How to Play Riichi Mahjong

Riichi mahjong is the version of mahjong that rewards thought, study, and patience. It is the mahjong of Akagi, of Saki, of the M.League broadcasts that fill Japanese television prime time. It is also, thanks to Mahjong Soul and a generation of online players, the version most Westerners are now learning first. This guide is everything a new Riichi player needs to know before sitting down — at a real table or in a browser tab.

Riichi mahjong is the form played across Japan, throughout the global anime community, and on the major online clients — Mahjong Soul, Riichi City, Tenhou. The rules are precise. The strategy is deep. The community is welcoming. And the learning curve, while real, is one of the most rewarding in any game.

This page covers the rules from zero. By the time you finish, you'll know what Riichi is, what yaku are, what dora are, how the scoring works, and what your first ten hours of play will look like. Bookmark this page. You'll want to come back to it.

Six things separate Japanese Riichi from every other tradition. Each one shapes the game in a meaningful way.

• No flowers, no seasons. A Riichi set contains 136 tiles — the three suits, four winds, and three dragons. The eight bonus tiles used in Chinese and American play are removed entirely.
• Every winning hand must contain at least one yaku. A yaku is a named scoring pattern. Without one, you cannot win — no matter how complete or elegant the structure of your tiles.
• The riichi declaration. A player one tile away from winning may declare riichi, locking their hand in exchange for scoring bonuses.
• Dora and red fives. Bonus tiles indicated mid-game add +1 han per tile to the final score. Modern Japanese sets include red-painted 5s that function as permanent dora.
• Furiten. A defensive rule that prevents you from winning on certain tiles based on your own discards.
• Strict scoring through han and fu. A precise, layered scoring system that ranges from a few hundred points to a maximum yakuman worth 32,000 or more.

If you've played Chinese or American mahjong, some habits will transfer. Many will not. The yaku requirement, in particular, is the rule new players struggle with most.

• A 136-tile Japanese-style mahjong set, ideally including red fives (1–3 per set, depending on the variant).
• Four mahjong racks, sized for Japanese tiles (smaller than American).
• A mahjong mat, roughly 31 inches square, to dampen sound and protect tiles.
• Two dice for determining the dealer.
• Point sticks (tenbō) for tracking score during a session. Standard sets distribute 25,000 points to each player in sticks of 10,000, 5,000, 1,000, and 100.
• An automatic mahjong table if you play often. Not necessary, but transformative — the AMOS REXX, MATSUOKA, and AOTOMO tables are the major options.

• Mahjong Soul (Jantama) — Free, browser-based, beginner-friendly. The most common gateway for Western players. Anime-styled, gacha mechanics, but the underlying ruleset is standard Japanese Riichi.
• Riichi City — Strong onboarding tutorials, "Duolingo for mahjong" teaching mode.
• Tenhou — The hardcore competitive client. Functional, no aesthetics, used by serious players.
• MahjongSoul Pong☆ and Kan!! — The anime adaptations that have introduced millions of Western viewers to the game.

A standard Japanese Riichi set contains 136 tiles, organized as follows:

• Manzu (萬子) — Characters: numbered 1–9, four copies each (36 tiles).
• Pinzu (筒子) — Circles: numbered 1–9, four copies each (36 tiles).
• Souzu (索子) — Bamboos: numbered 1–9, four copies each (36 tiles).
• Winds: East (東), South (南), West (西), North (北), four copies each (16 tiles).
• Dragons: White (白), Green (發), Red (中), four copies each (12 tiles).

Modern sets also include red fives — typically one 5-of-Pin, one 5-of-Sou, and one or two 5-of-Man painted red instead of the standard color. Red fives are dora-equivalent tiles included in the natural 4 copies of each 5 (not extras).

Riichi vocabulary distinguishes between terminals (1s and 9s in the numbered suits, plus all honors) and simples (2s through 8s). Several yaku reward one category or the other. Memorize the distinction early — it becomes second nature within a few games.

Here's how every Riichi hand begins.

