Introduction

Riichi Mahjong is the Japanese variation of mahjong, a combination of gin rummy and poker.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Table of Contents
• Beginner resources
• Learning Mahjong from scratch
• Intermediate resources
• Guides and trainers for efficiency, scoring, etc
• Others
• Uzaku Series

Beginner resources

• Basic Yaku and scoring by reddit user u/Aranlyde
• Full Yaku List by reddit u/Aranlyde Source License CC/BY/NC 4.0
• Full Scoring Guide by reddit u/Aranlyde Source License CC/BY/NC 4.0

Learning Mahjong from scratch

• Mahjong Soul aka MJS
  • Do the tutorial
    • It will auto-start on your first login
    • If you want to do it again, look on the right side, 3rd icon (graduation cap)
  • For your first games:
    • Try for a normal five group hand (pair plus four melds of 3)
    • Ignore the Chii, Pon, and Kan buttons (tile calls)
      • This keeps your hand closed, and guarantees your can call Riichi = Yaku = qualify
    • When the Riichi button appears, click it and the computer will recommend a discard
  • Friendly Match for more thinking time when you start
    • Create Room
    • Vs AI, 300+0s (300 seconds for every turn)
    • Create
    • Start
• Basic Five block theory
• Learn the Basic Yaku and scoring by reddit user u/Aranlyde
• Full Yaku List by reddit u/Aranlyde Source License CC/BY/NC 4.0
  • Order to learn:
    • Riichi
      • You cannot call Pon/Chii/Kan
    • Yakuhai (value honor triplet = set of dragons, seat wind, or round wind)
      • You can consider calling Pon to form a value honor triplet
    • Tanyao (all simples)
      • If you have only 2-8 (no 1s, 9s, or honors) you can consider calling Pon/Chii
      • But be careful with 23 or 78 draws, if you open the hand you are committed to no 1s or 9s!
    • Chiitoitsu (seven pairs)
      • One of two exceptions to the pair plus four melds of 3 pattern
      • If you end up with five pairs, go for this
      • Otherwise it’s usually best to go for a pair plus four melds of 3 hand
      • BTW the final exception:
        • Kokushi Musou (thirteen orphans) only go for this if:
          • You start the hand with 9+ terminals
          • The game will ask if you want to re-deal
          • If you feel lucky, click continue and go for it!
          • If you start with 9 terminals, your odds are about 5.5% Source
    • Toitoi (all triplets)
      • If you were heading for seven pairs but draw one or more triplets, consider switching to all triplets
      • Pon everything!
    • Honitsu (half flush – only one suit plus honors)
      • If you start with many honor tiles and a long suit, consider discarding the other two suits first instead of the normal discard order
    • All the rest

Intermediate resources

• Four types of iishanten (1-away) shapes
• Riichi Book 1 Intermediate Mahjong Strategy Primer
  • Focus on the Basic Tile Efficiency part
• Stats scraper (Gold room or higher only)
• MJS stats Show your rank history and expected score per game (Also Gold room or higher only)
• Tenhou stats Same thing but for Tenhou
• Mortal AI reviewer
  • Free service!
  • As of March 2024, new GUI written by… me!
    • Leave feedback on the Github project
• Naga
  • Paid service
  • Naga guide
  • labels picture
  • MahjongSoul NAGA chrome extension
    • MJS reviews are single hands only and cost more (10 per hand instead of 50 per hanchan)
• Common Waits by reddit user u/Mr_Blarney Source Reddit post
  • Book on multisided waits expanding on this graphic
• Push or Fold judgement
• Stats Some reference tables and charts, mostly from SMS
• How the Robot Plays Analysis of LuckyJ games, a bot with a distictive style. You might like this style if you want to play more defensively or just something slightly different from most other bots.
• Riichi Mahjong Strategy (RMS) Goes into more detail comparing blocks than RB1
• Statistical Mahjong Strategy (SMS) Statistics for making push/fold decisions, etc.

Guides and trainers for efficiency, scoring, etc

• Chinitsu Waits Trainer
• Reading Complex Waits Source reddit post
• Scoring Trainer
• Efficiency Trainer

Others

• Random Walk Simulates random walks of Mahjong Sould rating
• MJS Gacha notes How to get stuff in MJS
• Naga Stats Charts showing average Naga scores for various Ranks on MJS or Tenhou.

Uzaku Series

• Uzaku Guide to Mahjong Tile Efficiency Similar level and concepts as RB1. Use this one instead of RB1 if you prefer WWYD style introduction to intermediate concepts.
• Uzaku wwyd 301
• Uzaku wwyd 300 (Yes read 301 first, people complained 300 was too hard, so they made the sequel easier!)