User:Verspri/Riichi mahjong

Theory
Japanese Mahjong has an extensively developed theory. Japanese Mahjong is reliant on both skill and luck, so strategy focuses on gaining probabilistic and strategical advantages.

Japanese Mahjong is a comparative point game. Unlike betting variations of Mahjong, decisions are made compared to other players instead of a strict expected value basis.

Tile Acceptance
In Japanese Mahjong the first player to complete their hand wins the round. As a result, it is typically advantageous for players to reach a complete hand as fast as possible.

Tile efficiency, also known as tile acceptance theory, is a concept to estimate which tile is best to discard. The goal is to move to a completed hand as fast as possible, aided by maximizing the number of available tiles that improve the hand

Discards should aim to reduce the shanten (向聴) of the hand, the number of tiles required to reach a ready hand (tenpai). As a consequence, discards should also aim to increase the ukeire (受け入れ) of the hand, the number of tiles that can be drawn to reduce shanten.

As Mahjong is a game dependent on psychology and game theory, experienced players often deviate from strict tile acceptance theory, aiming to bluff or mislead opponents.

Folding
Similar to other betting games such as Poker, players may choose to abandon completing their hand. Folding aims to avoid paying the penalty of dealing into a victory (ron). Although there is no way to withdraw from the round and stop discarding, players can focus on discarding "safe tiles" under the general strategy betaori (ベタ降り).

The ability to fold in Japanese Mahjong is aided by the sacred discard rules (furiten), which guarantee the identity of guaranteed safe tiles Genbutsu (現物).