November has been shaping up to be a busy month here at ARMA. From demos at conventions to international tournaments there has been an event for just about everyone.
Online play ARMA Club Nights continues to have good turn outs with 20 unique players so far this month battling it out to claim the Shuugi Hoarder title.
InDaJulz from WA jumps to a big lead following the 2nd session of the month but with 3 still to go the title is still up for grabs.
Mahjong at conventions November seems to be a big month for conventions with friends of ARMA making appearances at Melbourne’s Animanga Expo and Perth’s Kaicon. Teaching and demoing mahjong for hours on end for a entire weekend can be an exhausting activity and we would like to thank the volunteers from the Melbourne and Perth communities for their time and dedication to spreading mahjong to the wider community.
International/Competitive play Over the past 2 weeks members from ARMA have represented Australia on the international stage in the Korean Mahjong League’s annual International Online Riichi Mahjong Championship. With many new faces present the hopeful team unfortunately fell in the qualification stage finishing 15th of 24.
A big shoutout to our friends in New Zealand who fielded their first ever IORMC team placing 16th of 24.
Mura (4th overall) and JafOrang (34th overall) both advanced to the individual’s tournament but both were eliminated in the round of 32.
Do you have your tickets to the 2023 Australian Riichi Mahjong Open? We sure hope you do, because we are now sold out!!! Thank you for your overwhelming support for the return of this event.
Don’t have a ticket yet? All hope is not yet lost, the waitlist is open and hopeful participants may still gain entry to the event if openings becoming available. Staff are also working to see if expansions are possible. Watch this space for more news!
Over the past two weeks, the top individual players from the ARMA Team League event have been battling it out to prove who stands above the rest on the individual stage. Through a grueling gauntlet and a positional masterclass, Abraham (Aistrom) emerged the champion once the dust finally settled. Let’s have a look at their journey to the gold medal!
Entering the event as the 10th seed, Abraham’s first match was against our friends from New Zealand Cyber777 and PIGGYYO and Chiral from the UK After a very explosive game, trading points back and worth, Abraham finds them self in a timely sensei riichi only 700 points away from first place.
Seizing the opportunity for first place in their first hanchan the riichi button is slammed and the hand is converted against Chiral a turn later, scoring Abraham 2600 points and first place!
The fireworks continued to fire into the second hanchan as Chiral wins fast mangan in East 1 but Abraham fires back with one of their own completing a beautiful Riichi Tsumo Iipeikou Aka.
Riichi Tsumo Iipeikou Aka | Mangan Tsumo
However the very next hand Cyber slams Abraham with a direct hit mangan, and of course when it rains, it pours! Dealing into back to back hands Abraham falls to last place.
Riichi Ippatsu Pinfu Dora | Mangan Ron
Haku Dora Aka | 5200 Ron
Abraham wins a hand to pull themselves back into the game but the beating isnt over yet! Chiral surges ahead with a dealer haneman tsumo!
Riichi Tsumo Tanyao Dora 2 Ura 2 | Haneman Tsumo
Seeing the writing on the wall, with their first place from the previous hanchan, Abraham smartly switches gears and looks towards a 2nd place to second their seat in the next round winning two back to back hands to put them in a comfortable 2nd.
Tanyao Dora | 500-1000 Tsumo with 1 honba
Riichi Tsumo Aka | 2600All Tsumo
And finally, with a bold All-Last Sanshoku Riichi, Abraham locks away the game after Chiral attempts to push a 2-bamboo after entering their own tenpai.
Riichi Sanshoku Dora Aka | Mangan Ron
Along side Chiral who managed to overcome a -39.9 deficit, Abraham advances to the semi finals with a dominant +51.6
Semi-Finals
In the Semi-Finals, Abraham is joined by Chiral, Ekusok and lostmyid (Jiemei). Riding the momentum from their performance in the first stage, Abraham launches a quick assault with two quick wins firmly seating them in their eventual victory.
Pei Dora | 500-1000
Riichi Ippatsu Sanshoku Dora | Mangan ron
The foot did not come off the gas as Abraham going into their East 4 dealership converts another mangan with the help of some lucky ura dora!
Riichi Pinfu Aka Ura | Mangan Ron
After the previous hand Abraham went on to win several more hands including another mangan but also dealt into a mangan from Ekusok. Entering South 3 Ekusok fires off an early riichi on turn 5. Feeling the groove Abraham riichis but traps themselves into a dangerous situation eventually dealing into an expensive Riichi Chiitoi Honitsu Ura2 for a dealer baiman reversal!
