Riichi Mahjong

Play Japanese riichi mahjong at a table in Vintage Story, with friends or against bots (or both)! Three and four players are supported. The server handles the rules, so no need to worry about scoring or making illegal moves.

 

This is a public beta! Feedback is welcome! The game is complete and has gone through bug testing, but the testing so far has been mostly in singleplayer against bots. If bugs are to appear, they will do so most likely in multiplayer! If you see a bug or have a suggestion, please let me know either here or on Discord, it'd help a lot, so thanks in advance! Note: replays and unfinished riichi mahjong games may not survive updates as we navigate through the public beta, but I'll do my best to help ensure compatibility.

So... What is Riichi Mahjong?

Riichi mahjong, aside from being potentially your new favorite way to pass time in Vintage Story, is the Japanese version of mahjong. It's a four (or three) player game played with tiles (and is not the tile-matching solitaire game!). You draw and discard tiles one at a time in order to create a winning hand: four sets and a pair. The catch is that you need a yaku, aka a scoring pattern, for your hand to be eligible to win. Bigger and rarer patterns score more. It's easy to learn, very hard to master. Once you get the basics down, there's nuance around when to push a hand, how to play defensively, when to fold, and more. It has incredible strategic depth! In the real world, there are mahjong parlors across Japan (and beyond) to play riichi mahjong in and several different popular applications for playing online.

"But I've never played before!"

That's completely fine! I've tried to design this mod in a way that even a complete beginner can pick up and play riichi mahjong if they spend a little time reading the basics in-game. (Tip: start off with the Riichi Mahjong - Basics handbook page and the Riichi Mahjong - Basic Yaku page after that!) Since the mod enforces the rules and scoring for you, you can focus more on your strategy rather than worry if you're doing things right. We also have bots (of varying difficulty) to practice against, and hints in-game to help you understand what's going on!

Features

• Automatic rules + scoring. The server handles the rules for you, so you can focus on making the best plays!
• Craftable mahjong tables and benches. Get some bones, a knife, some planks, and some green cloth and boredom will be no more! Why a bench? Because the table is 2x2 and a chair would look weird.
• Two ways to play: in-game and GUI. Immersion is a big part of this for me, but seeing tiles in-world can be difficult. This mod supports immersive in-world play and a clear and easy to use GUI version.
• Handbook guides for learning mahjong. My goal is to have comprehensive and easy to understand guides so that you can learn riichi mahjong while in game!
• Replays and replay exporting. You can view your replays in game, share them to other players, and even export them for using with AI mahjong analysis tools! Yes, this is a little overkill for a Vintage Story mod. Exporting only works for four-player games, currently.
• Customizable table rules. Plenty of host options including game length, timer duration, bot difficulty, red fives, and more. Three-player is supported, too!
• Saved games. Need to get up for some dinner, or a friend needs to run out for a bit? Pause your game and pick it up later (expires after 48 hours by default).
• Settings and hints galore. Change your tile backs, table color, and more! Want more immersive gameplay? Turn off hints for a more realistic feel! Trying to run a hardcore mahjong tournament? Check out the overrides in host settings!
• And more!

Compatibility

• Floral Zones Series: Make mahjong tables + benches out of Floral Zones woods! (Thank you for letting me add this, Tenth Architect!)
• No currently known compatibility issues. See an issue? Report it here or on Discord!
• Adding compatibility: Let me know! If the mod's license allows free use (like MIT), I may just add compatibility myself. If its license is unclear or more restrictive, I'll only add compatibility with the author's permission, since my mods are made with AI help and I'd rather every author have a say before their mod is linked to mine. So if you know the author, feel free to put us in touch, and if you are the author, reach out and we can work something out!

Frequently Asked Questions

Well, no one has asked any yet, but I would imagine these would be asked.

• Can I add this to an existing save?
  • Yes, definitely!
• Can I remove this from an existing save?
  • Yes, just remove all of the mahjong tables/mahjong benches/mahjong tiles from your world (inventory and placed), otherwise you'll get some ? blocks.
• How is this mod on performance?
  • From all I can test, completely fine. If you have many tables all running hard bots on a server with many mods or not very high specs, maybe you'd feel some light performance impact there. You can disable demanding bots in the server config, if you'd like.
• Will you be releasing the source code?
  • Yes! This is one of my first coding projects and I'm still learning the ins and outs of project management. I can't give a promise on an ETA right now, but it's a high priority for me! Since I'm not entirely familiar with the process, I want to make sure I understand what I'm doing and posting before I make it fully public. Thanks for understanding!

Potential Future Features

• Tournament mode?
• Better replay exporting features?
• Improved sound design/more exciting effects for high-scoring hands?
• More in-depth guides for advanced strategies?
• Maybe some sort of tutorial or something for new players as well?
• Statistics/ranked maybe even, one day?

Let me know what you'd like to see the most, or if you have new ideas! Nothing on this list is a guarantee or even a commitment to working on it, just ideas that have been thrown around.

Reporting Issues/Suggestions

Here on the moddb or on Discord is the best place to get ahold of me for reporting issues or for suggesting features!

For reporting bugs, please consider including the following:

• The mod's version number. (It's shown in the game's mod list, or in your ModsByServer folder in VintageStoryData if you got the mod from connecting to a server.)
• Your Vintage Story version number.
• What you did, what you expected, and what happened instead. (Screenshots are great, too!)
• If the game/server crashed and you have the log, please send that as well. (Please put it in a spoiler block.)
• If it is about a finished game, consider providing the replay file as well.
• Any other details like if you were on a server or not, if you had any settings changed in the game, etc., the more detail there is the more it helps!

AI Usage

This mod was created with the help of Claude. Most of the code and handbook text were written with Claude's assistance. I decided how the mod should play and have spent many hours reviewing and play testing it. The rules have been checked via over a thousand automated tests that have been created and checked against published rule references. Frankly, without Claude, I likely never would've found the motivation to attempt such a big task, much less actually had the follow-through to release a project like this.

Credits

• Parts of the rules and scoring code are adapted from the mahjong Python library (MIT license). Its notice is included in the download.
• The tile clacks and meld sounds are cut from Domino Pieces 1 (via Pixabay, Pixabay Content License).
• The characters on the tiles are drawn with the Noto Serif CJK font (SIL Open Font License).