Riichi Mahjong Basics

Riichi mahjong uses a standard 136-tile set (plus optional red fives). Players build a winning hand of four melds and a pair, or special shapes like seven pairs.

All simples (tanyao)

A tanyao hand contains no terminals (1s and 9s) and no honor tiles. It is a common beginner-friendly example for teaching:

2 Man — Edit in hand generator →View pattern page →Open storyboard →

3 Man — Edit in hand generator →View pattern page →Open storyboard →

Sample tenpai shape

Below is a simplified teaching example of a hand that is one tile away from winning (tenpai). Use it in slides or handouts:

1 Man — Edit in hand generator →View pattern page →Open storyboard →

Step-by-step GIF

Tanyao build demo

Try storyboard template

Next steps

Open the hand generator to rearrange tiles or export your own PNG for lessons.