Riichi Chiitoi Honitsu Ura 2 |Dealer Baiman Ron
Not to be deterred with first still in reach with their dealership, Abraham forces a gutsy Chun Honitsu to push the game into their All-Last dealership taking the fight to Ekusok on their own terms.
Chun Honitsu Aka | Mangan RonHatsu Dora Aka | 3900 Ron
A comeback wasn’t found however, as mahjong miracles don’t seem to strike twice in this game. Ekusok rushes a quick Hatsu Dora Aka to end the game. Even so, Abraham enters the second hanchan with good chances as Chiral and Jiemei ended the game in the depths of despair.
The second hanchan threatened Abraham with dying by a thousand cuts as they get pelted by tsumos and small rons from every player on the table. However A turn 9 Ippatsu Tsumo in East 3 begins their counter attack.
Riichi Ippatsu Tsumo Pinfu | 1300-2600 Tsumo
Deep into the game during South 2, Abraham sees an opening and takes a showdown against Chiral who is already in riichi. Its a fight of wait quality! Hell wait 1pin vs 69man
Unfortunately for Abraham who now feels the heat, Chiral takes the win finding the last 1pin in the wall for a Chiitoitsu hand.
Riichi Tsumo Chiitoitsu | 1300-2600 Ron with 2 honba and 2 deposits
All-Last, pressure high, Abraham in third place. Did they do their math? Rushing towards finishing a hand they find themselves on an alright wait but into the third row they face down two Riichis!!!
Jiemie is the first to find her wait, but theres a pause to do math! Eventually taking the tsumo, the harrow dawns as she realises it’s not quite enough to pass onto the next round!
Riichi Tsumo Haku Dora | Mangan Tsumo
In a clencher of a match for Abraham, they squeeze through to the Finals with a score of 3.4 placing in second.
Finals
Four enter, but only 1 will leave the champion, Abraham enters the Finals alongside Ekusok from Xianpon and unYYYowl and aesthete from the Champion Team Itchy Riichi Fingers.
Abraham has a quiet start being relegated to NPC status as they watch blows fly back and forth not yet having won a hand in the entire East round.
Toitoi Dora 3 | Mangan Ron
Shousangen Haku Chun Honitsu | Dealer Haneman Ron
Riichi Tsumo Iipeikou Dora Aka 2 | Haneman Tsumo
Ittsuu Dora | 2900 Ron
Entering their dealership in the South round, the game and by extension the title threatening to slip right through their hands, Abraham makes a bold riichi waiting on dora finding a quick ippatsu to reenter the race.
Riichi Ippatsu Tsumo Dora Aka | Dealer Mangan Tsumo
Again going cold, Abraham waits for their opportunity to strike which finally comes around in South 3 taking second row riichi. However in a bizarre turn of of events they face down a Toitoi hadaka tanki and a possible character Honitsu.
Thanking their lucky stars, Abraham draws their takame 6pin to convert on another 12000 points!
Riichi Tsumo Pinfu Iipeikou Aka Ura | Haneman Tsumo
Abraham in mangan tsumo range of first, unfortunately doesn’t find a hand and deals into a riichi from aesthete who confirms their third place.
Once again falling to an early deficit, Abraham finds themselves in a pinch. South 1, last place 11400 points they begin their comeback with an absurdly quick Toitoi catching Ekusok who was trying to sakigiri dora by surprise.
Double South Toitoi Dora 3 | Baiman Ron
It’s important to note that at this point despite being at 27,400 points Abraham is now only 4,400 points away from taking the title home as unYYYowl is currently in third place and will take a substantial hit from the uma.
Points are traded, hands go to ryuukyoku, the final hanchan proceeds to South 3, scores are tight, Abraham is in range but not quite there yet. Threading the needle they find a glorious 3 bamboo for an extremely important 2 han hand bringing them almost any win away from claiming the title.
Chun Aka | 500-1000 with 1 honba 1 deposit
At this point, it’s important to consider the scores. Doing the math if game were to end right here, the scores are as follow. Understanding this, Abraham needs only 1600 points to overtake unYYYowl but…….
FORTUNE SMILES UPON ABRAHAM, RYANMEN DOUBLE RIICHI. With an unbelievable Abraham fills their kanchan 46pin shape and proceeds to double riichi with the chance to end the game, the set, and the championship.
It was only a matter of time before the tiles came home, Double Riichi Tsumo Pinfu, Abraham claims the title.
