Free course麻雀講座
Riichi mahjong course
Learn riichi from the first tile to push or fold, one short lesson at a time, with problems to check yourself as you go.
Nothing done yet. Lesson 1 takes 9 minutes.
Start with lesson 1, How to play riichi mahjong
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How riichi works
The tiles, the winning hand, calls, yaku, riichi and how a game is scored, then five rules to play your first ranked games by.
0 of 6 lessons done
Lesson 1: How to play riichi mahjong
Almost every winning hand in riichi is four sets and a pair. Learn the 34 kinds of tile, read the code the course writes hands in, and tell at a glance when 14 tiles are complete.
9 min read
Lesson 2: How a hand is played
Who plays next, which discards you can take, which call wins, and who pays. Go through a hand in the order it happens, from the deal to a ron, a tsumo, or an empty wall.
9 min read
Lesson 3: What is a yaku?
Four sets and a pair isn't enough to win. Learn the five everyday yaku, why one call can leave a hand with none, and why dora never count.
9 min read
Lesson 4: Tenpai, riichi and furiten
Reach tenpai, declare riichi the right way, and never lose a ron to furiten. Check every winning tile against your own discards before you count on a ron.
9 min read
Lesson 5: How a game works: rounds, dealer and placement
A game usually runs eight hands or more while the deal moves around the table. See who deals next, what a draw pays, how the game ends, and why your place beats your points.
10 min read
Lesson 6: Your first ranked games: five rules to start with
Cut loose tiles, riichi every closed tenpai, call only for a yaku, fold against a riichi, and check your yaku and furiten. Four of the rules name the lesson that replaces them.
9 min read
Reading your hand
See a hand the way strong players do: partial sets, shanten, the tiles that help, and every wait.
0 of 4 lessons done
Lesson 7: Ryanmen, kanchan, penchan: partial sets ranked
Rank every two-tile shape in your hand by the tiles that finish it and the draws that improve it, then label every tile as a set, partial set, pair, or loose tile.
9 min read
Lesson 8: Shanten: how far you are from tenpai
Shanten is how many useful tiles you still need to reach tenpai. Count it by hand from your sets, partial sets, and head, then check seven pairs.
9 min read
Lesson 9: Tile acceptance: count the tiles that help
Two discards can leave you the same distance from tenpai and still differ by four tiles. Count both lists, take off what you can see, and let the count pick the cut.
9 min read
Lesson 10: Mahjong waits: find every winning tile
Most waits are one of five basic shapes, or two or three of them sharing tiles. Learn to split a hand so you find every winning tile, then count how many copies are still live.
9 min read
Tile efficiency
Pick the discard that reaches a good tenpai fastest, from the first discard to a strong 1-shanten.
0 of 8 lessons done
Lesson 11: What to discard first: loose tiles and honors
Loose tiles leave first, and the order among them matters. Rank them by how many copies help each one grow, then cut honors from guest winds to your own wind.
9 min read
Lesson 12: Pairs: two is right, three is one too many
Two pairs give you a head and a set in waiting. A third pair is the cheapest block to break in a closed hand, and value and copies left decide which one goes.
9 min read
Lesson 13: Shapes worth keeping: 3456, 3445, 334 and ryankan
Some tiles that look spare are doing extra work. Learn the shapes that take more draws than their size, count what each one takes, and you'll know which tile to cut.
9 min read
Lesson 14: The five-block method
Count to five and most discards take seconds instead of a full acceptance count. Three steps, one hand from the deal to 1-shanten, and four problems to try them on.
9 min read
Lesson 15: Too many blocks or too few
Five blocks make the cut easy. With six, cut what's loose, then drop the weakest partial set whole. With four, keep the loose tile that can grow and cut guest winds and terminals first.
9 min read
Lesson 16: 1-shanten: the step where hands are won
When you're one draw from tenpai, your cut decides how many draws say yes and what wait you get. Count both numbers, keep the complete shape, and pick a spare that can still build.