1. Shuffle the tiles face-down on the table. All four players shuffle.
2. Build the wall. Each player builds 17 stacks of two tiles in front of them — for a total of 34 tiles per wall, 136 total.
3. Roll for East. Players roll dice. Highest roll becomes East and is the first dealer.
4. Break the wall. East rolls again. The dice indicate where to break the wall and begin distributing tiles.
5. Deal 13 tiles to each player. East has 13 to start and draws the 14th on the first turn.
6. Set aside the dead wall. The 14 tiles at the back of the wall (counting from the break point) form the dead wall — reserved for replacement draws after kans and for dora indicators. These tiles are not drawn during normal play.
7. Flip the dora indicator. The third tile from the right end of the dead wall is flipped face-up. Whatever tile it shows, the next tile in sequence is the dora. (If the indicator is a 4-of-Pin, the dora is the 5-of-Pin.) For honors: East → South → West → North → East for winds; White → Green → Red → White for dragons.
8. Begin play. East draws and discards first.

A standard Riichi session is structured as follows:

• A hand is one complete round of play, ending when someone wins or the wall is exhausted.
• A round (East round, South round, etc.) consists of 4 hands, with each player taking the dealer position once.
• A tonpuusen (East-only game) is 4 hands total — one East round.
• A hanchan is 8 hands total — East round plus South round. This is the standard Japanese full game.

Riichi play proceeds counterclockwise, same as every other tradition.

On your turn:

1. Draw one tile from the wall.
2. Decide what to keep and what to discard.
3. Discard one tile face-up to your right side of the table, in front of you. (Riichi discards are organized in neat rows in front of each player — this is important for defense.)

When another player discards, you may interrupt by calling. Three calls are possible:

• Pon (碰) — completing a triplet. Callable from any player's discard. Same as pung.
• Kan (槓) — completing a quad. Three forms: concealed kan (formed from your own draws), open kan (calling a discard to complete an exposed triplet), and added kan (adding a fourth tile to an existing called pon).
• Chii (吃) — completing a sequence. Only callable from the player immediately to your left. Lower priority than pon and kan.

After calling, you display the completed set face-up and discard one tile to balance the hand size.

Here is the rule that confuses every new Riichi player.

A winning hand must contain at least one yaku.

A yaku is a named scoring pattern — riichi, tanyao, pinfu, yakuhai, and so on. There are roughly 40 named yaku in standard rulesets. Each carries a value in han (typically 1 to 13, with yakuman as separate maximums).

If your hand reaches its winning structure but contains no yaku, you cannot declare a win. Your hand is structurally complete but has no scoring foundation. This is the most common beginner frustration in Riichi: a player with four sets and a pair calls "Ron!" and is told the hand doesn't qualify.

The seven beginner yaku below will cover roughly 95% of hands you'll actually win in your first hundred games.

The riichi declaration is the mechanic the entire game is named after.

When your hand is concealed and one tile away from winning (a state called tenpai), you may declare riichi on your turn after discarding.

1. Wait for your turn. Draw your tile.
2. If discarding will leave your hand in tenpai with no calls made (fully concealed), declare "Riichi!"
3. Place a 1,000-point stick sideways across the line of your discards. (At a physical table, you rotate the riichi tile itself 90 degrees in your discard row.)
4. Continue play. Your hand is now locked.

• +1 han automatically. Riichi itself is a 1-han yaku. This means even a hand with no other yaku can win — riichi alone is enough.
• Eligibility for ippatsu (一発). If you win within one complete turn cycle of declaring (your next draw, plus any discard before your next turn), you gain an additional +1 han.
• Eligibility for ura-dora (裏ドラ). Hidden dora revealed only after a riichi win. The tile directly beneath each dora indicator becomes an additional ura-dora indicator. This can add many han to a winning hand.
• Strategic pressure on opponents. A declared riichi signals "I am one tile from winning," forcing opponents to defensive play.

• The 1,000-point stick. If no one wins the hand, the stick stays on the table for the next hand's winner.
• You cannot change your hand. Every drawn tile that doesn't win must be discarded. You cannot fold.
• Permanent furiten on your wait tiles. (See below.)
• You cannot call new pon, chii, or open kan. (You may declare a concealed kan only if it doesn't change your wait.)

