Game Groups > Genre: Card / Tile game - Riichi mahjong

Riichi mahjong, or Japanese mahjong, is the most popular mahjong variant in Japan. It adopts the basic rule set of traditional Chinese mahjong but adds several new rules which set it apart. Dora are a set of bonus tiles which add han value to a winning hand, affecting players' strategy. Dora are selected at random at the start of every round by drawing tiles from the wall. The other distinctive rule, which gives the game its name, is riichi. Players can declare their hand once they're one tile away from a winning hand by calling riichi; this locks the player's hand, but also allows the player to win off of certain discards that wouldn't otherwise be possible.

Riichi is traditionally a game for four players, but there are various two-player variants. See also Genre: Mahjong variant - two-player Riichi mahjong.