History TabletopGame / Mahjong

** If two players call ''ron'' (winning by claiming a discard), the unfortunate player who discarded the winning tile has to pay points to both players. However, if ''all three opponents'' call ''ron'' (''sancha hou''), then the standard rule is to simply end the hand in a draw with no exchange of points, preventing the would-be victim from [[NonStandardGameOver losing all of their points]] or at least facing a round that will be nearly impossible to recover from.

** If any player has a hand of nine or more honors or terminal tiles at the start of the round, [[https://riichi.wiki/Tochuu_ryuukyoku#Kyuushu_kyuuhai they may declare such to draw the round]] so that they don't start at such a severe disadvantage. That said, this is an optional call, and some players will forego this rule to play for ''kokushi musou'' (a ''yakuman'' hand of 13 honors or terminals and a pair of one of them).

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: In the ''riichi'' variant, if two players call ''ron'' (winning by claiming a discard), the unfortunate player who discarded the winning tile has to pay points to both players. However, if ''all three opponents'' call ''ron'' (''sancha hou''), then the standard rule is to simply end the hand in a draw with no exchange of points, preventing the would-be victim from [[NonStandardGameOver losing all of their points]] or at least facing a round that will be nearly impossible to recover from.

* There is no North seat player. Optional HouseRules make the North Wind tile always a ''dora'' in addition to the normal dora (and if the indicator is a West Wind, each North Wind tile is worth ''two'' dora points), and/or plays the North Wind tile as a flower.

Payment division in the event of victory by self-pick varies by HouseRules. Common methods are to split it 50/50, ignore the would-be North player's payment, or split the would-be North player's payment 50/50 among the other two.

Unlike most other variants, Taiwanese Mahjong uses 16-tile hands, and a completed hand has five sets (instead of four) plus the pair. The hand points to ScoringPoints conversion is also done linearly instead, with a base value for winning and an additional point value per hand point; these two values are set by HouseRules. For a win by self-pick, the hand gets one additional point, then all three rivals pay the full value of the hand.

* HouseRules: Many, ''many'' of them.

*** Thirteen Terminals (a.k.a. Kokushi Musou in the Riichi variant): One of each terminal (1, 9, Wind, and Dragon; thirteen tiles total), plus a second of any of them. Some HouseRules award more bonus points if you draw one of each terminal first and are waiting to pair up any of them; this bonus may or may not require that you have not discarded any terminals prior to winning the hand.

[[folder:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

* ''Film/InTheMoodForLove'' is set in 1960s Hong Kong. There's a scene where Mr Chow and Mrs Chan spend a whole night chastely held up in a bedroom together because leaving would mean walking past where their landlords are playing mahjong ''all night long''. If their landlords saw one leaving the other's room like that, they'd think they were having an affair. And they are [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial definitely not having an affair]].
-->'''Chow:''' They'll play till morning?
-->'''Chan:''' Mrs. Suen says only eight rounds.
-->'''Chow:''' You believe that?

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[[folder:{{Live Action TV}}]]

[[folder:{{Music}}]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

[[folder:{{Film}} / Live Action]]

* ''Film/CrazyRichAsians'' has Rachel challenging Eleanor in a mahjong game in order to settle their score on Nick's future. The scene plays out that Rachel is winning the game but she loses. [[spoiler:Turns out that she chooses to lose because she wants Eleanor to realize that she's getting her way with Nick because Rachel willingly gave him up]]. Their game also includes a lot of [[http://blog.angryasianman.com/2018/08/what-was-really-happening-in-crazy-rich.html subtle symoblism]] that [[GeniusBonus is not explained to the audience]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}}'': Jikigaeru's skin dungeon has this as a gimmick.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: In the ''riichi'' variant, if two players call ''ron'' (winning by claiming a discard), the unfortunate player who discarded the winning tile has to pay points to both players. However, if ''all three opponents'' call ''ron'', then the standard rule is to simply end the hand in a draw with no exchange of points, preventing the would-be victim from [[NonStandardGameOver losing all of their points]] or at least facing a round that will be nearly impossible to recover from.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: If two players call ''ron'' (winning by claiming a discard), the unfortunate player who discarded the winning tile has to pay points to both players. However, if ''all three opponents'' call ''ron'', then the standard rule is to simply end the hand in a draw with no exchange of points, preventing the would-be victim from [[NonStandardGameOver losing all of their points]] or at least facing a round that will be nearly impossible to recover from.

%%How does it feature mahjong?* ''Manga/{{Ten}}''

* Litchi Faye-Ling of ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' needed a few more [[ChineseGirl Chinese]] touches--the panda, Taoist philosophy, love of green tea, the {{Qipao}} and yin-yang hair clip apparently weren't enough—so she was also conceived as an avid mahjong player. Several of her move names come directly from mahjong terms, with her [[LimitBreak super moves]] being named after high-value hands like "Thirteen Orphans" and "All Green".