Riichi is the most studied decision in the game. Push too quickly and you over-commit; wait too long and you'll never declare. The art of riichi is the art of knowing when.

Dora are bonus tiles. They are not a yaku — they cannot make a hand win on their own — but each dora in a winning hand adds +1 han to the final score.

At the start of each hand, the third tile from the right end of the dead wall is flipped face-up as the dora indicator. The dora is the next tile in sequence:

• Numbered suits: the indicator's number + 1, in the same suit. (4-of-Pin indicator → 5-of-Pin is dora.) 9 wraps to 1.
• Winds: East → South → West → North → East.
• Dragons: White → Green → Red → White.

If you have any copies of the dora tile in your winning hand, each one adds +1 han.

Each time a kan is declared, a new dora indicator is flipped. A hand with multiple kans has multiple dora.

Modern Japanese sets include red-painted 5-tiles — typically one 5-of-Pin, one 5-of-Sou, and sometimes one or two 5-of-Man. Each red five in your winning hand is always dora, regardless of the dora indicator. They function as permanent bonus tiles.

When a player wins after declaring riichi, the tile directly beneath each dora indicator is also flipped — revealing the ura-dora indicator. The tile sequentially after each ura-dora indicator counts as additional dora. Ura-dora can dramatically increase the value of a riichi win, sometimes turning a mangan into a yakuman.

Furiten (振聴) is the rule that prevents a kind of accidental cheating — and adds a defensive layer to every late-game decision.

The rule: You cannot win on a tile (by ron) if any of your possible winning tiles has been previously discarded by you.

If your hand can win on either the 4-of-Sou or the 7-of-Sou, and you've previously discarded a 7-of-Sou, you cannot win by ron on either tile — even the 4-of-Sou. You can still win by tsumo (drawing the winning tile yourself).

Once you've declared riichi, furiten becomes permanent for the rest of the hand. If at any point after riichi you let a winning tile pass without claiming it — even unintentionally — you can no longer win by ron for the rest of that hand. (Tsumo wins remain valid.)

Furiten prevents a player from holding their winning tile in their discard pile and then claiming ron on it later when an opponent unwittingly discards the same tile. It enforces commitment.

There are roughly 40 yaku in standard Riichi. These seven cover the vast majority of beginner wins.

The declaration itself. Concealed hand only. The most common yaku in the game. Discussed above.

"All simples." A hand containing no terminals (1s and 9s) and no honors (winds, dragons). All tiles must be 2–8 in the numbered suits. Easy to recognize, easy to pursue.

A triplet of a dragon (any color), the round wind, or your seat wind. Each qualifying triplet is worth +1 han. A hand with both a Red Dragon triplet and a triplet of your seat wind scores +2 han for yakuhai. Yakuhai works in concealed or open hands.

"All sequences." A concealed-hand yaku with strict requirements:

• All four sets are sequences (chii/chow). No triplets, no quads.
• The pair is not yakuhai (not a dragon, not the round wind, not your seat wind).
• The winning tile completes a two-sided wait (not a single-tile, edge, or closed wait).

Pinfu is structurally elegant and often combines with other yaku for higher scores.

"Concealed self-draw." Winning a fully concealed hand by tsumo (drawing the final tile from the wall). Most often called simply tsumo as a yaku. Pairs well with riichi.

"One identical sequence pair." Two identical sequences in the same suit — for example, two sets of 2-3-4 in Pin. Concealed only.

"One-shot." Winning within one turn cycle of declaring riichi. Cannot occur if any player calls (pon, kan, chii) during that cycle.

