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Three-Player Mahjong Strategy and Tips

Here is how to think about winning at Three-Player Mahjong, split into short lessons. Each one reads on its own, and each one comes with a real position: press Try it on the board and you play the move yourself.

Extract north for extra value

Lesson 1

North can stay in your hand or be set aside. Extracting it gives you a replacement tile and adds one han when you win. In this exercise, press the highlighted north action and watch north move beside your hand while a new tile arrives.

An extracted north is a bonus rather than a scoring condition. You still need something such as riichi or three matching dragon tiles to win. Check the shape of your hand again after drawing the replacement: it may improve a pair or complete a run. The result separates the value of your hand from the north bonus, so you can see exactly where the points came from.

Build runs in circles and bamboo

Lesson 2

Three-player mahjong removes 2 through 8 characters. That leaves only 1 and 9 in that suit, so characters cannot make consecutive runs. Circles and bamboo still have every number from 1 to 9, and can form either runs or matching triplets. Honors and the remaining characters are useful for matching sets and pairs.

When choosing a discard, compare an isolated honor with a connected pair of numbers or two matching tiles. A lone honor only improves when you draw the same honor. In this exercise you discard the drawn north while keeping the rest of the hand together. During a real hand you could also extract north. Before throwing any tile, look at which remaining tiles would complete each part of your hand.

Compare tsumo and ron payments

Lesson 3

Tsumo means winning with a tile you draw, while ron means winning with another player’s discard. On tsumo, the two opponents pay their usual four-player amounts. No payment is added for the missing fourth player. This can make the total received lower than the ron value of the same hand, a difference called tsumo loss.

Press tsumo on the completed hand in this exercise. Open the score details and compare the hand value with each opponent’s payment. Payments also depend on whether the winner is the dealer. Looking at both the hand calculation and the change to the total scores helps you understand how many points you still need in the next hand. North bonuses appear separately from the scoring conditions.

Declare riichi when one tile away

Lesson 4

You can declare riichi when your hand is one tile away from winning and you have not opened it with another player’s tiles. Put 1,000 points on the table and choose a discard to announce that you are ready. Riichi is itself a scoring condition, so it can make a complete hand eligible to win.

In this exercise, choose riichi and discard the highlighted East tile. After declaring, you normally discard each new tile unchanged while waiting for a winning tile. Before committing, check which tiles complete your hand and whether you have already discarded any of them. Waiting on your own discard prevents a ron win. Counting the tiles visible on the table also helps you estimate how many winning tiles remain.

Try pon

Lesson 5

After the basic tutorial, you can try this optional pon lesson. Pon takes a discarded tile and combines it with two identical tiles in your hand to make a set of three. Taking a discard to form a set is called calling. This practice starts with two white dragons. When an opponent discards the third, press Pon and watch the three tiles move beside your hand.

After pon, discard one tile without drawing from the wall. Here, discard South. You still need a yaku to win after calling; three white dragons provide one. When the next discard completes your four sets and a pair, press Ron to receive points. Kan makes a set of four identical tiles and draws a replacement. This optional lesson covers calling, discarding and winning with a yaku.

Try it on the board

Pick a lesson and the board starts from that position. Start over as often as you like.

Now put it to work

Play with friendsLearn how to play (4 min)

Last updated 2026-10-29 · Run by Qdan, Inc.