What is riichi in mahjong?

Riichi is a declaration that your closed hand is one tile from winning (tenpai). It costs a 1,000-point stick, locks your hand, and adds 1 fan plus the chance of ippatsu.

How many yaku are there in riichi mahjong?

The standard set has 26 normal yaku plus 13 yakuman. The most common ones — riichi, tanyao, pinfu and yakuhai — cover the majority of winning hands.

What is the easiest yaku for beginners?

Tanyao (all simples) is the easiest: build four melds and a pair using only 2-8 tiles, avoiding terminals and honors entirely.

Riichi Mahjong Yaku: The Complete List

Every yaku you need to win at riichi mahjong — 1-fan basics, 2-fan patterns, and the yakuman hands — with plain-language explanations.

The 1-fan basics

Riichi (declared ready), tanyao (all simples), pinfu (all sequences, two-sided wait), yakuhai (a triplet of dragons or your seat/round wind) and ippatsu (win within one turn of riichi) cover most hands.

Haitei/houtei (winning on the last tile), rinshan (replacement after kan) and chankan (robbing a kan) are rarer but worth one fan too.

2-fan and valuable patterns

Double riichi, chiitoitsu (seven pairs), sanshoku (three same-value runs in all suits) and ittsu (one-dragon run) are worth 2 fan. A concealed full flush (chinitsu) is 6 fan, and half-flush (honitsu) 3. All triplets (toitoi) is 2 fan.

Yakuman: the maximum hands

The classic yakuman are kokushi musou (13 orphans), the four big winds, big three dragons, four concealed triplets, all honors, all terminals, a green hand, and the thirteen-wait nine gates. This site declares them automatically and scores yakuman correctly.

Closed-hand yaku: riichi, ippatsu and menzen tsumo

Three yaku reward keeping your hand closed. Riichi (1 fan) declares you are tenpai and locks the hand — it costs a 1,000-point stick and forbids changing tiles afterward. Ippatsu (1 fan) adds a bonus if you win within one turn after declaring riichi, before anyone calls. Menzen tsumo (1 fan) simply rewards winning on your own draw with a closed hand.

Because these three stack, a closed riichi win often reaches 3 fan before counting any pattern at all.

The 3-6 fan patterns

Honitsu (mixed one-suit, 3 fan, 2 open) uses one suit plus honors. Chinitsu (pure one-suit, 6 fan, 5 open) is all one suit — hard but very valuable. Chanta (terminal/honor chow, 2 fan) and junchan (terminal chow, 3 fan) reward edge sequences, and honroto (all terminals and honors, 2 fan) is a common yakuman bridge.

Sanankou (three concealed triplets, 2 fan) and sankantsu (three kongs, 2 fan) reward aggressive melding, while toitoi (all triplets, 2 fan) is the classic hand-racing pattern.

How fan and fu combine into points

The score formula is base points = fu × 2^(2 + fan), multiplied for the dealer and for tsumo payments. 25-fu hands only exist for seven pairs; most hands score 30-40 fu. When the total reaches 2,000 points it is capped at mangan regardless of fu, which is why 5 fan always scores mangan.

You never need to calculate this by hand — the game log shows the fan, fu and points after every win, and the articles riichi-scoring guide walks through examples.

Waits and tenpai shape

The same hand can be worth different amounts depending on your wait. A two-sided wait (ryanmen) is worth 2 fu and enables pinfu; a single wait (tanki) scores 2 fu too but blocks pinfu. Edge (penchan) and closed (kanchan) waits score 2 fu.

Because fu is small, focusing on fan from yaku matters far more than squeezing out extra fu. Aim for riichi + one more yaku and the hand will usually reach mangan.

Common beginner mistakes

The most frequent errors are: declaring riichi with an open hand (not allowed), forgetting that furiten blocks ron, calling tiles that break a closed-hand yaku like pinfu or riichi, and chasing yakuman when a steady 3-fan hand is right in front of you.

Practice tip: play a few games aiming only for tanyao + riichi, then add pinfu once that is automatic. The AI difficulty setting on this site lets you train each pattern without pressure.

FAQ

What is riichi in mahjong?: Riichi is a declaration that your closed hand is one tile from winning (tenpai). It costs a 1,000-point stick, locks your hand, and adds 1 fan plus the chance of ippatsu.
How many yaku are there in riichi mahjong?: The standard set has 26 normal yaku plus 13 yakuman. The most common ones — riichi, tanyao, pinfu and yakuhai — cover the majority of winning hands.
What is the easiest yaku for beginners?: Tanyao (all simples) is the easiest: build four melds and a pair using only 2-8 tiles, avoiding terminals and honors entirely.