Once you're comfortable with the seven above, the next eight to learn:

• Toitoi (対々和) — 2 han. All triplets and quads, no sequences.
• Honitsu (混一色) — 3 han concealed / 2 han open. Half flush — one suit plus honors.
• Chinitsu (清一色) — 6 han concealed / 5 han open. Full flush — one suit only, no honors.
• Chiitoitsu (七対子) — 2 han. Seven pairs. The major exception to the "four sets and a pair" rule.
• Sanshoku Doujun (三色同順) — 2 han concealed / 1 han open. Three-color same sequence. The same sequence (e.g., 4-5-6) in all three suits.
• Sanshoku Doukou (三色同刻) — 2 han. Three-color same triplet. The same number triplet in all three suits.
• Ittsuu (一気通貫) — 2 han concealed / 1 han open. "Straight" — 1-9 in a single suit, organized as three sequences (1-2-3, 4-5-6, 7-8-9).
• Junchan (純全帯么九) — 3 han concealed / 2 han open. Every set contains a terminal (1 or 9), no honors.

Yakuman are the maximum-value hands in Riichi. Each is worth a fixed amount — 32,000 points for a non-dealer, 48,000 for a dealer — regardless of dora, fu, or other yaku.

The most famous:

• Kokushi Musou (国士無双) — Thirteen Orphans. One of each terminal (1 and 9 in each suit), one of each wind, one of each dragon, plus a pair of any of these. 13 unique tiles + 1 pair.
• Suuankou (四暗刻) — Four Concealed Triplets. Four triplets, all formed without calling.
• Daisangen (大三元) — Big Three Dragons. Triplets of all three dragons.
• Shousuushii / Daisuushii (小四喜 / 大四喜) — Little/Big Four Winds.
• Chuuren Poutou (九蓮宝燈) — Nine Gates. A concealed flush with the structure 1-1-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9-9-9 + any tile of the same suit. Said to be the most beautiful hand in mahjong.

Yakuman are rare. Most serious players see only a handful per year.

Riichi scoring is precise — and a beginner doesn't need to calculate it manually. Online clients and automatic tables do this for you. But the concepts are worth understanding.

A winning hand has a han count (the sum of all yaku and dora) and a fu count (the structural base points, calculated from set types, waits, and the pair). The combination produces the final score.

Once a hand reaches a certain han total, scoring caps at fixed thresholds:

• Mangan (満貫) — 5 han, or 4 han with high fu. 8,000 points (non-dealer) / 12,000 (dealer).
• Haneman (跳満) — 6–7 han. 12,000 / 18,000.
• Baiman (倍満) — 8–10 han. 16,000 / 24,000.
• Sanbaiman (三倍満) — 11–12 han. 24,000 / 36,000.
• Kazoe Yakuman (数え役満) — 13+ han. 32,000 / 48,000. Same value as a true yakuman.

• Ron (winning on someone's discard): The discarder pays the full score.
• Tsumo (self-drawn win): All three opponents pay. Non-dealers split the cost; the dealer pays double.

Chii (吃)

Call to complete a sequence. From the player on your left only.

Dora (ドラ)

Bonus tiles. +1 han each.

Furiten (振聴)

Defensive rule preventing ron wins on tiles you've discarded.

Han (翻)

Doubling units. Sum of yaku and dora.

Ippatsu (一発)

Winning within one turn after riichi. +1 han.

Kan (槓)

Call to complete a quad.

Mangan (満貫)

First major scoring threshold. 8,000 points non-dealer.

Menzen (門前)

Concealed. A hand with no calls.

Pon (碰)

Call to complete a triplet.

Riichi (立直)

Declaration of tenpai with concealed hand. +1 han.

Ron (栄)

Winning on another player's discard.

Tanyao (断么九)

All simples (no terminals, no honors). 1 han.

Tenbō (点棒)

Point sticks.

Tenpai (聴牌)

One tile away from winning.

Tsumo (自摸)

Winning by drawing from the wall.

Ura-dora (裏ドラ)

Hidden dora, revealed only after a riichi win.

Yaku (役)

Named scoring pattern.

Yakuhai (役牌)

A pung of a dragon, round wind, or seat wind.

Yakuman (役満)

Maximum-value hand. 32,000 points.

The mistakes new Riichi players make most often.

