten, the rules a table settles before the first hand, today's standard, and what happens when someone breaks a rule.
- YakuThe conditions that turn a hand into a winner, one by one, with their han value and an example.
- YakumanThe hands that pay the maximum, and the local yaku you'll still hear about at the table.
- ScoringHan, fu, and base points: what a hand is worth, who pays what, and how a game's final result is worked out.
- Table mannersWhat the table expects of you, from the first greeting to the last point stick.
- Final adviceWhat to do after the last page: play, ask questions, and choose how you want to play.
- Yaku listEvery yaku and yakuman in one table and one quick-reference list, with an example hand.
- GlossaryThe Japanese terms of the table, A to Z, with their spelling and their meaning.
- AcknowledgmentsTo the people who made this book possible, in 2010 and today.
About this book
I wrote the first version of this guide in Spanish in 2010, for the players of the Club Argentino de Mahjong. Back then there was almost nothing on riichi mahjong in Spanish.
Ten years of playing professionally in Osaka changed a lot. This edition fixes the rules, brings everything up to how the game is played in Japan and online today (Mahjong Soul, Tenhou, M-League), and adds interactive drills.
Want to improve faster?
I review your Mahjong Soul or Tenhou games and tell you what to change. Lessons in English or Spanish.