Playing riichi online
Here’s a quick run-down of some online mahjong clients! All of these are completely free to play:
- Tenhou - a long-standing and well-regarded client - downsides are that it is quite spartan in its design, and still has quite a lot of untranslated text in Japanese (such as the lobby names). There is a (quite exhaustive!) tutorial of Tenhou at the start of Riichi Book 1.
- Board Game Arena - notable for its ‘turn-based’ option, allowing for what is effectively ‘correspondence riichi’ where players only need to make a move once or twice a day.
- Mahjong Soul, Riichi City and Amatsuki Mahjong - these clients are much more user-friendly in their design, featuring helpful tutorials and full English language support, although the anime-based presentation will not be to everyone’s tastes.
