Rules guide

Riichi Mahjong Rules Guide

Learn Riichi Mahjong online with Japanese Mahjong rules, yaku requirements, riichi timing, dora vs yaku, furiten, defense, and interactive tutorials.

Browse beginner guides Practice with puzzles Play against bots

Rules at a Glance

Quick Fact	Details
Players / Tiles	4 players: 136 tiles; 3 players: 108 tiles
Win Gate	Complete hand plus at least one yaku
Bonus Value	Dora adds han, never legal eligibility
Ron Restriction	Furiten blocks ron, but not tsumo

Setup

Four-player play uses 136 tiles with red fives, no flowers, and 25,000 starting points per player. The dealer starts with 14 tiles; others start with 13. A 14-tile dead wall supplies replacements and dora indicators.
A sequence is three consecutive tiles of one suit; a triplet is three identical tiles. Honors cannot form sequences. A kong is four identical tiles and counts as one set.
Three-player play removes Characters 2–8, leaving 108 tiles, and starts each player at 35,000 points. Only East, South, and West seats play.

Turns

Play proceeds counter-clockwise: draw one tile, then discard one, unless you declare a legal win or kong. A meld claim skips the draw and is followed by a discard; a kong requires a replacement draw.
Declare riichi only with a closed hand in tenpai, at least 1,000 points, and at least four live-wall tiles remaining. Pay a 1,000-point stake; subsequent draws must be discarded unless a win or permitted concealed kan is available.
A win or exhaustive/abortive draw ends the hand. The dealer repeats after a dealer win, an abortive draw, or an exhaustive draw while tenpai; otherwise the dealer rotates.

Calls

Chi is left-player only in four-player play and is disabled in three-player play. Pon and open kan can use any opponent’s discard. Open calls remove closed-only yaku and prevent riichi.
Ron outranks meld claims; multiple eligible players may ron the same discard. Kuikae forbids immediately discarding the tile just called or its alternate sequence-completion tile.
Concealed kan reveals a kan-dora indicator immediately; open or promoted kan reveals it after the discard. A promoted kan can be robbed for ron; concealed-kan robbery is limited to Kokushi. After riichi, concealed kan must use the drawn fourth tile and leave the waits unchanged.
In three-player play, declare North as Kita for bonus dora and a replacement draw. Robbing Kita is allowed only for Kokushi. After riichi, only a North just drawn can be extracted.

Winning

A win requires a complete standard hand, Seven Pairs, or Thirteen Orphans, plus at least one yaku. Dora and red fives add han but do not satisfy the yaku requirement.
Furiten blocks ron on all waits if any winning tile is in your own discard river. Passing legal ron causes temporary furiten until your next draw; passing after riichi blocks ron for the rest of the hand. Furiten never blocks self-draw tsumo.

Visualizing Furiten: The Discard Trap

Furiten applies to all your waits if any winning tile is present in your own discard river.

1. Your Tenpai Hand (Waiting on 3 Pin or 6 Pin)

Your 4-5 Pin sequence is waiting on either a 3 Pin or a 6 Pin to complete.

Even if an opponent discards the 3 Pin (which you never discarded), you CANNOT declare Ron because Furiten invalidates ALL waits.

2. Your Discard River

You previously discarded a 6 Pin on turn 4!

If you draw the 3 Pin or 6 Pin from the live wall yourself, you CAN legally declare Tsumo and win the hand!

Scoring

Yaku and bonuses determine han; hand structure determines fu. Apply the limit tiers and payment formulas in the reference. Honba and riichi stakes are settled separately. An indicator makes the next tile in suit/Wind/Dragon order dora, wrapping at the end; in three-player play Characters 1 indicates Characters 9. Each dora, red five, and extracted North adds 1 han. Ura indicators count only after a riichi win.
Choose East-only or East–South match length. A negative score ends the match. If nobody reaches 30,000 points (four-player) or 40,000 (three-player) by the scheduled end, one extra wind round is allowed. A leading final dealer at the target can end on a repeat. Final ranking applies the profile’s return points, oka, and uma.

Scoring patterns and winning structures

Supported hand patterns, their values, and tile examples. Bonus and payment rules appear in the companion references.

Yakuman (Limit Hands)

Kokushi Musou

Thirteen Orphans - all terminals + all honors + 1 duplicate

Role

Suuankou

Four Concealed PONGs - closed hand, all 4 sets are PONGs

Role

Daisangen

Big Three Dragons - PONG of all 3 dragons

Role

Shousuushii

Little Four Winds - 3 wind PONGs + wind pair

Role

Daisuushii

Big Four Winds - PONG of all 4 winds

Role

Tsuuiisou

All Honors - every tile is wind or dragon

Role

Chinroutou

All Terminals - every tile is 1 or 9

Role

Ryuuiisou

All Green - only Bamboo 2,3,4,6,8 + Green Dragon

Role

Chuuren Poutou

Nine Gates - concealed 1112345678999 in one suit + any

Role

Suukantsu

Four Kongs - all 4 sets are Kongs

Role

Regular Yaku (1 Han)

Tanyao (All Simples)

No terminals (1/9) or honor tiles

Pinfu

All chows, valueless pair, two-sided wait, closed

Iipeikou

Two identical chows in same suit (concealed)

Yakuhai (Haku)

PONG of White Dragon

Yakuhai (Hatsu)

PONG of Green Dragon

Yakuhai (Chun)

PONG of Red Dragon

Round Wind

PONG of the current round wind

Seat Wind

PONG of your seat wind

Higher Yaku (2-6 Han)

