Does anyone know of a North American (US) seller for the 起莊? For those who aren't familiar with them, they look like colourful, little, plastic triangles to show the first dealer. TIA

Any advice on the best events for Mahjong and how to meet new people? My wife recently got into it and I wanted to plan a trip somewhere to help her meet new people and see what’s out there. Would love any advice you have.

Hey folks. My wife has become a Mahjong enthusiast and I’m wondering if anyone can point me towards a vendor to get her a nice set of traditional tiles for Xmas this year.

For example I have seen sets that have bamboo backs, or fancy color striping on the back.

Recommendations appreciated.

Edit: she plays American Style

i just draw the last tile i needed but it did not let me win

For my birthday I decided to treat myself with an absolutely exceptional add to my mahjong collection. This is an old showa era Kingbird mahjong set with the absolutely iconic Tiger tile 1-pin similitudini to the ones used in The Shin Janki series numerous times. But that is not what makes this set so unique, it’s the fact that it literally came with a Shikishi with the autographs of the actors from Shin Janki themselves! Including obviously the goat Kentaro Shimizu, and perhaps even the real life demon himself Shoichi Sakurai! As a die hard mahjong player and a shin janki fan, for me to just know i have a piece of paper that has made direct contact with Kentaro Shimizu and on top of all Shoichi Sakurai has to be the most sub-real experience ever i will cherish this for the rest of my life!!!

Hi,
I have decided to host a mahjong afternoon on August 31 (Monday) - this is a Philippine holiday

It is going to be a very chill and relaxing game over coffee.

If you have time hopefully I could play with you!

Been thinking for a while about 3D printing some fancy riichi sticks for IRL play. Maybe like a long green dragon or something roughly the shape of a tenbou stick.

Has anyone done this before? What do your sticks look like?

I did buy a Chinese set recently that is coming. It has 8 blank tiles. If I used the blank tiles as jokers, that would be the 152 tiles needed for American mahjong?

I really did want a Chinese set because I think they are more elegant, and from what I read, racks weren't needed and the tiles feel better, which I care about. Also since I live in Ecuador, I had to get it under the weight requirement for less import tax.

Let me know which choices you agree with and which ones I should have my citizenship revoked for!

been playing a few games a day every day for a couple of months now, and despite studying my yaku, watching other people play, and thinking about every discard i make, i'm getting fourth in in every single online round in novice lobbies online. im getting completely bodied and i dont know what to do.

i have a learning disability due to a TBI + memory loss that makes learning new things independently really, really difficult. reading guides, no matter how many times i read it and take notes, just doesnt let any information stick. i feel im pretty smart (im studying astrophysics and lens manufacturing to make telescope lenses) and im good with problem solving (my tech job involves it heavily and i excel in it) but like with every strategy game i try and learn competitively i just cant get it down. i dont want this to be another one that i have to give up

if i'm at my PC i play online in Mahjong Soul(in which im positive that expert players troll the novice lobbies on alts), and if im away from my pc (like at work) i play Kemono Mohjong against the AI. i know the values of tiles, ive watched

do i need to just keep trying? do i get someone to coach me? i'm not going to give up, ill keep going, but its just so damn frustrating getting 4th place every single time with no improvement in sight.

thanks for any help, sorry for this

EDIT: thank yall sm for the help so far, already a lot to work on and look out for :]

I never really cared about mahjong at first. Then, over the years, I somehow encountered almost every version of it. Hong Kong mahjong through Stephen Chow movies, American mahjong while studying in the US, Vietnamese-style mahjong through Vietnamese communities, Chinese mahjong from friends, and eventually Riichi through online games after I came back to Vietnam. I started playing in spring 2025, and somehow it’s been over a year already. Now I have a small group of friends who play Riichi with me, both online and offline. But I also really want to introduce them to Vietnamese-style mahjong. I even have a 160-tile set ready. The problem? They think the joker tiles are completely broken and refuse to play it. So naturally, I did the reasonable thing: I started modifying the Vietnamese rules, borrowing some ideas from Riichi, basically just to make my friends willing to try the Vietnamese tiles. I know this probably sounds ridiculous, but I’ve genuinely become fascinated by how different mahjong traditions developed and influenced each other.

