Riichi Mahjong in Singapore

The new league will begin on 12 August 2017, and we will be utilising a new ruleset. See below for the summary. There will be a total of 12 sessions for this league.

Aka-ari rules

Atozuke (Claim a winning tile that gives a yaku to a yakuless hand)	Yes	Agari Yame (Last dealer get to choose to end han-chan upon topping the game)	No
Kuitan (Open Tanyao)	Yes	Kuikae (Swap Calling)	No
3 Aka Dora (Red Dora)	Yes	Shanyu (West Round)	No
Kazoe Yakuman (Counted Yakuman)	Yes	Nagashi Mangan (Discards of terminals/honours till exhaustive draw)	Yes
Daburu Riichi (Double Reach)	Yes	Tochuu Ryuukyoku (Mid-game draw)	Yes
Furiten Riichi (Discard Foul Reach)	Yes	Open Riichi (Open Reach)	No
Double/Triple Ron (Dealing into 2/3 players)	Yes	Multiple Yakuman (Score of >48,000)	Yes
Sekinin-barai (Pao for Daisangen and Daisuushii ONLY)	Yes	Kiriage Mangan 7700 rounded up to 8000 and 11600 rounded up to 12000	No
Renhou (Winning on a discard in the very first un-interrupted set of turns, before the player has had his first turn)	No	Buttobi (End of han-chan once a player has less than 0 points)	No

Differences in this league

• Aka dora (red dora) will be used.
• There will be Kazoe Yakuman (counted yakuman). Any hand worth 13 Han or more will be treated as a Kazoe Yakuman that is valued at 32000 (or 48000 in the case of the dealer).
• There will be Nagashi Mangan.
• There will be mid-game draws. Mid-game draws include four winds abort, four kans abort, four players riichi and kyuushukyuuhai. More details will be given below.
• There will be multiple ron. The discarder has to pay for all the winning hands that he deals into. The closest winner, however, will receive all riichi sticks and honba bonuses.
• Multiple yakuman is only for one hand satisfying multiple yakuman. For example, suuankou (Four Concealed Pungs, 四暗刻) and daisangen (Big Three Dragons, 大三元) is worth a double yakuman. However, suuankou tanki (Four Concealed Pungs Single Wait, 四暗刻単騎) is still worth only a single yakuman.
• For closed kan (ankan), kan dora is revealed immediately after the call. For melded kan (daiminkan or kakan), kan dora is only revealed after the discard. In the case of rinshan kaihou for melded kan, the new kan dora will not be revealed. However, the kan dora will still be revealed if the player deals into another player immediately after the kan, regardless of whether it is a closed or melded kan.

 

Mid-game draws

The following scenarios will result in a mid-game draw. The hand will be redealt and the dealer repeats with 1 extra repeat stick (honba).

• Four winds abort
• Four kans abort
• Four players riichi abort
• kyuushukyuuhai

For more information about these mid-game draws, you can refer to this link on “How to play”.

 

League Points (LP) system

The league point system for this league will be as such:

1st	2nd	3rd	4th
+35	+15	0	-50

Chombo Penalty: -30 LP , 4000 point payment to all other players, hand is redealt.

Missing sessions: No penalty

Attending the 11th and 12th session: +10 LP for the next league.

 

New Maximum LP Gap System for 1st and 2nd place

In light of the huge gap between the first and second place in the final sessions of the previous leagues, we have decided to implement this system to make things more fair for the top two players. Details are as follows:

For the final session (12th session) of this league, the LP gap between the 1st and 2nd place will be reduced to 40 LP. The maximum gap of 40 LP will depend on whether the player in 1st place, attend the session or not. If the player attends the last session of the league, his/her lead of LP will remain as it is, otherwise his/her lead will be reduced to 40 LP more than the player in 2nd place. This is to encourage the first place to attend the final session to fight it out for the league title, and also to allow the second place to have an opportunity to also try to clinch the title.

New Side League!

In order to encourage players to commit just a few sessions in a row, a new Side League will be introduced. Instead of players committing to all 12 sessions in this league to attain the top prize only, there will be 3 separate side leagues for players to compete for.

How does the side league work:

The main league, which consists of 12 sessions, will have three side leagues consisting of 4 sessions each. In each of the side league, the same LP system will be used, and the winner of each side league will be entitled to waivers for one session. For example, if a player was the best performing player (highest LP) in sessions 1 to 4, he or she will be awarded with one session fee waiver which is valid for 3 months!

Likewise, if a player was the best performing player in sessions 8 to 12, he or she will also be awarded with one session fee waiver! Don’t worry if you cannot remember your performance over the course of the side leagues, the Side League standings will be posted in every session report, together with the results and the main league.

Players, this is your best opportunity to try to win something in the Side League just for committing 4 consecutive sessions in a row!

 

Attendance Points (AP) system

The attendance points system for this league will be as such:

1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Sit-out/ Spectator	Missing sessions
+8	+7	+6	+5	+5	-5

All player’s attendance points will be reduced to 10% at the start of the WRC league. Newcomers, this is the best opportunity to get higher AP than the veterans to avoid sitting out for your first game!

 

Other things to note

The league point system has been changed from what was announced on 31 December 2016 due to feedback.

For players who attended the last two sessions of the WRC league, they will begin this league with 10 LP instead of the earlier proposed 1 LP due to the change in LP system.

In light of the new Maximum LP Gap System, the penalty for missing sessions has been removed. Players are still encouraged to attend sessions for chances to win both the main league and the side league!

 

That’s all for the aka-ari league! Be sure to attend so that you do not miss out on all the fun!

Feel free to ask any questions regarding this league’s rules if you’re unsure.

 

Eric Quek