9 min read
Lesson 17: Headless and floating-tile 1-shanten
Wide 1-shanten shapes take almost any draw. Count how many of those draws give a two-sided wait, and you'll know which shape to keep.
9 min read
Lesson 18: One hand from deal to tenpai
Follow one hand from the deal to a riichi, turn by turn, with the count behind every cut. Then play a second hand yourself, naming your stage before each discard.
9 min read
Hand value
Know what a hand pays, take value when it costs little speed, and build the yaku that actually come up.
0 of 8 lessons done
Lesson 19: What a hand pays: han, mangan and the limits
Han set the price. Each one about doubles it until mangan caps it, and from there the hand pays one of five fixed limits. Here are the numbers to know, and who pays them.
9 min read
Lesson 20: Fu without counting: the scores to know
Four boxes give nearly every winning hand its fu without a count, and a fifth tells you when to count. Learn the 30-fu and 40-fu columns, and most prices are already in your head.
9 min read
Lesson 21: Speed or value: when a yaku is worth slowing down
The widest cut and the most valuable one aren't always the same tile. Count what a yaku costs in tiles and adds in points, and pay for value only when it comes cheap.
9 min read
Lesson 22: Playing the dora: make room, keep it, cut it on time
A dora is a han that asks nothing of your shape. Build shapes that can catch it, then cut a loose one on your first discards or at tenpai, not in the middle of the hand.
9 min read
Lesson 23: Pinfu and tanyao: the everyday yaku
Pinfu and tanyao come from shapes you'd keep for speed anyway. Learn what breaks them, break ties toward the middle tiles, and see how they lift a one-dora riichi to 7,700.
9 min read
Lesson 24: Sanshoku, ittsu and chanta: notice them, don't force them
Spot sanshoku and ittsu by reading across your suits, keep the last piece when it costs two tiles or fewer, and learn the two cases where chanta is worth steering for.
9 min read
Lesson 25: Honitsu and chinitsu: when to go for a flush
A flush can turn a 1,000-point dragon pon into 3,900 or more, or throw away two good shapes for a slow 2,000. Three counts in your first turns tell you which.
9 min read
Lesson 26: Seven pairs or toitoi: playing pair-heavy hands
Seven pairs moves only on your own draws. Toitoi moves on everyone's discards, if your pairs are tiles they throw. Count the pairs you could pon, and play a normal hand when it sits closer to tenpai.
9 min read
Riichi
Declare at the right moment, pick the wait that pays most, and know the rare hands worth slowing down.
0 of 3 lessons done
Lesson 27: When to riichi: almost always, and right away
Riichi doubles a cheap hand, lets a yakuless one win off a discard, and costs 1,000 points. On almost every closed tenpai, that trade wins. The hands where it loses fit on a short list.
9 min read
Lesson 28: Choosing your wait: tiles, then value, then ease
Two discards both make tenpai. Count each wait's live tiles, price what each win pays, and when the two come out level, take the tile the other players throw.
9 min read
Lesson 29: Going back a step: when to refuse a tenpai
Take the tenpai and declare almost every time. Go back a step only for a gain you can count: a wait with one copy left or none, a hand that jumps in value, or a 1-shanten too ugly to keep.
9 min read
Calling
Call when it buys speed you can't get closed, and pass when it throws away value and defense.
0 of 4 lessons done
Lesson 30: When to call chi and pon
Every chi or pon trades your closed hand for a faster open one. Price the closed hand you'll end up with, and call only when the call moves you forward or brings a yaku.
9 min read
Lesson 31: Yakuhai: keep the pair, pon the first one
A dragon pair is one tile from a yaku any player can hand you. Keep the pair, pon the first copy, and know when the closed hand is worth more.
9 min read
Lesson 32: Open tanyao: fast hands that still have a yaku
Tanyao still counts after a chi or a pon. Keep every winning tile a 2 to 8, and call when dora, the dealer's seat, a needed win, or the last turns make the speed worth it.