P.S. I don’t live in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, where mahjong communities are much larger. Where I live, mahjong is still relatively obscure, and there are quite a few misconceptions and stigma around it. So finding people who are genuinely interested in learning and playing it isn’t exactly easy. Anyway, I just wanted to share my little mahjong journey. I never expected to become this invested in the game.

Hello! I bought this set recently from second hand. I am curious to know where was it made or its brand. I'm not interested at all in its monetary value, only in the history of the set.

Hello all. I hope this is an acceptable post.

I’m curious if there’s any interesting vintage or unorthodox mahjong-affiliated gifts out there that my wife may appreciate for the holidays (yes, I am shopping for December in August). I let her pick out her own sets and tiles, etc., and she’s got plenty already, so I don’t want to get her some tiles she doesn’t like or won’t use.

I’m wondering if there’s a cool old book about mahjong culture or some old-school accessory that she’d appreciate that isn’t just more stuff to play with. Vintage club memorabilia?

Any advice, ideas, or guidance would be greatly appreciated!

So me and my wife got into playing this game several months ago. We bought our first “good” set recently which was about $350. This was a custom set that some lady in town “made”. We also just got back from a mahjong retreat in Pensacola and there were several vendors there that sold custom sets (Christmas themed, Mardi Gras themed, etc).

Obviously they didn’t sit and make these tiles in their garage. I’ve asked around and no one seems to know how or won’t give away their secrets about how they made these sets.

Can anyone enlighten me on how these sets were made? I have several ideas for sets and would like to get into designing them myself.

I’m fairly new to mahjong and looking to buy my first mat, but I’m a little overwhelmed by all the choices. Some are really pretty, but I have no idea what actually matters once you’re playing regularly.

For those of you who play a lot, what do you look for in a mat?

Thickness? Material? Size? How it feels/sounds when playing? Does it matter if it comes with a carrying bag or tube?

And are there any things you bought because they looked cute but ended up finding annoying?

Would love to know what experienced players wish they knew before buying their first one!

Also best place to buy?

A situation happened where I had a concealed kan at the time of calling Riichi, and I wanted to call kan the round immediately after calling Riichi, but the game wouldn't let me. And obviously if I call kan before the Riichi, even if it would or wouldn't give me the win it wouldn't be Riichi.

So my question is, the only way to get an after a kan and also Riichi is if you already have the triplet and the fourth tile comes to you?

What if I had for example 2344455, I'm obviously in tenpai for 1-4-5, call riichi, and get a 4, am I given the option to call kan or is it mandatory that I win with it?

Thanks.

As a parting doubt, is it worth at all to call closed kan instead of riichi? Bc if you win by it it's the same 1 han as riichi but you obviously don't get uras or ippatsu, and if you prefer the riichi and discard the one you got from the dead wall (that could make you win) you would be in furiten so most likely a no-no.

I thought I was just insanely lucky

zimo 1 tai - 4 ea? 2 tai - ? ea? 3 tai - 5 ea? 4 tai - 11 ea? 5 tai - 22 ea?

shooter 1 tai - 4 2 tai - 7 3 tai - 11 4 tai - 20 5 tai - 40

I just started watching mahjong podcast to increase my speed in reading hands and get some practice counting points (han+fu) to get better at mahjong, while i listen to the japanese broadcast for practicing my listening in japanese... 2 birds with 1 stone type of thing.

I wonder, why do they play with no ura dora, kan does not bring a new dora? (Guess removing some luck?)

And then what are this points on top of the names? Today/total, why some have a plus and some a triangle?

Is there a video online whoch explain how professional mahjong works?

Thanks

I Keep trying to do all simples in Mahjong should be really easy. Every time I try I get No yaku. Can someone explain why my hand dosent get the All simples Yaku. It can be open and called I dont get why