Going further
Three-Player Mahjong (Sanma)
Riichi for three players: no 2m–8m, no chi, North as bonus dora, tsumo loss, and how points and hands change.
Tiles and seats
Sanma is played by three people: East, South and West. There is no North player. The characters suit loses its 2 to 8, leaving only ; circles, bamboo and honors stay the same, for 108 tiles in total.
Only two red fives remain, one and one . When the dora indicator is the dora is , and when it is the dora is .
No chi
In sanma you can pon, kan and ron, but you cannot chi. Since calling is less useful, closed riichi hands, pair-based hands (seven pairs, all triplets) and flushes (half flush, full flush) are more common than in four-player games.
Setting North aside
North is nobody's seat wind and never the round wind in sanma, so keeping it in your hand gives no value-tile yaku. It only works as an ordinary honor tile (thirteen orphans still needs one).
On your turn, after drawing, you may set aside a from your hand:
- Each North set aside is worth 1 han (nukidora). Like dora it is not a yaku: you still need a real yaku to win.
- You then draw a replacement from the dead wall, just like a kan. Winning on that tile is rinshan kaihou.
- If North is the dora (indicator ), each set-aside North also counts as dora, for 2 han each.
- After riichi you may only set aside a North you have just drawn.
- Setting North aside is not a call, so it does not cancel ippatsu. This site has no "robbing the North" (you cannot ron a North someone sets aside).
Points and tsumo loss
Han, fu and the point table are the same as in four-player riichi; there is simply one fewer payer:
- Ron: the discarder pays the full amount, as usual.
- Tsumo: the other two players pay what they would pay in a four-player game, and the share the North player would have paid is paid by nobody (tsumo loss). For example, a non-dealer tsumo of 30 fu 1 han collects 500 from the dealer and 300 from the other player, 800 in all.
- Honba: each honba adds 1,000 to a ron, or 500 from each player on a tsumo.
- Noten payments: 2,000 in total. One player in tenpai receives 2,000 (1,000 from each of the others); two players in tenpai receive 1,000 each (the noten player pays 2,000).
How a match runs
- You start with 35,000 and the return is 40,000; the winner also takes an oka of 15.
- East only is East 1 to East 3; hanchan is 3 East hands and 3 South hands. Dealer repeats, honba, the West round and busting work as in How a Match Works.
- There is no four-winds or four-riichi abortive draw; nine terminals and four kans still apply.
- Uma is +a / 0 / −a: 5-15 in the lobby means ±15, 10-20 means ±20 and 10-30 means ±30.