Current Events > I need help with Mahjong. I just have some questions.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Yakuza Like a Dragon.

I have the basic rules down, there are just a few things I don't understand I think to really get me rolling.



What is the stuff in the middle, such as the exposed (terminal, One?) piece, along with 4 other non-revealed pieces.

What is the N S E W for each player and why does it rotate?

And finally, what determines who takes points from who? I've noticed whether it be myself winning a round or the NPCs, points are not always deducted from every player.

EDIT: I have done some googling, but google is returning just WAY too much information for the questions I'm asking, or outright the wrong info (wrong because google thinks I'm searching for something else).

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bump

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The pieces in the middle are "bonus" tiles. If you win and one of your pieces match a bonus tile in the middle, you will get a bonus to your winnings.

The cardinal directions are known as "winds". There is the seat wind, which is the wind assigned to each character (yours is West) and the round wind, which is the one in the middle (East, in this case). You can make a set(3 tiles) with any of the winds, but if your set matches either your seat wind or the round wind, then you get a bonus if you win.

Finally, points are awarded based on how you win. If you win with "Tsumo" (drawing a tile from the deck) then everyone who loses splits the loss evenly. If you win by "Ron", (drawing a tile from a player's discard pile) you take your winnings from only that player's stash.

It's been a while since I played so my terminology might not be 100% accurate but hopefully this helps. I'm sure CyricZ will be around soon to correct any mistakes (he makes amazing guides for Yakuza, I'd consult them if you want to learn more)

That minigame even ruined my enjoyment of the solitaire version (the only good version).

*vomits*

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ScrubIt posted...

The pieces in the middle are "bonus" tiles. If you win and one of your pieces match a bonus tile in the middle, you will get a bonus to your winnings.

The cardinal directions are known as "winds". There is the seat wind, which is the wind assigned to each character (yours is West) and the round wind, which is the one in the middle (East, in this case). You can make a set(3 tiles) with any of the winds, but if your set matches either your seat wind or the round wind, then you get a bonus if you win.

Finally, points are awarded based on how you win. If you win with "Tsumo" (drawing a tile from the deck) then everyone who loses splits the loss evenly. If you win by "Ron", (drawing a tile from a player's discard pile) you take your winnings from only that player's stash.

It's been a while since I played so my terminology might not be 100% accurate but hopefully this helps. I'm sure CyricZ will be around soon to correct any mistakes (he makes amazing guides for Yakuza, I'd consult them if you want to learn more)

This is great info, thank you!

@CyricZ Apologies if you dislike this tag. If you have more info to provide, shoot it. I think I now have a solid grasp of the game.

The only thing left to grasp is declaring Riichi. I understand you do it at a risk to get more points, but I've currently never had the opportunity to declare it, so I'm assuming you need a special reason to do so, a reason which Yakuza doesn't explain too well.

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DoGCyN posted...

What is the stuff in the middle, such as the exposed (terminal, One?) piece, along with 4 other non-revealed pieces.

Those ten tiles are called the "dead wall", and it's because they aren't playable in the hand. The revealed tile is the "dora indicator". It indicates which tile is "dora", which is always the tile displayed incremented by one, so in this case, the tile that's "dora" is the two of dots.

DoGCyN posted...

The only thing left to grasp is declaring Riichi.

Riichi can only be declared when your hand is in "tenpai". Tenpai basically means you're one tile away from having a winning hand; out of the four sets and a pair that you need to win, you're only missing one tile.

In Yakuza games, to declare Riichi, you have to tap Square. That brings up the "declaration" options in general, and if you tap Square and can't declare anything, then there's nothing to display, but if you can, "Riichi" will appear. Select that and you'll bet 1000 points that you'll win the hand (whoever wins the hand takes those points). This locks your hand and you won't be able to make any changes other than draw and discard the tiles you draw until the one you need appears, either from a draw you get (tsumo), or in another player's last discard (ron).

If you want to watch me play some hands, check this:

https://youtu.be/4-B_HmdQMgo

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CyricZ posted...

Those ten tiles are called the "dead wall", and it's because they aren't playable in the hand. The revealed tile is the "dora indicator". It indicates which tile is "dora", which is always the tile displayed incremented by one, so in this case, the tile that's "dora" is the two of dots.

Riichi can only be declared when your hand is in "tenpai". Tenpai basically means you're one tile away from having a winning hand; out of the four sets and a pair that you need to win, you're only missing one tile.

In Yakuza games, to declare Riichi, you have to tap Square. That brings up the "declaration" options in general, and if you tap Square and can't declare anything, then there's nothing to display, but if you can, "Riichi" will appear. Select that and you'll bet 1000 points that you'll win the hand (whoever wins the hand takes those points). This locks your hand and you won't be able to make any changes other than draw and discard the tiles you draw until the one you need appears, either from a draw you get (tsumo), or in another player's last discard (ron).

If you want to watch me play some hands, check this:

https://youtu.be/4-B_HmdQMgo

Awesome, thank you!

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You're welcome ^_^

I was actually talking with some friends on Discord. I might try to see if I can run a Mahjong clinic at MAGFest or some other upcoming cons I'll be attending in 2022.

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Ah, actually I made a mistake. Like CyricZ said for the dora (bonus piece) it's not the tile displayed that you need, but the tile +1. Sorry.

And to add to the Riichi explanation, you can only declare riichi if none of your tiles are exposed. Your tile gets exposed if you steal another players tile (in the game, your set will be moved to the right of the screen indicating you have an exposed tile).

theres an anime called akagi thats about this game its pretty good imo

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ScrubIt posted...

Ah, actually I made a mistake. Like CyricZ said for the dora (bonus piece) it's not the tile displayed that you need, but the tile +1. Sorry.

And to add to the Riichi explanation, you can only declare riichi if none of your tiles are exposed. Your tile gets exposed if you steal another players tile (in the game, your set will be moved to the right of the screen indicating you have an exposed tile).

Just figured that out. I was staring at the screen and I was like "I literally have Riichi, why can't I declare it" and assumed it was because I had 2 exposed sets.

dammit lol

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Yeah be very careful about stealing tiles. One of the hardest concepts to grasp is that your hand needs to be valuable enough to win. If your hand is too low value, then even if you have 4 sets and a pair, you won't win. The easiest way to ensure you have a hand that is valuable enough to win for beginners is to keep everything concealed as that gives you the concealed bonus. Stealing from another player's pile (except through riichi) makes the hand open, thus negating this bonus and thus requires you to have to increase your hands value through other methods.

Good advice as you learn the game is to never steal until you are more comfortable with how hand values work

Okay, what the heck is this card:



I entered the first tournament and this red 5 bamboo just appeared.

EDIT: A red 5 Circle just appeared as well. Center looked like a Flower

EDIT 2: Appears to be all 5s

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Okay, those are just 5s. I feel silly. Just different looking 5s.

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Having Red Dora on means any of those Red 5s are additional Dora at the end of a hand.

I always have Red Dora on just to get higher scores and make things interesting.

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CyricZ posted...

Having Red Dora on means any of those Red 5s are additional Dora at the end of a hand.

I always have Red Dora on just to get higher scores and make things interesting.

I see, Thanks!

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