For a long time, Japanese mahjong was a regular part of my life in Hiroshima.
Back in the day, I played a lot of mahjong in the old-style mahjong parlors (many of which have disappeared in the post-bubble era) and at private games. That included plenty of three-player riichi mahjong (sanma, or sanninuchi mahjong), which has its own pace, risks, and rhythms.
Later, I got involved with a type of standard four-player riichi mahjong known as "kenkō mahjong" - “healthy mahjong” - where there’s no drinking, smoking, or gambling involved.
It’s a very different atmosphere from the old mahjong parlours where everybody gambled, drank and smoked the night away. Even though there was a midnight curfew on mahjong parlours,if there were enough customers keen to keep on playing, mama-san would pull down the heavy blinds, turn off the illuminated sign outside the parlour, lock the door, and the games would go on, as would the gambling, drinking, and smoking.
So it was a bit of an adjustment for me to switch over to "kenkou mahjong."
Then COVID arrived, and like many things, mahjong slipped out of my routine. I didn’t go out to play, and I never quite picked it up again. Five years passed without touching a tile.
New Year Mahjong
That changed at Gero Onsen on New Year’s Eve. I discovered that my daughter had started playing mahjong with her colleagues. We ended up borrowing a set of tiles from the hotel and playing three-player mahjong to see in the New Year.
It was a lot of fun to play mahjong with the wife and daughter, and handling real tiles again reminded me how much I enjoy the game. I think the daughter also benefitted from the session as her understanding of the basics was a bit sketchy to say the least!
So, since I've returned from the New Year break, I've been practising riichi mahjong on a free website:
https://mahjongsoft.com/rcrm_local.php
My intention is to rejoin the kenkou mahjong circle and enter a local riichi mahjong competition towards the end of this month, so every evening I play a few hands of mahjong on MahjongSoft. In the video I play a few hands and comment on the games and on game play - or at least, on how I approach a game of mahjong.
Here's the Youtube version of the same video:
Themes I Talk About in the Video
The video itself isn’t meant to be a technical breakdown of every hand. Instead, I focus on a few recurring ideas that I think matter at every level of riichi mahjong.
1. Discipline beats attachment
One of the hardest habits to relearn is not becoming emotionally attached to a good-looking hand. In my opinion, even a valuable hand isn’t worth pursuing if it puts you at serious risk of dealing into someone else’s win - especially the dealer, who gets a 50% bonus if he goes out... and if you are mug enough to give him the winning tile, you have to foot the whole bill yourself!
2. Mahjong is a game of flow
You can’t force a hand to happen. Sometimes the correct play is to defend, pass on calls, or even dismantle a promising shape to avoid being the one who pays heavily. Letting the game flow often produces better results than stubbornly pushing for a specific hand.
3. If you can’t win, don’t lose
This is a principle I return to again and again. You don’t need to win every hand - or even many hands - to do well overall. Avoiding big losses matters just as much as chasing points. Actually, as far as I am concerned, it matters even more. Winning big is difficult, losing big is easy!
4. Flexibility matters more than plans
Hands evolve. What looks like a fixed structure can suddenly open up from the other side of the hand. Staying flexible - mentally as well as tactically - often reveals waits and opportunities you might otherwise miss.
Practice for the Real Table
One thing I mention in the video is that I wouldn’t play this slowly in a live game. Riichi mahjong is social, and part of the etiquette is keeping the game moving. Online practice is where you’re allowed to stop, think, and question your assumptions, then see if they were right when you discard a tile...
Final Thoughts
This video is less about showing perfect play and more about showing real decision-making - hesitation, restraint, mistakes committed and avoided, and, when I break up a hand to avoid being a "mug," the quiet satisfaction of not being the player who gives away the winning tile!
Sometimes the best result is simply not being the mug.
Cheers!
▶️ 3Speak