01 · Before starting: check the shared basics
Complete Mahjong Lesson 1 first: distinguish suits and honours, sequences and triplets, hand and discards, and perform a 13 → 14 → 13 turn. Reading a glossary does not replace that practice.
This is a separate regional branch; the other two branches are not prerequisites. Familiar pictures now test this branch’s winning eligibility, actions and settlement rather than reteaching every tile. Examples may reset between sections: inspect each starting hand rather than treating them as one continuous game.
02 · What makes a legal win?
Apply Lesson 1 to the thirteen pictured tiles: four sets are complete and East is alone, so another East completes the standard shape. This shows the wait, not yet permission to win under riichi rules. Seven pairs and thirteen orphans are other legal shapes; this example does not use them.
13 tiles: four sets, lone East
The needed tile
First define closed: you have not claimed another player’s tile to expose a chow, pung or open kong. Open kongs include claiming a fourth matching tile onto three in hand or adding a fourth to an exposed pung. A concealed kong declares four matching tiles already in your hand and preserves closed status. This tracks how groups were obtained, not where you sit; the riichi section applies it.
Riichi also requires a yaku: a recognized scoring condition, not a chip or special tile. For example, a closed hand completed by your own draw has the closed-self-draw yaku. The final 14 tiles alone do not tell the full story: the winning tile’s source and earlier calls matter.
03 · Riichi tiles and keeping your wait
Use the 136-tile base set from Lesson 1, without flowers or red fives here. Some riichi rules replace an ordinary five with a red five; this is not a fifth copy. Ordinary red printing on character tiles does not make them red dora.
After drawing South: 14
Discard this turn
Apply the turn process: four sets are ready and East is waiting. Drawing South gives fourteen. South cannot pair East, so choose to discard South and preserve the thirteen-tile East wait. The next section adds riichi eligibility and declaration to this decision; do not declare yet.
04 · Closed hands, riichi and point sticks
Apply the earlier definition of closed to this hand: no chow, pung or open kong has been made, so riichi eligibility can still be checked. After chow or pung you cannot declare riichi or claim closed self-draw, but another yaku may still allow a win.
14 before declaring; discard South
13 after riichi; waiting on East
Tenpai means one tile away from a complete shape. With a closed ready hand and the other ruleset conditions satisfied, declare riichi, turn the declaration discard sideways and deposit 1,000 points. In the example, 25,000 becomes 24,000 and the table pot gains 1,000. After riichi, normally discard each new draw unless winning; kongs have additional restrictions.
05 · Yaku, han, fu and dora differ
Yaku provide winning eligibility. Han measure value from yaku and dora; fu reflect hand structure, waits and winning method. Check legality before using a scoring table: two han does not mean two points. A Red Dragon triplet is a common yaku; a Red Dragon pair is not that triplet yaku.
Indicator
Two dora
Yaku triplet, partial group
Dora add han but are not yaku. A four-dots indicator points to five dots; two five-dots in your hand count as two dora. Do not take the indicator into your hand. Many dora cannot rescue a no-yaku hand. This lesson accounts for the riichi deposit, not a pretend complete scoring engine based on han alone.
06 · Tsumo, ron and furiten
Apply the previous section’s distinction between yaku, han, fu and dora to winning source and payment. Two roles matter: the dealer has special opening and payment rules; the other three players are non-dealers. Source and dealer status can change the payment for the same tiles.
Your river includes East
Opponent’s East: no ron in this example
If you draw the final East yourself, it is tsumo. If you claim an opponent’s new discard to win, it is ron. You cannot retrieve an old discard from the river. Tsumo is normally paid by the other three players; ron by the discarder. Amounts depend on han, fu, dealer status and other conditions.
Furiten does not mean you can never win. If any tile in your current wait appears in your own discards, ron is blocked for the whole wait, though tsumo may still be legal. Passing a win can also cause temporary furiten, with stricter restrictions after riichi. In this example you wait only on East and previously discarded East, so another player’s East cannot be claimed for ron.
07 · After the hand ends
Translate the new end-of-hand terms first: dealer continuation means the same player deals the next hand; repeat counters (honba) track a settlement bonus, not a tile count or winning streak. Recall the riichi step: 25,000 became 24,000 with 1,000 on the table. That deposit must now be handled under the rules, not forgotten. You need not memorise payment tables yet.
Completed example: closed status and source still matter
After a win, settle points, deposits, repeat counters and dealer continuation according to the rules. Wall exhaustion without a winner is an exhaustive draw, which can still transfer points between ready and not-ready players. A hanchan is a match of multiple hands, not half a tile set.
Before every win ask: complete shape? a yaku? where did the final tile come from? if a discard, am I furiten? The exercise stops at a legal self-draw and explains why; it does not claim you won the whole match or import another variant’s rules.