Double Riichi Tsumo Pinfu | 1300-2600 Tsumo
From almost being late and ejected from the event, to a tight squeeze through the semifinals, to a desperate South 1 game state, Abraham overcame it all to stand alone, crowned as the first ever All Stars Invitational Champion.
With this they take home $50 cash, the trophy and a free entry to ARMO2023 later this year in Sydney!!!
An additional congratulations to unYYYowl, aesthete and Ekusok who took home 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively. Whilst they did not bring home the title, they all played a splendid game and provided a spectacle to behold.
And with that, another ARMA Team League season finally comes to a close. But its not all over! Looking for more chances to compete?! We have the Team ARMA IORMC Qualifiers coming up in September!
The sign up link can be found here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScCxxiQBdj59GqPh5pQSqEo0vtravUBrvfRw_hzbWaTulnX3Q/viewform
G’day all! It is our pleasure to announce the Australian Riichi Mahjong Open 2023 (ARMO23), to be held in Sydney on the 2nd and 3rd of December 2023!
ARMO is our premier national riichi mahjong tournament, and is open to all contenders. Come join us in this two day event, where you will have the opportunity to meet and compete with players from all over Australia.
Further details, including the format, rules, and registration will be announced soon, so save the dates and stay tuned! Spots are limited so don’t miss out!
The inaugural ARMO was held in Melbourne in 2019 and was won by SBT101 (Kevin Dinh), who was awarded a seat at the World Riichi Championship 2022 in Vienna, Austria where he proudly represented Australia on the world stage.
With the Australian Riichi community having reached new in the post COVID-era we eagerly await your attendance and look forward to crowning the Australian Champion for 2023.
Congratulations to Team Itchy Riichi Fingers for winning this year’s ARMA Team League in a nail-biting final hanchan beginning with 8.2pts separating 1st and 2nd!
The team was represented by Ted (unYYYowl) Frisky_11 and warmestRain.
This year we had 14 teams with many returning teams joining us again along with some new teams, including one from Western Australia. It’s great to see more communities popping up around Australia and joining us online.
For the next two weekends we will be running the All Stars Invitational featuring the top 16 individual scorers from the initial stage of the team league so come watch those players duke it out! Hope to see more of you join our team league next year, but otherwise stay tuned for future tournaments later this year!
Final Scores after finalsTop 16 All Star Invitational Bracket
The World Riichi Championship 2022 is going to be played in Vienna, Austria between 25th to 28th August.
Australia will be represented by the following players: Aaron Chee Jaymond He Jeremy Sea Kevin Dinh
Currently 152 players have been confirmed to participate including numerous professional players from Japanese Pro organisations (including a few M-Leaguers). The player list can be found here: https://wrc2022vienna.com/players
Congratulations to team Ittsuu Ankou for winning this year’s ARMA Team League! The team was represented by the following players: (using Tenhou names) Cheez, rachel, Muran, Abraham, liebe
This year we had 14 teams with players from all around the world. We hope all the players enjoyed participating this year and we would love to see everyone back next year!
ARMA Team League is back and taking registrations for Season 3! ARMA Team League is a team-based tournament inspired by M-League.
Teams will consist of 3-5 players up to a maximum of 16 teams. International teams are welcome, but preference will be given to Australian teams if we hit capacity.
You can register a team as well as join a list of players looking for a team using the google form below and access the teams and details of the tournament (as they get updated) in the spreadsheet. Registrations will end at 11:59pm AEDT on Saturday 16th April.
The International Online Riichi Mahjong Championship (IORMC) 2021 was held recently. Here are the results for Team Australia:
Andrew Tang (JafOrang) – 64th/76 Aaron Chee (Cheez) – 69th/76 Oscar Feng (春生) – 23rd/76 (Knocked out in Top 32) Jaymond He (チークスちゃん) – 13rd/76 (Knocked out in Top 16)
Welcome to the Australian Riichi Mahjong Association (ARMA) Website!
We are a group focused on promoting the wonderful game of Riichi (Japanese) mahjong in Australia.
We currently run meetups in Sydney. They are an opportunity for new members to learn how to play Riichi Mahjong as well as developing their skills with our more experienced members.
We have friends in other states who run other meetups and groups for Riichi mahjong.
We have members who have represented Australia in various international Riichi tournaments.
If you are new to mahjong or an experienced mahjong player looking to try out Riichi we would love to hear from you! Feel free to send us an email, join our Discord channel , DM us on Twitter or find us on Facebook.