Simple Variants of Riichi Mahjong

Sometimes it's just not possible to get four players together for a game of mahjong, or perhaps you have six or seven people, and it's inevitable that some will be left out of a game. Fortunately, there are some simple (yet deep in strategy) variants of Japanese Riichi style mahjong to consider at those times.

Aside from sanma, all of these variants were invented by the great mahjong manga author Nobuyuki Fukumoto

SANMA (3 PLAYERS)

Sanma, read 三麻 and meaning 'three mah(jong)', is the traditional 3-player variant of Japanese Riichi style mahjong. The rules for it are fairly straightforward, and have already been covered on this blog.

MINEFIELD MAHJONG: 17 STEPS (2 PLAYERS)

Minefield Mahjong was invented for the third series of Fukumoto's gambling manga Kaiji. This two-player variant is designed to test your luck and instinct, allowing you to experiment with different waits and to avoid dealing in to an opponent's riichi. The game gets its name from the premise that the players are both walking across a minefield that is 17 paces long (from the maximum of 17 discards in each round), and that discarding an opponent's winning tile represents stepping on a landmine and suffering the consequences.

The full rules for Minefield Mahjong can be found here on this blog.

TENPAI RACE (2 PLAYERS)

Tenpai Race appeared in the manga Ten: Nice Guy on the Path of Tenhou. Quite possibly the definitive test for reading your opponent's waits and the progress of his hand, this style of mahjong is based around making tough choices between building a fast hand, building a valuable hand, and building a hand with a subtle wait. In addition, it tests a player's logic to use the opponent's discards, open sets, and worthless draws in addition with your own tiles and previous guesses to try and uncover their winning tile before they draw it.

The full rules for Tenpai Race can be found here on this blog.

MANGAN MAHJONG (4 OR 8 PLAYERS)

Also appearing in Ten: Nice Guy on the Path of Tenhou, this style of mahjong is much more simple to understand than the others, though requires four players. It is identical to regular Japanese Riichi style mahjong except for four main differences:

• No repeat counters are ever added to the table (though the dealer can keep his position as in usual Japanese Riichi style mahjong), and players do not have to bet 1000 points to declare riichi.
• If you win with a hand that scores below a mangan (i.e., less than five han, or less than 4 han and 40 fu, or less than 3 han and 70 fu), no points are exchanged. The win is still valid and the winds shift as usual: The only change is the omission of exchanging points.
• If the south round ends, the game enters another east round. The two rounds continue to cycle until a player has 0 points or fewer.
• If you win with a hand that scores mangan or higher, the other player(s) lose points as usual, but you do not gain any of those points: They are simply removed from the game (i.e., it is impossible to ever regain any points that you lose).

By convention, 'Pool of Dreams' and 'Gift of Man' cannot be scored.

Once a player reaches 0 points, the game ends and whichever player still has the most points is the winner.

In Ten: Nice Guy on the Path of Tenhou, the game was played in a tag-team system, where after every ten discards, a player would sub out with his partner. Players could not discuss strategy or their hands with their partner, and of course you were forbidden from looking at other players' hands even when you weren't the one currently at the table. Each individual player had their own score, and only people currently sitting at the table could lose points. In this variant, the game wouldn't end until 5 people have reached 0 points in total.

CLEAR MAHJONG (4 PLAYERS)

Once more, this mahjong variant is from Ten: Nice Guy on the Path of Tenhou (there's a reason it's quite possibly Fukumoto's most famous work!). Designed to be played in two teams of two with one team starting in the east and north seats, and the other starting in the south and west seats, this game is identical to regular Japanese Riichi style mahjong with only the following changes:

• If the south round ends, the game enters another east round. The two rounds continue to cycle until a player has 0 points or fewer, or until the five 'conditions' have been met by either team.
• If a player wins with a hand that scores any of the following five yaku, that 'condition' is considered to have been met by their team:
• Large Straight
• Three Colors, One Chii
• All With Orphans
• Three Concealed Pons
• Seven Pairs
•  A hand that scores All With Terminals or Four Concealed Pons does not count as clearing a 'condition'.

If any player has fewer than 0 points at any time, the other team wins. Alternatively, if either team manages to complete all five 'conditions', their team wins. This makes a dichotomy where a player may forgo aiming for a bigger hand or accepting a win with a smaller hand if it allows them to clear another 'condition'.

And if one team completes all five 'conditions' but causes their teammate to lose all of his points in the process, precedent is to decide the winner through a nice game of Tenpai Race.