1. Declaring a winning hand with no yaku. The most-common mistake by far. Always verify your hand contains at least one yaku before calling ron or tsumo.
2. Forgetting that riichi is a yaku. A hand with only riichi as its yaku is perfectly legal. New players sometimes pass on riichi waiting for a "real" yaku to develop.
3. Calling chii or pon and losing riichi eligibility. Open hands cannot declare riichi. Many beginner yaku also require concealed hands. Every call costs scoring potential.
4. Ignoring furiten. Discarding a tile that's also one of your winning tiles can lock you out of ron for the rest of the hand. Always check your discard pile against your wait.
5. Misreading the dora indicator. The dora is the next tile in sequence, not the indicator itself. The indicator is just a pointer.
6. Playing too aggressively against riichi declarations. When an opponent declares riichi, the rest of the table should usually shift to defensive play — discarding "safe" tiles (those already in the riichi player's discards, those mirrored by suji or kabe). Pushing into a riichi is one of the most expensive mistakes in the game.
7. Trying to memorize all 40 yaku before playing. Don't. Learn the seven beginner yaku. Play a hundred hands. Then expand. The yaku you encounter most often will stick naturally.

1. Start on Mahjong Soul or Riichi City. Both have built-in tutorials that teach you Riichi by playing it. You'll learn faster online than from any guide, including this one.
2. Pursue tanyao and yakuhai before any other yaku. They're the most accessible, the most flexible, and the foundation of most professional play.
3. Keep your hand concealed when possible. Concealed hands score higher, qualify for riichi, and access several beginner-friendly yaku. Only call when speed genuinely outweighs concealment.
4. Watch the discards — especially the riichi player's. When someone declares riichi, their entire discard row becomes "safe" tiles. Mirroring their discards is the simplest defense.
5. Play 50 hands before reading about strategy. Riichi strategy guides are excellent but overwhelming for true beginners. Get the rhythm of the game first. Strategy will make far more sense once you've played.

• Mahjong Soul (Jantama / 雀魂). Free, browser and mobile. The Western gateway. Beautiful anime aesthetics, gentle onboarding, large active community. Start here.
• Riichi City. Strong tutorial mode that explicitly teaches each rule and yaku. Excellent for true beginners.
• Tenhou. The hardcore competitive client. No tutorials, no aesthetics, just the game. Where serious players go.
• MahjongSoul Pong☆ / Kan!! — The anime adaptations of Mahjong Soul. Not a learning tool, but excellent motivation.

• The WRG Riichi Mahjong Book by Daina Chiba — the standard free English-language reference. Search "WRG Riichi" and download.
• Riichi Book 1 and other titles from the Reach Mahjong / Osamuko publishing community.

• Akagi (1992–1997 manga, 2005–2006 anime). Dark, intense, the foundational mahjong drama.
• Saki (2008–present manga). Lighter, all-female cast, currently the most popular mahjong anime.
• Mahjong Soul Pong☆ (2022) and Kan!! (2024). The Mahjong Soul anime adaptations — pure fun, decent rules accuracy.

• The Mahjong Soul Discord (over 46,000 members) is the largest English-language Riichi community online. Active beginner channels.
• r/Mahjong on Reddit — strong English-language community, mixed across all traditions but Riichi-heavy.
• Local mahjong clubs — Japanese American cultural centers in major US cities increasingly host Riichi nights. Search for "riichi mahjong club" in your area.

Once you've played online for a few months, a physical Japanese-style set transforms the experience. We carry a curated selection of Riichi-ready sets, mats, and point sticks in our Japanese Mahjong collection. For serious players, an automatic mahjong table is the ultimate upgrade — we can help you understand the options.

Riichi is a game you can study for decades. The professionals in Japan's M.League — sponsored by CyberAgent, TV Asahi, Dentsu, and others — are still learning. Mahjong Soul records over a million hands per day among players worldwide. Whatever level you start at, there is a community of people exactly two steps ahead of you who would be delighted to help you catch up.

Start with Mahjong Soul. Learn the seven yaku. Play a hundred hands. Come back to this page when something confuses you. And when you're ready for a real table, real tiles, and the singular sound of a Riichi declaration at midnight — we'll be here.

Welcome to Riichi.