9 min read
Lesson 33: When to kan, and when it only helps others
A kan gives you a fresh draw and extra fu, and gives every player a new dora. Make it when you're the player closest to winning, and skip it when someone else is.
9 min read
Defense
Fold cleanly against a riichi, rank every tile by danger, and respect open hands that are really ready.
0 of 6 lessons done
Lesson 34: How to fold: the safest tile, every turn
Deciding to fold is easy. Folding cleanly takes a procedure: count your safe tiles, throw one genbutsu every turn, and spend them in the right order until the hand ends.
10 min read
Lesson 35: When genbutsu runs out: suji and kabe
A 4 in the riichi river means no two-sided wait can win on the 1 or the 7. That rule, plus counting to four, carries your fold past your last genbutsu.
10 min read
Lesson 36: The safety ladder: rank any tile against a riichi
Your genbutsu is gone and you still have to discard. Seven rungs rank every tile in your hand against a riichi, from an honor with every other copy in view down to the dora.
10 min read
Lesson 37: Defending against open hands
Count the calls, price the hand from what it shows, and find the few tiles it can win on. Then fold to the open hands that matter and keep playing against the rest.
10 min read
Lesson 38: Reading discards: count first, then the real clues
Most of what a riichi river tells you comes from counting. The famous reads, from suji traps to aida yonken, are real but small, so use them only to choose between tiles the count calls equal.
9 min read
Lesson 39: Defense before the riichi: keeping a safe tile
A fold needs a first safe tile, and it has to be in your hand before anyone declares. Here's when keeping one is free, when it's worth a few tiles, and when acceptance comes first.
9 min read
Push or fold
Decide whether your hand is worth the risk, from tenpai down to the last draw.
0 of 4 lessons done
Lesson 40: Push or fold: a checklist that works
A riichi is down and your discard is next. Five questions, asked in order, tell you whether your hand is worth the danger: shanten, wait, price, who declared, and your safe tiles.
10 min read
Lesson 41: Tenpai against a riichi: when to chase
A two-sided tenpai chases a non-dealer riichi at almost any value. A one-sided wait needs about 2,000, and about a mangan against the dealer. Here's the math, the seat rules, and how to play the push.
10 min read
Lesson 42: 1-shanten against a riichi: push, weave or fold
You're one draw from tenpai and the riichi player is already there. Count your tenpai tiles, price the hand, then push one tile, weave with safe cuts, or fold.
10 min read
Lesson 43: The last turns: formal tenpai and noten payments
In the last turns, tenpai is worth 2,500 to 3,000 points at the draw, even with no yaku. Here is when to call for it and which tiles are worth pushing to keep it.
10 min read
Playing for placement
Turn points into placement: read the gaps, plan the South round, and play All Last by the numbers.
0 of 3 lessons done
Lesson 44: Play for placement, not points
Tenhou and Mahjong Soul pay for where you finish. Count the gap above and below you, and let it set your speed, value, and defense from South 1 on.
10 min read
Lesson 45: All Last: know your number before you discard
One hand is left and every gap is exact. Before your first discard, price three wins for each player you can pass: a ron off anyone else, a ron off them, and a tsumo.
10 min read
Lesson 46: All Last decisions: by place, not points
Every All Last decision answers one question: does this change my place? Riichi or dama, push or fold, and which wait to take, from 1st, from 4th, and from the middle.
10 min read
Getting better
Judge decisions instead of results, and turn every session into a step forward.
0 of 2 lessons done
Lesson 47: Luck or skill? Judge the decision, not the result
One game can't tell a right decision from a lucky one. Grade each decision by what you knew when you made it, and give your stats 300 games before you trust them.
10 min read
Lesson 48: How to keep improving after the course
Your own games can teach you more than any lesson, if you look back at them. The routine: review two hands per game, drill ten minutes a day, and fix one leak a month.
9 min read
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