I keep coming back to these videos. I find playing mahjong online or in an app makes me forget all the intricacies of the games since online versions know all the rules for you.
Thank you, but it's really quite easy. And it may look nice for the videos, but would still recommend against flipping the dora indicator in that way because it has a chance to knock over other tiles if you're careless.
Your videos have clarified the rules so much for me. I have been playing a mahjong game and I was wondering why I wouldn't be winning certain games and now I realize that those had no yakus. Thank you!
That would be because your hand currently has no yaku. That is unrelated to whether or not you have discarded any of your own winning tiles before, which is what furiten is based on. Not only could you review the videos in this series to learn about the various yaku, but I believe Mahjong Soul has a yaku list that you can look at as well.
One thing I learned today is that you can't riichi on the last turn of the game. Meaning you must atleast have a chance at ippatsu, menzen tsumo in order to riichi. Question about distrupting your chance for ippatsu with chi, pon, kan. Does that rule exist in order to give the other players power to choose to remove your chance at ippatsu or is there another reason behind it?
I do not have a solid answer to your question as to why that specific rule exists. I couldn't even tell you why ippatsu exists in the first place. They're likely just gambling rules that someone made up that were popular enough to catch on while mahjong was still relatively new in Japan.
@@LightGrunty Thank you for the quick response and thank you for your guides! Any plans for future videos? Most have been covered in guess. Overview of some games in Akagi would be amazing though ^^
@@LightGrunty I Love your clear explanations, this series is pretty much the best explonation for scoring. If you ever do decide to make more videos.I would love to hear your thoughts on gear for in person play (junk mat vs folding domino table), or maybe a sample game with commentary with a focus on table management for beginners.
@@maxmccullough8548 Thank you for the kind words. I don't plan on making any additional videos, but as far as gear goes, I cannot recommend the Junk Mat enough. Having a frame against which you can line up the tiles and trays for point sticks is invaluable. And for mahjong tiles, I would recommend any AMOS-brand set, though I find 26mm tiles fit most comfortably on the Junk Mat.
Will a closed kan interrupt an ippatsu? And what would happen if the other players found out that you broke a rule, such as declaring closed kan in riichi when the tiles used for kan were part of a sequence wait?
Yes, a closed kan would remove ippatsu. And if you declare an illegal ankan like that while in riichi, then you would be penalized with a chombo if your hand is revealed. So if someone else wins the hand, you would be safe. But if you try to reveal a win or the game progresses to an exhaustive draw, then the other players would see that the kan was illegal, and you would be penalized.
If you are in riichi, have a 3 of a kind, and drew the tile that can give you a closed kan, is there any real benefit to doing so? It seems like it just creates a new dora indicator, which may or may not even help you
If you are riichi, then you also get the additional ura dora indicator. The kan also increases the fu value of the hand, which is significant if the hand is 3 han or less.
@@LightGrunty Ah, i see! I pretty much can understand all the hands, but the concept of fu is still quite alien to me. Thanks for putting out all these tutorials!
So Yaku is a wag to get Han, and one Yaku is needed to actually compete a winning hand? And each Dora is worth 1 Hon? Also, I'm sure this is gonna be included in the more in depth scoring video, but so Fu, Hon, and just the Points (Like the 1000 points you betted on) are all different weights when scoring? Or am I misunderstanding something? Should I just wait until I reach the next scoring video?
You've pretty much got it. At least one yaku is needed for a winning hand, each yaku adds a certain number of han to your hand, and each dora is worth 1 han. When you win a hand, the fu and han of your hand are used to calculate the points your hand is worth. The main thing is the han, but the fu affects the value of a hand a little bit. As for how the scoring system works exactly, that comes towards the middle of the series, once most of the yaku have been covered. And even once you get to that point, I make it very clear that the scoring system is not something you have to memorize unless you want to play competitively. I put the videos in this order because most people would want to try out a riichi mahjong game on their phone or computer. Knowing the basic yaku would allow you to play these games without too much trouble, and the scoring on these games is usually done automatically.
Just remember, the thousand point stick from a riichi is only a bonus to the winner of the hand. It is NOT counted in any way towards the hand points. Riichi is meant for a way of giving you an extra yaku, and/or, a way to win a hand that doesn't have a yaku. The point stick and the yaku from the riichi call are two completely different things. If you win, the point stick comes back to you and you just got an extra yaku to count and use of the reverse dora. If you lose, the winner gets the point stick, NO extra yaku / NO reverse dora.
