How many tiles are in a riichi mahjong set?

A riichi mahjong set has 136 tiles: three numbered suits (manzu, pinzu, and souzu, each numbered 1–9), four wind tiles (East, South, West, North), and three dragon tiles (White, Green, Red). Each tile type appears exactly four times.

What does a winning hand look like in riichi mahjong?

A standard winning hand has 14 tiles arranged as four sets and one pair. Sets can be sequences (three consecutive numbered tiles of the same suit) or triplets (three identical tiles). You also need at least one yaku — a recognized scoring pattern — to declare a win.

What is tenpai in riichi mahjong?

Tenpai means your hand is exactly one tile away from being complete. The specific tile or tiles that would complete your hand are called your wait. When you're tenpai with a closed hand, you can declare riichi.

What does declaring riichi mean?

Riichi is a declaration you make when your hand is one tile from complete (tenpai) and fully closed (no chi, pon, or kan calls). You say 'riichi,' discard a tile sideways as a marker, and place a 1,000-point stick at the center of the table. Your hand locks in and you gain a yaku, plus a chance at uradora — hidden bonus tiles revealed only if you win.

What is a yaku in riichi mahjong?

A yaku is a recognized scoring pattern that makes a hand valid. You must have at least one yaku to declare a win, even if your hand is otherwise complete. Common beginner yaku include riichi (tenpai with a closed hand), tanyao (only tiles numbered 2–8), and yakuhai (a triplet of dragons or wind tiles).

Furiten is a restriction that blocks you from winning by ron (claiming another player's discard) if any of your winning tiles is already in your own discard pond. You can still win by drawing the tile yourself (tsumo), but ron is blocked as long as you hold that wait.

What is the difference between ron and tsumo?

Ron means winning off another player's discard — you call 'ron' when they discard your winning tile. Tsumo means you draw your winning tile yourself from the wall. With tsumo, all three opponents pay you; with ron, only the player who discarded the winning tile pays.

Getting Started

Q: What is riichi mahjong?

Riichi mahjong is a Japanese variant of mahjong — a four-player strategy game built on pattern recognition and timing. Each player draws and discards tiles to build a complete hand before anyone else does. It combines strategy and luck in equal measure.

This is the short version — only what you need to know before sitting down at a table for your first hand. Once you're comfortable, the Detailed Guide covers everything in depth.

What is riichi mahjong?

Mahjong is a four-player strategy game built on pattern recognition and timing. Each player draws and discards tiles to build a complete hand before anyone else does. There are many variants of mahjong, often named after the region that popularized them. Our club plays a Japanese variant called riichi, named for a move you can make during the game.

The tiles

A riichi mahjong set has 136 tiles, with each tile type appearing exactly four times:

Three suits (numbered 1–9)

manzu — "characters"
pinzu — "dots" or "circles"
souzu — "bamboo"

Honors (not numbered)

kazehai — "winds" (East, South, West, North)
sangenpai — "dragons" (White, Green, Red)

What a winning hand looks like

A standard winning hand has 14 tiles arranged as four sets and one pair. This shape is the foundation of everything else.

A sequence is three consecutive numbered tiles of the same suit — for example, 4–5–6 in bamboo.
A triplet is three identical tiles — for example, three East winds.
A pair is two identical tiles.

Honor tiles (winds and dragons) have no suit, so they can only form triplets or pairs. Sequences cannot wrap around (8-9-1 is not valid).

Your turn (in 30 seconds)

Players hold 13 tiles. On your turn, you draw a 14th tile from the wall — the large square stack of face-down tiles in the center of the table — then discard one tile to bring your hand back to 13. Turn order goes counter-clockwise, the opposite of most Western card games.

Tenpai and riichi

When your hand is exactly one tile away from complete, you're in tenpai (ready). If your hand is still closed at that point — meaning you haven't made any chi, pon, or kan calls — you can declare riichi. Your hand locks in, you gain a yaku, and you get a shot at uradora — hidden bonus tiles revealed only if you win.

Declaring riichi — in this order:

Say "riichi!" out loud.
Discard your tile placed sideways. That rotated tile acts as a marker in your discard pile — a public record of when you called.
If no one wins off that discard, place a 1,000-point stick at the center of the table as your bet.

Calling other players' discards

Instead of waiting to draw the tile you need, you can "call" certain tiles other players discard to complete a set immediately:

chi — claim a discard to complete a sequence (only from the player to your left)
pon — claim a discard to complete a triplet (from anyone)
kan — declare a quad of four identical tiles

Making a chi or pon opens your hand: the called set is placed face-up in front of you. An open hand locks out riichi and limits which yaku you can use, so a fully closed hand keeps more options available.

You need a yaku to win

A complete hand alone isn't enough. You also need at least one yaku — a recognized scoring pattern that makes the hand valid. Without one, you can't declare a win even if your hand is otherwise complete. Here are the six most useful yaku to learn first:

riichi Declaring tenpai with a closed hand.
tanyao Only tiles numbered 2–8, no 1s, 9s, or honors. A great beginner target: you can mentally discard entire tile types from consideration and still build a complete hand.
yakuhai A triplet of dragons, your seat wind, or the round wind.
toitoi All triplets, no sequences. Works well with open calls — every pon you make moves you one step closer.
honitsu One suit plus honor tiles. Limiting yourself to one suit makes it easier to track what you need.
chiitoitsu Seven unique pairs (a non-standard hand shape: no sets, just pairs).

The full list is on the Scoring page when you're ready for it.

Etiquette in four lines

Don't touch other players' tiles, the wall, or anyone else's discard pond.
Say your calls (chi, pon, kan, riichi, ron, tsumo) out loud as you make them.
Try to keep things moving — long pauses slow the game for everyone.
Mistakes happen. At club nights your tablemates will help you sort it out — we're lenient with beginners, so don't stress.

Ready to play?

The fastest way to learn is at the table. Come to one of our weekly meet-ups — beginners are always welcome and we'll walk you through everything as you go.

Want to read more first? The Detailed Guide covers setup, all three types of kan, scoring concepts, full etiquette, and more.