Riichi Mahjong in Singapore

2017 is coming to an end. There will be 7 sessions left until the end of this year. As such, there will be one final league for these 7 sessions and the ruleset we will be utilising will be Jansou Rules. This will be the first time SMC League implements this ruleset.

Jansou 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)	Yes
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	Double Ron (Dealing into 2 players)	Yes
Triple Ron (Dealing into 3 players)	Draw	Multiple Yakuman (Score of >48,000)	No
Sekinin-barai (Pao for Daisangen and Daisuushii ONLY)	Yes	Kiriage Mangan 7700 rounded up to 8000 and 11600 rounded up to 12000	Yes
Renhou (Winning on a discard in the very first un-interrupted set of turns, before the player has had his first turn)	Yes 8 han	Buttobi (End of han-chan once a player has less than 0 points)	No
Teppen (Hanchan ends when the player reaches the limit set)	No	1000 for Riichi (Require a minimum of 1000 to declare riichi)	No

Differences in this league

This ruleset in this league will be largely similar to the previous Aka-Ari rules league ruleset. There are a few main differences in this league:

• Agari Yame: At the end of South 4, if the dealer wins or is in tenpai state, he is allowed to end the hanchan.
• Kiriage Mangan: Hands with a value of 7700 (4 han 30 fu or 2 han 60 fu) will be rounded up to 8000. Hands with a value of 11600 (dealer 4 han 30 fu or 2 han 60 fu) will be rounded up to 12000.
• Renhou: Winning on a discard in the very first un-interrupted set of turns awards a baiman.
• Triple ron ryuukyoku: Upon dealing into three players’ hand on the same discard, the hand is considered to be a draw and no points are transferred.
• Shuugi: Bonuses will be awarded upon having certain requisites. See below for more details.

Shuugi

The most differentiating rule about Jansou rule is Shuugi. Shuugi are point transfers outside of the usual riichi stick transfers in the game. In other words, Shuugi are as good as points, but these points will not affect your relative positions in game. For this league, extra Shuugi will be converted to extra League Points!

You will get Shuugi for the following:

• Ippatsu – 1 unit
• Ura-Dora – 1 unit each
• Aka-Dora – 1 unit each
• All-Star (having 3 Aka-Dora) – 5 units
• Yakuman – 10*

*There has been some changes since the first version of the post. (Last updated: 18 November)
Change was implemented since the first session of the league.

Shuugi transfers depends on whether the hand is won by a ron or a tsumo.

If the hand is won by a ron, then only the discarder will pay the winner the number of Shuugi equivalent to the total number of bonuses (Let’s say 1 Ura-Dora and 2 Aka-Dora, then the discarder has to give the winner 3 units of Shuugi).

If the hand is won by a tsumo, then all the three opponents have to pay the winner the number of Shuugi equivalent to the total number of bonuses.

Example

You won a hand with Riichi, Ippatsu, Aka dora 1, Ura-Dora 1. You get 3 units of Shuugi from each player if tsumo. If a person dealt into you for the same hand, that person pays you 3 units of Shuugi. So strategically speaking for earning shuugi, one should aim for tsumo as much as possible.

In SMC, poker chips will be used to record the number of Shuugi. The transfer of Shuugi will not be recorded on the score sheets, but the final number of Shuugi at the end of the game will be recorded. Players are reminded to record the number of Shuugi on the score sheets at the end of each game.

Each player will begin with 20 units of Shuugi. The red poker chip will denote 1 unit of Shuugi while the black poker chip will denote 5 units of Shuugi.

The conversion from Shuugi to League Points will be below.

League Points (LP) System

For this league and in future leagues, we will do away with awarding LP solely based on positions. LP will be awarded based on both the final scores and the final position.

In our club, every player begins with 25000 points in sticks. As such, the LP system will be as follows:

For every 100 points above 25000 at the end of the game	+1 LP
For every 100 points below 25000 at the end of the game	-1 LP
Achieving First place	+300 LP
Achieving Second place	+100 LP
Achieving Third place	-100 LP
Achieving Last place	-300 LP
Commiting a Chombo	-250 LP, 4000 point payment to each player
For every 1 unit of Shuugi won	+50 LP
For every 1 unit of Shuugi lost	-50 LP

Example 1

Player A ended the game with 30000 points and in second place. He lost 2 units of Shuugi in this game. His total LP for this game will be:
+50 LP for having 5000 points above 25000.
+100 LP for achieving second place.
-100 LP for losing 2 units of Shuugi.
Total LP change: +50 LP

Example 2

Player B ended the game with -2000 points (buttobi) and came in last place. He lost 4 units of Shuugi. His total LP for this game will be:
-270 LP for having 27000 points below 25000.
-300 LP for achieving last place.
-200 LP for losing 4 units of Shuugi.
Total LP change: -770 LP

Side note: There will be no penalty for missing sessions in this league.

At the end of 7 sessions, the top 3 players with the highest LP will be entitled to a one session fee waiver!

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 matters

For players who attended the final 2 sessions of the previous league, no bonus LP will be awarded for this league. However, the bonus LP will be added to the first league of 2018!

The previous time SMC conducted a session utilising the Jansou Rules ruleset was on 30th July 2016. It was the one and only session in SMC history that utilised this ruleset.

As this is the first time a Jansou League is held, there may be some potential problems or hiccups faced by the organisers in handling some of the logistics. However, rest assured that the organisers will treat each case as fairly as possible. If you have any queries, please feel free to ask the organisers during or even before the session. (You can WhatsApp or email me personally if you have any queries)

We would like to briefly explain the rules before we begin our first Jansou rules session. I would like to urge all players to be punctual for sessions in order not to miss the briefing.

 

Eric Quek