Tenpai in mahjong: what it means, waits, and noten payments
Tenpai 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.
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Guides & FAQs
Riichi mahjong guides from a pro in Japan: furiten, dora, tenpai, suji, sanma, the glossary, and the free tools that teach you the rules.
Suji in mahjong: safe tiles, kabe, genbutsu, and suji traps
A 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.
Sanma: 3-player riichi mahjong rules, scoring, and strategy
Three 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.
Furiten in mahjong: why you can't ron, and the three kinds
Furiten 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.
Mahjong dora: indicator, ura dora, red fives, and kan dora
Every 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.
Mahjong trainer: efficiency, scoring, waits, and defense
A mahjong efficiency trainer, a riichi scoring trainer, and chinitsu wait drills. What each one grades.
Riichi mahjong terms: what tsumo, ron, and tenpai mean
Tsumo, ron, and tenpai in a line each, the eight terms to learn first, and a searchable glossary of 216 riichi mahjong terms.
Mahjong table size, dimensions and buying guide [2026]
From DIY builds to $1,000+ automatic shufflers, mahjong tables range wildly in price and functionality. Before you buy, understand the options. I'll cover every type with their ideal use cases, dimensions, pros, and cons so you pick the right one for your situation.
The best free riichi mahjong tools in English [2026]
Free riichi mahjong tools in English, most of them built here. I've played for 17 years and spent the last 10 as a pro in Japan. Here are the calculators, trainers and stats tools on this site, and the best free resources other people made. No affiliates, no fluff.
What's a professional mahjong player and how can you be one?
Professional mahjong players pay hundreds to thousands of dollars yearly to keep their title. Most of them don't make a living from the game. So why do they do it? Here's an insider's look at what being a pro means and how you can become one if you're serious.
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