About
We are Bristol Riichi Mahjong, a group of riichi mahjong players and enthusiasts from Bristol in the UK!
How to chat to us
We’re most active on the #jkr-west channel of the JanKenRon Discord server (give yourself the West role when you arrive)! We’re also on Facebook, and you can email us at bristolriichimahjong@gmail.com
When we meet
We meet about every two months for all-day weekend meetups, normally at the Watershed Cinema Café Bar in Bristol city centre.
Smaller meetups are being organised all the time by our club members - feel free to ask who is free to meet for a game on Discord or Facebook as mentioned above.
We might do occasional special events too!
New to riichi?
We are very keen to show new players the ropes as much as possible! Complete beginners are welcome at almost all of our meetups. We can teach the rules and get you involved, or you are welcome to watch us play if you’d prefer.
Please let us know if you’d like to give riichi mahjong a try for the first time. Depending on demand, we may even be able to set up a session solely focussed on beginners and learning!
About the organisers
Chair: Tom Pearson
Hi, I'm Tom! I was first shown riichi in 2016 at a work board game night. It took Final Fantasy XIV to add its own riichi minigame in 2019 to push me into learning it properly, and I've been hooked ever since! I love teaching mahjong to anyone who'll listen... (sorry to colleagues at my last two jobs!) and organised meetups in Leeds before moving to Bristol in 2021.
I joined the tournament scene at the UK Open in 2022 and have since played tournaments in the Czech Republic, Poland and Italy. I was very honoured to be a UK representative for the European Championships in Valencia in 2024, where I finished 8th!
I find riichi to be a wonderfully social game, with new puzzles and surprises at every turn, and I want as many people playing it as possible!
Co-chair: James Johns
James (or JJ) here.
Being the self-confessed game enjoyer and fan of various worldly things, I was always fascinated as a young boy by this mysterious game from the east "Mahjong". It was only when some friends of ours mentioned they had a set, that I suddenly went "hey this sounds fun, let's learn it together". So me and the wifey did just that. This was late 2018, we then managed to coerce some others to join and started some intermittent (almost regular!) pub sessions though nothing too official.
Covid then occurred and we found ourselves with a lot of time at home and needing to find something to do with so lo' and behold, we played Riichi. A lot of riichi. As things eased up, through the UK Mahjong Facebook group a few more people appeared and started to jump into games (including Tom above) and things grew steadily. Suddenly we found ourselves putting out the word and having consistent 3-4 tables going and meets all through the day, and then possibly continuing for the infamous "Mahjong after dark" at ours thereafter.
I am a filthy casual through and through but I really enjoy the game so would love to face anyone who's offering the challenge!