* [[Creator/StephenChow Stephen Chow]]'s ''Flirting Scholar'' is parody of a romance about an [[TheAce erudite scholar]] who is fed up with his multiple wives doing nothing but play mahjong all day, even going as far to destroy one of his paintings to create a tile to replace a missing one. He meets a young woman who he fell in love with and after much trials and tribulations he has earned the right to marry her only to find out that [[ShaggyDogStory she is also a mahjong addict]].

* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' - Kogorou loves playing it, but he's not very good; and Ran, being BornLucky, tends to win rather improbable hands. In a later case involving a SerialKiller, mahjong as a whole is pretty important: [[spoiler: several of the victims plus the killer of the past were mahjong players, the hints about the past killer's identity were related to mahjong terms, and a certain mahjong tile acts as Takagi's PocketProtector when [[JackTheRipOff the killer of the present]] shoots him.]]

* KnowWhenToFoldEm: ''Beatori'', or "Full Defense" in Riichi Mahjong. It's a strategy that forsakes any hand-building in favor of safe discards, whether it's to avoid deal-in, or to draw it out into Exhaustive Draw to cut losses.

* ''Mahjong Soul'' is a multilingual riichi and sanma client with ''gacha'' elements. Players can roll the gacha for cosmetics such as tile and board designs, as well as characters to serve as their avatars. However rolling the ''gacha'' will not give the player any gameplay advantages.

* ''Mahjong Soul'' is a multilingual riichi client with ''gacha'' elements. Players can roll the gacha for cosmetics such as tile and board designs, as well as characters to serve as their avatars. However rolling the ''gacha'' will not give the player any gameplay advantages.

* ''Mahjong Fight Club'' is Creator/{{Konami}}'s take on mahjong, released originally in arcades before also being released on other platforms. Its sequels feature online play through Konami's eAmusement arcade game network.

* ''[[https://tenhou.net/ Tenhou]]'' is a browser-based client with a standalone client as well as ports for mobile platforms also available, and was the client of choice for the Western riichi community for years due to being relatively accessible compared to many other clients (which often suffer from not only being in Japanese only but also being on region-locked platforms or restricted to Japanese arcades) as well as community-made browser extensions that translate the client into other languages. It still is the preferred client for many Western players who are deep into mahjong, but English-language clients have popped up to provide a more accessible avenue for beginners.

* ''[[https://tenhou.net/ Tenhou]]'' is a browser-based client with a standalone client as well as ports for mobile platforms also available, and was the client of choice for the Western riichi community for years due to being relatively accessible compared to many other clients as well as community-made browser extensions that translate the client into other languages. It still is the preferred client for many Western players who are deep into mahjong, but English-language clients have popped up to provide a more accessible avenue for beginners.

!!! Offline mahjong games (including [[GameWithinAGame within other games]]):

* ''Sega Net Mahjong MJ'' by Creator/{{Sega}}, for PC and mobile platforms.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has ''Riichi'' mahjong in—where else?—the Golden Saucer. While it's not played for anything other than rank, and possibly a few [[SoundTest orchestrion rolls]], it's still frightfully addictive.

* ''Mahjong Soul'' is a multilingual riichi client with ''gacha'' elements. Players can roll the gacha for cosmetics such as tile and board designs, as well as characters to serve as their avatars. However rolling the ''gacha'' will not give the player any advantages in actual play.

* ''[[https://tenhou.net/ Tenhou]]'' is a browser-based client with a standalone client as well as ports for mobile platforms also available, and was the client of choice for the Western riichi community for years due to being relatively accessible compared to many other clients as well as [[FanTranslation community-made browser extensions that translate the client into other languages]]. It still is the preferred client for many Western players who are deep into mahjong, but English-language clients have popped up to provide a more accessible avenue for beginners.

* ''[[https://tenhou.net/ Tenhou]]'' is Japan's premier mahjong client, and was the client of choice for the Western riichi community for years. It still is, but English-language clients have popped up to provide a more accessible avenue for beginners.

* There's a ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' fangame, titled ''Touhou Unreal Mahjong'', which revolves around mysterious mahjong boards appearing. It uses Riichi rules, plus special abilities.
* In Japan, prior to the early 2000s crackdown by MoralGuardians, strip mahjong games (played against female AI opponents that would undress as they lost succesive rounds) were an arcade standby. These were notoriously difficult due to using rules variants that heavily stacked the game against the player. Nowadays one occasionally comes out for the PC, but it's somewhat more of a niche genre there.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'' series has mahjong parlours where you can play against CPU opponents and potentially win lots of in-game cash.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has ''Riichi'' mahjong in—where else?—the Golden Saucer. While it's not played for anything other than rank, and possibly a few [[SoundTest orchestrion rolls]], it's still frightfully addictive.

* Riichi mahjong is available as one of the games in ''VideoGame/ClubhouseGames: 51 Worldwide Classics''.

* [[BitchInSheepsClothing Kakei]] from ''Manga/DrugAndDrop'' is revealed in an omake to love mahjong. Considering he's a {{seer}}, it's a wonder why anyone agrees to play with him.