Bonus: Tournament Report - Riichi Nomi Open 2025 but mostly it's about how 1500 point honba are a stupid rule

A few weeks ago I had another marathon mahjong tournament weekend at Riichi Nomi Open, again playing 13 hours worth of games in two days and finishing 21st in a field of 212 players. Though it's always fun and I love playing mahjong against tough opponents, this experience is always exhausting; you only get steadily more used to it. For more detail on the general experience, I have two years’ worth of writeups; I almost didn’t write this because little has changed with that experience. But there was a big change in the rules, so maybe that’s just enough to make this worth writing again.

Long hours

Not the first time I’ve said this, but it’s a grueling schedule first and foremost. I’m up super early, I’m at the venue at 8:30, and then I’m in matches for 6 hours and 15 minutes per day, not including between-game breaks and lunch. By the time I’m home, I’ve been awake for 15 hours and I collapse. Home at 9-10PM, due to play again in the morning at 9AM. A hotel room to crash in would definitely be a competitive edge, except we're talking about a midtown NYC hotel room, and while I am a champion, I am not a professional.

(Mahjong pros don't get paid in that sense either, they simply pay big dues for access to leagues and tourneys.)

I actually regret very much that I don’t get to really see or talk to people from out of town outside of the actual matches— in which you’re expected to be quiet, and most people are— and the quick breaks. It’s totally different from an anime convention or fighting game tournament where folks hug and go to dinner: I’m just On Job the entire time, and you only ever get to talk about your games.

Anyway, you need to be well fed and sufficiently caffeinated for a long-haul session like this. I’ve learned to prepare appropriately: I treated myself to IHOP delivery set to a few minutes after I woke up, ensuring, as a side benefit, that I didn’t oversleep. I saved the caffeine until I was actually at the location; no reason to waste any of that juice on the commute.

(Relatedly, a major problem with the venue is the amount of bathrooms vs. the amount of people vs the extremely short breaks between matches.)

My point in telling you all this boring stuff is that, in short, it’s vitally important to be mentally and physically prepared for a session this long. As I’ve previously described at length, sustaining the mental strength to play your best consistently for over 12 hours in a weekend is key, especially in a game like mahjong which can break your heart a thousand times over. If you don't have the spark left to find that rare comeback hand and make it happen, it might just pass you by.

I was confident going in, but fully ready to have a disaster run like I did last year. There was just one thing I was concerned about.

Big honba (basengo) and why it's a bad competitive rule

This year there was a new rule, one which I already knew from experience that I didn't like. We started using it back in N-League three years ago. Giving the rule a chance by playing it in long-term league sessions— and, indeed, winning one of them— only further established to me that, like open riichi (which we also play in N-League!), this is simply not a serious competitive rule.

(Why do I play N-League if I think the rules are unserious? The high quality of competition, the fact that there's nothing else like it in the States. I'm incredibly lucky to be playing in it, and I love my club, and wish the best for them.)

And for the last three years I've wanted to write about why.