Sorry but if someone else gets kan before you declare riichi and another dora is fliped and later you win, do you get uradora too from the kan dora, if that makes any sence? ty
The face-up tile in the dead wall is the dora indicator. And yes, the dora is typically one above the dora indicator. Of course, 9 indicates 1, and for honor tiles, they follow a specific order.
Is there such a yaku as "Open Tsumo"? My Japanese friends say if you have a yaku, such as open pung of dragon, and then you Tsumo, you get two yaku--one for open dragon pung and one for tsumo or drawing your winning card. My research finds no mention of "Open Sumo".
LG! I started playing Mgj soul, and im opening my hand a lot, how can I understand what i need to have YAKU? The game tells me i have no yaku all the time.
There are several videos in this series (including this one) that cover all of the yaku in the game, so I would recommend taking a look at them. Also, learning the yaku takes time and experience, so as you play more, you'll get more comfortable recognizing them. But in the mean time, I would recommend not opening your hand at all unless you are 100% sure that you will have a yaku. Keeping your hand closed and declaring riichi once you reach tenpai ensures you will have a yaku, so that's probably the best way to play until you've got most of the yaku down.
What if a player is careless and declares riichi where perhaps he made an erroneous run of say 2,3 5. Obviously if player declares ron or sumo, other players would see players error and claim chumbo. Correct? But what if said careless player does not go out. Can careless player throw his cards in rapidly so no one can analyze his cards, or must careless player show his cards to verify his riichi and thus admit his erroneous riichi? If careless player is "caught" with erroneous riichi, what is his penalty?
If a player declares riichi while noten, there is no immediate penalty. Since they declared riichi, they simply have to draw and discard tiles for the rest of the game, as they have no winning tiles. It is only when the player's noten riichi hand is revealed to the other players, whether that be from them incorrectly declaring a win or at an exhaustive draw to confirm their hand, that they would be penalized with a chombo. If someone else wins the hand before then, then the noten riichi will not be seen by the other players, so there will be no penalty.
Light Grunty thanks for the response, that question was a bit tongue and cheek though. I do have a real question though. I don’t know how to play, and no one I know, knows how to play. I have a full majong set with the season and flower tiles as well. I have three other people who wish to learn how to play. Which style of play is suited for four complete novices who will be self taught? Thanks for taking the time to make the vids that you do.
For in-person teaching, I would recommend the beginner's guide on MJStars: www.mjstars.net/beginner For just practicing on a computer, I would recommend the riichi mahjong Flash game at www.gamedesign.jp/flash/mahjong/mahjong_e.html . It's a single-player game against the AI, so players can play at their own pace, and the rules will be enforced by the game. There's also an app on Android and iOS that I mention later in this video series, Kemono Mahjong. It has a good tutorial and yaku list. There is also the option for online play, so you could play against your friends. I highly recommend it if you want a way to play on your smartphone or tablet.
Are the ura dora used for the rest of the game, and if so do they still only apply to the person who won by riichi? If this isn't the case, what would you think of a modded version of the game where this is the case, and to balance it a much higher point bet has to be made.
The ura dora indicator is only revealed when a player who declared riichi wins a hand. No one knows what the ura dora will be until the hand is over, and it would only apply to a player's hand if they had declared riichi prior to winning.
What I mean is: After someone has won by riichi and the uradora have been turned over, what happens then? Are they still in play for the next hand? Are they discarded? If they are available then do they still only apply to the one that won them initially? @@LightGrunty
The dora changes every hand. After the hand is over, all of the tiles are shuffled so that the new hand can begin. The dora for the new hand is determined the same way as always, by revealing the third tile from the end of the dead wall as the dora indicator. Naturally, the ura dora for this new hand, assuming there are any, will be different, too.
@@LightGrunty if we play the rule where 4 kans are made which results in a draw or any other conditions are met which results in a draw do we still declare tenpai and pay the no tenpai penalty?
No, tenpai payments do not occur after abortive draws, only for an exhaustive draw. However, if you use the abortive draw for when all four players declare riichi, each player should reveal their hands to confirm that everyone was tenpai.
