Good evening readers of Osamuko, s25k speaking again!
I bet all of you have been playing online mahjong fairly often these days and that some are fed up fiddling around with Tenhou and the likes.
So you want to move further to … Real Life Mahjong?
I cannot offer you a trip to Japan for playing against the masters of the table, but I can still give you a list and hints where you can find the nice, eager to play and – in my eyes – competent players you can find on #osamuko from all around the globe.
This section is quite new, so be sure to check it again in a few weeks!
If you also want to be on the list or if you know places where you’re playing at, please write me an eMail (you can find the adress in the list) with all necessary information or visit the IRC-channel.
#osamuko Hall of Fame:
s25k, Minden / Cologne, Germany - eMail: maajanbu (at) yahoo.de
s25k:
So this is myself. 24 years old. I’m always looking for motivated new players from around the area. I welcome everybody who’d like to enjoy playing with real tiles. But I’m also a fan of fast paced games, so watch out!
xkime, The Americas / Buenos Aires, Argentina e-mail: nicobsas (at) gmail.com
xkime:
Born in 1991. Argentina, Capital. Parlor experience; encourages manners and fine play. Aiming for Phoenix Tables at tenhou. Patient and newbie-friendly group.
Tenhou User and Blog
Will be added to this section soon:
Senechal, Canada
NAB, Singapore
Mikoto, Stockholm, Sweden
Lorizean, Germany
Players and groups looking for players – the complete List:
(Known IRC-Channel visitors are marked with a ” # “)
Europe:
- UK
# Osamu, 20 years old, Manchester
Contact via eMail: osamu (at) osamuko.com
# Bob2004, 20 years old, Cardiff
“Feel free to come along even if you don’t know how to play, I’m happy to teach you.”
Contact via eMail: alexevans2002004+mahjong (at) googlemail.com
koral, 21 years old, Oxford
“Used to play with some friends but they never got enough interest in the game. I have got my own Japanese set and a good foldaway table. Would be happy to meet any mahjong interested people for a game or a drink.”
Contact via eMail: forced.sage (at) Gmail.com
Pingu, London.
“I’m based in London UK, would love to find some players for a regular live game.
I’m a 5Dan player on Tenhou with 600+ Hanchans logged and a rating high of 19XX.”
Contact via eMail: londonreachmahjong (at) gmail.com
- Germany
# ron⁵, Frankfurt a.M.
Contact via IRC Channel
#s25k, 24 years old, Minden / Cologne
“If you live nearby and even if you don’t, feel free to drop me a message! Every player who enjoys playing is welcome.”
Contact via eMail: maajanbu (at) yahoo.de
- France
GGzeOuf, 26 years old, Montpellier
“We gather twice or 3 times per month on saturday afternoon. The club consists of about 10 people, mostly begginers that are learning the game for a few months now and a couple of experienced players. Hence, novice and skilled players are welcome.”
Contact via eMail: ggzeouf (at) gmail.com and Facebook
- Poland
Szymon, Warsaw
“We have Mahjong Club in Poland, Warsaw, with meetings every sunday to play and learn Mahjong. In case anyone would like to come and
play: we welcome everyone.”
Contact via eMail: archalv (at) gmail.com and Facebook
- Sweden
drob, Växjö
“We’ve a budding mahjong club”
Contact via eMail: mahjong (at) azaz.se
The Americas:
-
Asia:
-
There is a #SingaporeReachMahjong channel recently set up in the Rizon server. So for those from Singapore or even SEA, please feel free to drop by and have a few matches if possible.
We also have real-life games. :)
I’m based in London UK, would love to find some players for a regular live game.
I’m a 5Dan player on Tenhou with 600+ Hanchans logged and a rating high of 19XX.
Do you want to be added the list?
Yes please!
Just making sure, is it okay to put your Email in the post or do you have another one you would like to use?
wow thats great.
world wide mahjong :)
Sorry for the delay Osamu, yes please add my email.
It’s londonreachmahjong (at) gmail.com
P.S.
Totally OT: have any non-Japanese players been able to make it into the top level Hou Hou lobby yet on Tenhou?
There’s a few Chinese players.
