From: Michael Fitz <Mike.Fitz <at> LAMBADA <dot> OIT <dot> UNC <dot> EDU>
Date: 22 aug 1994
Subject: Re: Riichi Ma-jan rules???

>
> I'm also interested in the riichi rules.  I collect Mah Jong rules,
> but last I heard, the riichi rules weren't set yet.  Have they been?
> Of all the rules for Mah Jong, the Japanese are the tightest, but
> I like Chinese style scoring better (it's much quicker, as it essentially
> only counts doubles, not base points).

I assume there is some standard base of rules for riichi; if you go to a
Books Kinokuniya (or Asahiya, for that matter) and look at any Japanese
book on Mah Jong, they all describe the same game.  E. N. Whitney wrote
that the Japan Mah-Jong Assn was in the process of establishing standards
for riichi rules, but that was more than 30 years ago!

But then again there is my instruction manual to "Shin-Majan"; it has a
wild number of settings you can choose from to customize the game (except,
apparently, the "old standard" non-riichi game).  There is a little
red-bordered disclaimer in the back of the manual which says (to the best
of my poor translation skills), that mah jong rules vary widely from place
to place, and that Konami has made the best efford possible to accomodate
the most popular variants.  The default settings track very closely,
however, to the one Japanese mah-jong  book that  I have (once again,
subject to my translation skills).

Darn.  I thought Ishi press would have published riichi rules already.  My
work in finding out things/translating is proceeding slowly, but I'm
writing everything down, and will eventually publish my notes one way or
another.  I'd really like to see a "1001 things you can do with Mah-jong
tiles" book, which would have the Chinese, Japanese, and American games,
regional variants, gambling games, etc., together in one volume.

--Mike Fitz