Riichi Mahjong: The Ultimate Guide to the Japanese Game Taking the World By Storm

Excellent job explaining the rules and scoring for Riichi Mahjong.

I purchased this book going in with very minimal Japanese mahjong knowledge; I knew somewhat how hand forming works in video game mahjong, but I wanted to learn more and become comfortable with the deeper layers and rules. Scott Miller's introductions to the game, core mechanics, rules, and much more were very well paced and worded. The scattered excerpts containing extra trivia, tidbits, and more advanced information were enjoyable and beneficial to me. After reading through its entirety, I feel a lot more confident about my riichi mahjong game (well except scoring calculation, but I know that is one of the trickiest parts to memorize quickly without repeated practice. Scott breaks it down so well I feel I can eventually get it!) and have become really excited to play more. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has just discovered the allure of Japanese mahjong and is wanting to take the seemingly scary plunge of learning the game, which Scott makes very un-scary!

Who is this book for? Beginners? Intermediates? It's not really clear, but it was actually pretty good for me. I've been playing Mah Jong on the computer for a few years now, on-and-off, against AI. However, I never formally learned how to play the game. That's not to say I was doing random moves, but there was definitely a subset of rules I never really understood. This book was great for clarifying those and making my game smarter. Like other commenters have said, it's true that this book doesn't contain much in terms of strategy, but it does describe some non-obvious patterns that can help you figure out what's best to discard or what your opponents are up to. It's definitely pretty dry for a total beginner, so I'd suggest playing before buying this book. Still, overall a great source of useful info!

I was expecting something more rules heavy or laid out similar to a tournament guide, but was surprised by the anecdotes, rules variants, and discussion/thinking topics presented throughout the book. If you're looking for strict analysis or just a rulebook, this isn't it, but it will give you everything you need to know and then some. A great way to kill some time between hands.

Sat down and read the whole thing the day it came. Great reference, good read.

This book provides plenty of details about how to play Riichi Mahjong, sprinkled with memorable anecdotes to help emphasize certain strange or otherwise uncommon play scenarios. Its guide to hands is invaluable for any beginner, and it also provides helpful basic strategy advice.

A really good explanation of the rules and basics. Not much on strategy

Great book I have never played Mahjong but I learn the rules very quickly.

I loved this book! I have recently gotten into riichi mahjong and this book is just full of information! There is no strategy section (the author specified there was so much information in that subject that it could be it’s own book). It’s great for beginners and people who want to learn various ways to play. I also loved the washizu mahjong (from Akagi) was in here. Also includes where to buy tiles!

nice book for learning

This is described as the ultimate guide but it does not - nor does any book - tell you how to play. Not for beginners.

I play Mahjong but Riichi isn't a variant I had played. I thought the gameplay rather daunting (even though I do play MCR). So I decided to give this book a try...I admit to not being too impressed at first. It has a self published look about it, the text is densely packed on the page and rather uninspiring, the photos in black and white are none too clear. But...having read it, and applied the advice, I played my first ever Riichi match (on Mahjong Time) and won! Won quite well too. Beginners luck maybe...but using Scott's advice within the book, I avoided getting in to Furiten, had multiple waits, avoided dealing into an opponent after they declared Reach, managed to control my discards towards the end etc etc.. So, first impressions proven unfounded! Buy this book if you have any interest in Riichi, you'll be glad you did. I hope Scott produces another book focused on strategy...that's one I'd buy now too.

This slim book was a great disappointment. I would have given it 1 star but for two redeeming features. It gets bumped up one star simply because it is a book about Riichi in English, and they are few and far between. I'll come to the reason for the third star later in this review. Despite claiming to be the 'ultimate guide' the book is actually quite short. discounting the acknowledgments, forward and preface at the front, and the index at the back the book is 157 pages long, including the appendices. Of these 157 pages there's 14.5pages of blank space. For example page 75 has three lines of text (the rest being blank space), page 76 has a only a black and white photo of an eye, page 77 has seven lines of text followed by blank space. What little content there is seems randomly chosen. Much of the content is aimed at beginners, which is fine of course, but does a beginner really need a two page discussion on why some tiles are called dragon tiles in English, but something else in oriental languages? There are 18.,5 pages of these various 'Points to Ponder' which add flavour but help not at all in learning the game. Similarly there's a 20 page chapter giving the rules for 15 different alternative versions of the Japanese game which can only be confusing to a beginner. Page 38 has a list of 17 key Japanese words used in Riichi; great, and very helpful. What is less helpful to a new player is the 19 page glossary containing almost 500 Japanese words and phrases. I pity anyone who tries to plough through that lot. One of the great attractions of Riichi Mahjong is huge strategic depth to the game. What we get on strategy is 8.5 pages at Appendix B. The book would have been much better if it had dumped most of the background and flavour text, and replaced it with 100 pages of basic strategy. So, overall, the book is an opportunity missed. Its contents seem thrown together randomly with too much obscure content for the beginner, but not enough gameplay 'meat' for the improver. There are far better resources available for free on the internet. Oh, and the reason for the third star.... it's actually that 500 term glossary. As my reading goes into ever more obscure sources I'll be referring to it frequently.