But no western ones yet?
none for westerners. getting to 7 dan requires demon luck (and may require some real money investment). :\
are you ‘merchant’ on Tenhou?
what do you mean it requires luck and money? surely you can get there with skill…
yes i am merchant on tenhou.
if you look at the number of players of 6 dan, there is close to 2600 and the number of 7 dan is currently 1236. In the 60 day period, about 10-15 players advance to 7 dan. That shows about 1% of the player base has a chance to advance although, the real statistics should be close to about 5% since the amount of active players is around 200+ everyday.
nonetheless, it’s still relatively low chance to achieve 7 dan. 6 dan is totally a different league altogether. skill isn’t enough. :)
p.s. – i lost 830 points. really tenhou? :(
I don’t follow the logic.
Why should 5% be the advancement rate?
Also, your drop in points is easily explained by normal variance- which is to be expected in this kind of game.
Sure, you need some luck, as you would expect, but I don’t see why the most skilled players shouldn’t advance to 7th dan.
Maybe they are strategically just that little bit ahead?
You should try randomly observing those 2000+ rating 6 dan players. You will clearly see the trend I’m talking about. Or better yet, play as 6 dan yourself and tell me your experience. :)
I’m still 5dan, so I can’t comment myself yet!
However, I often watch the Hou Hou tables. Usually the 2200+ rating players. I’m not sure exactly what you’re asking me to look for…
If you’re implying that Tenhou is rigged, I haven’t seen any evidence to support that!
I’m 6th dan as well, and I have to agree with merchant.
It’s not that tenhou is rigged, but it has to do with how points are distributed against the placing you get in a game playing in 特上
上級 has the same problem when you’re 3rd dan, but the level in there is low enough to be able to overcome it with skill. The problem is in mahjong itself; the gap between intermediate and skilled players is slim, whereas the gap between beginners and intermediate players is huge. So, when you get to 6th dan and have to manage with the point gain of 特上 tables, not only do you need to play pretty damn well, even if you do so, there’s a high chance you’ll be losing a lot of points. Even with a pretty decent placement!
(Also, there are a lot of houou guys who happen to fall at those tables constantly. If you happen to come across three of them, you have got yourself a houou game that pays a lot less of what houou actually pays if you win, and still lose as much points if you lose. w)
But once you get to 7th dan and you can play in houou tables, most bloggers that I have read agree that it’s pretty fast climbing up to 8th dan. And from then, you’re likely to fall to 6th dan again just as easily. w
There’s the other wall, the 8th dan wall. And of course, the 10th dan wall. Many have fallen, some other have quit. But those who succeed achieve true enlightenment. And a tenhou t-shirt, says the legend.
>And a tenhou t-shirt, says the legend.
Alvin still waiting for his.
The game master seems to hate botting in his server.
Sounds like what Tenhou should do is ban people playing in lobbies lower than their level.
If you qualify for Houhou then you shouldn’t be allowed to play Tokujou, etc.
Other than that the system does seem fine, variance is part of the game. The closer the skill level of players, the bigger the effect of variance.
Not really. You should know that if tenhou cared, for example, they would put the same cap they put on 4d R18000+ payers (for those who don’t know, they are not allowed to play in ippan).
Also, even if you qualify for houou, IIRC, you must be a premium user to access the houou table itself as one of the requirements. (i.e. money investment)
That’s why you need good luck, as well, so variance can work in your favor eventually, even though it’s made so that most of the time it will work against you. w
I think I placed an extra zero up there. w
They ban 4dan 1800+ players from the Ippan lobby, but I think they should be banned from Uedan too, etc.
You should only be allowed to play in your own lobby.
Not really. It’s like, if you really want to play mahjong, that doesn’t really matter. Sometimes houou players sit to wait for a game, and they go for hours queueing on 3:0 for a tonpuusen. That’s why you sometimes see them go down to play in tokujou, as there is far more people available to play, while the skill level doesn’t change.
(Some houou players say they go “hunting points” in there when they’re about to demote, but I think they just lost confidence. w)
So, queueing for a long while waiting for a game, you could just use a sub account to play in a different table. And it’s just the same, except more troublesome, because you had to re-level your way to the table in order to be able to replay it.
The thing that is easy to forget is… tenhou isn’t a RPG where you level up as you gain experience from monsters.
The goal of tenhou is playing mahjong.
Oh I agree… but only to some extent.
I think the fun of playing on Tenhou is also improving your game and testing your rating level- which in turn helps you assess your own game. Without that, there are no ‘stakes’, which makes the game less interesting- even a little different strategically. Like playing poker without money.
So, I do think that anything which undermines the skill-rating system of Tenhou actually undermines the experience of playing there.
You still need to add me to The Americas.