Chiitoitsu (Seven Pairs)

7 distinct pairs, concealed only

Toitoi (All PONGs)

All 4 sets are PONGs/Kongs

Sanankou

Three Concealed PONGs

Honroutou

All Terminals and Honors

Shousangen

Little Three Dragons - 2 dragon PONGs + dragon pair

Sanshoku Doujun

Same sequence in all 3 suits (*1 Han if open)

Ittsu (Pure Straight)

123+456+789 in same suit (*1 Han if open)

Ryanpeikou

Two pairs of identical chows (concealed)

Honitsu (Half Flush)

One suit + honor tiles (*2 Han if open)

Chinitsu (Full Flush)

Single numbered suit only (*5 Han if open)

Bonuses and scoring conditions

Rule	Value	Condition
Heavenly Hand	Yakuman	Dealer wins on the very first draw
Chiihou (Earth)	Yakuman	Non-dealer wins on their first draw
Riichi	1	Closed hand, declare ready, bet 1,000 pts
Menzen Tsumo	1	Concealed self-draw win
Ippatsu	1	Win within 1 turn after declaring Riichi
Haitei Raoyue	1	Win on the very last tile from the wall
Houtei Raoyui	1	Win on the very last discard
Rinshan Kaihou	1	Win on dead wall draw after declaring a Kong
Chankan	1	Robbing a Kong - win when opponent promotes to Kong
Double Riichi	2	Declare Riichi on your very first turn

Japanese Riichi Point Calculation Matrix (Non-Dealer)

Ron points (Tsumo: non-dealer payment / dealer payment). Each payment is rounded up to 100; dealer payments use the separate formula.

Fu / Hand Type	1 Han	2 Han	3 Han	4 Han
20 Fu (Pinfu Tsumo)	—	Tsumo only (400/700)	Tsumo only (700/1,300)	Tsumo only (1,300/2,600)
30 Fu (Standard)	1,000 (300/500)	2,000 (500/1,000)	3,900 (1,000/2,000)	7,700 (2,000/3,900)
40 Fu	1,300 (400/700)	2,600 (700/1,300)	5,200 (1,300/2,600)	8,000 (Mangan)
50 Fu	1,600 (400/800)	3,200 (800/1,600)	6,400 (1,600/3,200)	8,000 (Mangan)

Fu and limit tiers

Rule	Value	Condition
Mangan	5 Han	Base 2,000 pts (or 3-4 Han with high Fu)
Haneman	6-7	Base 3,000 pts
Baiman	8-10	Base 4,000 pts
Sanbaiman	11-12	Base 6,000 pts
Kazoe Yakuman	13+	Base 8,000 pts (counted limit hand)
Base	20	All hands start with 20 Fu
Seven Pairs	25	Fixed 25 Fu (special)
Menzen Ron	+10	Concealed hand, win by discard
Tsumo	+2	Self-draw (except Pinfu)
Open PONG (simple)	+2	Exposed PONG of tiles 2-8
Open PONG (terminal)	+4	Exposed PONG of 1/9/honor
Closed PONG (simple)	+4	Concealed PONG of tiles 2-8
Closed PONG (terminal)	+8	Concealed PONG of 1/9/honor
Open Kong (simple)	+8	Exposed Kong of tiles 2-8
Open Kong (terminal)	+16	Exposed Kong of 1/9/honor
Closed Kong (simple)	+16	Concealed Kong of tiles 2-8
Closed Kong (terminal)	+32	Concealed Kong of 1/9/honor
Yakuhai Pair	+2	Pair of dragon, round wind, or seat wind
Wait Bonus	+2	Closed wait (kanchan), edge wait (penchan), or pair wait (tanki)

Payments, counters, and draws

Rule	Value	Condition
Base points	Fu × 2^(han + 2)	Cap at the applicable limit tier. Round fu up to 10; Seven Pairs stays 25 fu. Pinfu tsumo is 20 fu, and an otherwise 20-fu open hand is 30 fu.
Ron	4× base (non-dealer); 6× base (dealer)	Discarder pays; round each payment up to 100.
Tsumo	Dealer pays 2× base; non-dealers pay 1× base	A dealer winner receives 2× base from every opponent. Three-player tsumo uses only the two actual opponents, with tsumo loss.
Honba	4P: 100 per opponent; 3P: 200 per opponent	On ron, the discarder pays all opponents’ honba shares.
Riichi stakes	1,000 each	The winner receives the table stakes; draws carry them forward.
Exhaustive draw	4P: 3,000 pool; 3P: 2,000 pool	Unready players split the pool equally among tenpai players. No transfer if all or none are tenpai. Nagashi Mangan applies to an uncalled terminals/honors-only discard river.
Abortive draws	No noten transfer	Nine terminals/honors on the first uninterrupted turn may be declared; four identical first winds, all-player riichi, four kans by different players, or triple ron can abort the hand.

Match ranking

Rule	Value	Condition
4-player ranked	Return: 30,000; oka: 20	Start: 25,000; uma: +20 / +10 / −10 / −20.
3-player ranked	Return: 40,000; oka: 15	Start: 35,000; uma: +20 / 0 / −20.
Final score	(points − return points) / 1,000 + uma	The top player also receives oka and remaining riichi stakes. Ties use seat order from the initial dealer.

Rules used in tsumo

These are the rules used in tsumo. Regional and house rules may differ.

tsumo ranked Riichi rules

World Riichi Championship Rules 2025