LogFAQs > #975585363

Mahjong's definitely got a lot of arbitrary fizzbin like rules to it, but it gets easier to grasp it at least enough to get the completion points from it most of the time (there might be some games in the series that have some annoying requirements though like you have to win at all the tables).

You probably don't have to worry about memorizing all the yakuman hands up front, since you're probably more likely to get struck by lightning than win with one of them (unless you use a cheat item) and stick to learning the basic ones that give you 1 or 2 scoring elements and maybe find a cheat sheet online for the more complicated stuff.

you just kind of have to play a while, and watch what the computer goes out with and try to understand why they were able to and how it's scored. it also helps to press the menu button a lot on your turn to see if you can riichii or can declare a win by a drawn tile if you aren't sure.

also it's often a bad idea to try to take tiles from other players since it opens up your hand so you basically lose potential scoring elements (having a closed hand and/or declaring riichii) and you need at least two to go out. so you probably shouldn't, unless it completes some other scoring element to make up for it or if the round is winding down to the last few drawn tiles and you need to get at least enough tiles to avoid paying a penalty to the other players when no one wins.