September 10-11, 2016 San Francisco International Airport Holiday Inn

275 South Airport Boulevard

South San Francisco, CA 94080 Sold Out. Get the Schedule (PDF)

The Pacific Mahjong League (PML) hosts the first international PML Riichi Mahjong Open 2016 tournament in San Francisco, California. Join us for an intense weekend of riichi with the pros and compete for a guaranteed spot in the World Riichi Championship*.

Meet, greet and beat players from all over the world! The PML Riichi Mahjong Open has confirmed special guests, including top players from Japan and United States. US-based USPML (New York) and of course PML (California) will be in attendance! Limited space available - 52 slots for all tournament players including pros and invited special guests.

World Riichi Championship Seat

Win the tournament and win one of the first available North American seats in the World Riichi Championship 2017.

The World Riichi Championship (WRC) was last held in Paris, France in 2014 and featured Japanese pro mahjong players as well as equally strong players from all over the world.

* The seat given to the winning player is from the NARMA quota and does not affect local/national availability of seats. If the winning player cannot accept or utilize the seat for any reason, including the inability to meet the minimum entrance criteria for the WRC, the seat will be given to the next highest player. Date, time, and location of the WRC are subject to change without notice.

3 Riichi Pros

Meet and play the international stars of the JPML Pro Riichi scene.

Jenn Barr, JPML Japan's first foreign riichi mahjong pro, Jenn has been playing since 2004. Garthe Nelson, JPML Japan's other first foreign riichi mahjong pro, Garthe discovered mahjong from a recommendation by his English students. Tournament accomplishments include the final table of JPML's Masters tournament, the quarter finals of the World Series of Mahjong, and two time winner of JPML's North Kanto League. Benjamin Boas Benjamin has been playing Japanese Mahjong for over 10 years and currently researches the game at Keio University in Tokyo. His tournament accomplishments include 3rd place at the Second Open European Mahjong Championship and 2nd place at the First European Riichi Championship. He has consulted and authored mahjong rulesets for organizations including the European Mahjong Association and MahjongLogic.

Player List

Players (52) Province, Country Aldwin G. IL, USA Alex S. CA, USA Alexis H. ON, Canada Allon S. NY, USA Aruto K. CA, USA Benjamin B. Japan Bichen W. CA, USA Bradley Y. CA, USA Charles M. WA, USA Claire P. MA, USA Curtis Y. CA. USA David B. NY, USA Declan G. Great Britain Edwin D. WA, USA Enrico B. USA Garrett S. TX, USA Garthe N. Japan George L. MA, USA Hamaya H. CA, USA Heather B. WA, USA Iiao T. CA, USA Jenn B. Japan Junko N. CA, USA Kenji B. CA, USA Kenyu H. CA, USA Khang H. CA, USA

Players Province, Country Kinyan L. WA, USA Kyle C. CA, USA Luke M. NY, USA Masahiro Y. CA, USA Michael M. USA Mike S. USA Preston L. CA, USA Rachel H. CA, USA Russell C. FL, USA Ryan G. CA, USA Scott M. TX, USA Shane Z. WA, USA Shane R. WA, USA Simon H. CA, USA Spenser V. CA, USA Sylvain R. CA, USA Takashi ?. CA, USA Teppei N. CA, USA Tom R. NY, USA Tony Y. CA, USA Truman C. CA, USA Ty K. NY, USA William H. CA, USA Zachary F. WA, USA Zhuodong H. CA, USA Zixuan J. PA, USA

13 Auto-Tables

Play on the brand new AMOS REXX fully automatic mahjong tables. 6 AMOS REXX and 7 Chinese automatic tables will be provided for players.

Rules

The tournament will use the World Riichi Championship 2015 rule set. This is a standardized rule set optimized for tournament play. You can download the rules here: World Riichi Championship Rules 2015.

It is not necessary for players to know how to score their hands, though highly recommended. Both English and Japanese are the official languages of the tournament and players must be able to converse in at least one of the languages.

The tournament capacity is 52 players, and this includes any invited pros and guests. Slots will be available on a first come basis. Registration assignment to another player is possible, however PML will not refund any ticket sales. If you wish to transfer your ticket to another player you must inform PML immediately.

Format

8 hanchan, 30,000 starting points, 80 minutes per game.

Every player will play 8 hanchan, and the scores from each hanchan will be aggregated over the course of the tournament to determine placings. After 6 hanchan, the top 8 players will proceed to the upper bracket semifinals, and the lower 44 will proceed to the lower bracket semifinals. After the 7th hanchan, the top 4 players within the upper bracket will proceed to the upper bracket finals, and the lower 48 will proceed to the lower bracket finals.

For purposes of overall tournament placement, positions start with the upper bracket and continue into the lower bracket. For example, even if the 4th place player from the upper bracket has fewer points than the highest point player from the lower bracket, that player will be considered 4th for the tournament placements and the lower bracket player will receive 5th place.

At the end of the allotted 70 minutes, if a game has not ended, the current hand of the game may be completed, and the following hand may be started and played as the last hand of the game.