Japan (Riichi)

The basics

• Everyone holds 13 tiles, then draws one and discards one.
• A hand is complete at 4 sets plus a pair. A set is three of the same tile, or a run of three in one suit.
• This style does not use flower tiles.

How payment is worked out

• A hand is valued from han and fu: the base is fu multiplied by 2 to the power of (2 + han).
• From 5 han it is a mangan, and the value stops climbing at fixed steps: mangan, haneman, baiman, sanbaiman, yakuman.
• Won off a discard: the dealer pays 6 times the base, a non-dealer 4 times. Every payment rounds up to the next 100.
• Won on a self-draw: if the dealer won, all three pay the same. If not, the dealer pays double.
• Each honba adds 300 to a discard win, or 100 from each player on a self-draw.
• A 1,000-point riichi stick goes to the table, and whoever wins the hand takes it.

The deal

• If the dealer wins, they deal again. If not, the deal moves to the right.
• Once the deal has been all the way round, the round wind changes: East, South, West, North.
• If the wall runs out with nobody winning, the players who are tenpai are paid by those who are not - 3,000 split between them.

Agree on these before you start

• House rules differ, especially in the Cantonese and Hokkien styles.
• Settle first: the minimum han + fu, what the limit is worth, how flowers count, and whether seven pairs is allowed.
• This app only does the arithmetic. What a hand is worth is still yours to agree at the table.