Riichi is the Japanese form of mahjong — a four-player game of reading, risk, and rhythm. This guide takes you from your very first hand to choosing the table you will play on for years. Written in Tokyo by the people who build the tables.
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Whether you have never held a tile or you came from the poker felt, start with the pillar that fits you. Each one opens onto a deeper library of guides.
The complete beginner's guide. The tiles, the turn order, the goal of the hand, and why Riichi feels different from every other mahjong you have seen.
Read the guide →Home or tournament? Foldable or fixed? A buyer's guide to automatic Riichi tables — tile size, footprint, voice guidance, and built-in scoring.
Read the guide →Han, fu, and the jump to mangan, haneman, and baiman — explained in plain language. Pair it with ALBANote to check any hand instantly.
Read the guide →Same probability, different rhythm. Why players from the poker felt are discovering Riichi — and how your edge-thinking transfers to the wall.
Read the guide →A free scoring companion. No login, no ads, works offline — your data stays yours. Score hands, check comeback conditions, and save your house rules.
Meet ALBANote →If you read one page first, read this. Four players, a wall of 136 tiles, and a race to complete a hand of four sets and a pair. Riichi adds the declared ready hand, hidden bonus tiles, and a scoring rhythm that rewards patience as much as speed.
It is the version played on Japanese television and across the growing global Riichi scene. It is also the version ALBAN has built tables for since 1990.
A yaku is a scoring pattern — the reason a hand is worth points. We are building a plain-English encyclopedia of all 38 standard Riichi yaku, each with the rōmaji, the kanji, and worked examples. Here is a taste.
All Sequences (Peace). A closed hand of four sequences and a plain pair, won on a two-sided wait. The most common 1-han yaku.
All Simples. A hand built only from 2–8 — no terminals, no honors. Open or closed, it is the workhorse of fast Riichi.
The Ready Hand. Declared with a closed hand one tile from completion, wagering 1,000 points and unlocking the hidden ura dora.
Full Flush. A whole hand in a single suit, no honors — a 6-han powerhouse closed (5-han when open).
Seven Pairs. Seven distinct pairs instead of sets — a closed-hand trick that rewards reading the discards.
Thirteen Orphans. One of every terminal and honor plus a pair — one of the celebrated yakuman, the highest tier of hands.
Our first wave of guides, written in Tokyo and reviewed by Riichi players. New articles land regularly across all five pillars.
From shuffling the wall to declaring a win — every turn of a hand, in order, for first-time players.
Read →Every scoring hand with rōmaji, kanji, and worked examples — the index to the encyclopedia.
Read →A home & tournament buyer's guide — what separates a parlor table from an apartment table.
Read →Tile size changes the feel of the game and the size of the table. How to choose between the two.
Read →Han and fu without the headache — how points are counted, and where mangan begins.
Read →Why probability thinkers from the poker world are taking a seat at the Riichi table.
Read →Scoring apps, comeback calculators, and house-rule keepers — starting with ALBANote.
Read →When the reading is done and you want a table of your own, every order begins with a person, not a checkout button. Tell us your country and a real human in Tokyo will answer within twenty-four hours.
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