.----< Mukoubuchi DS Guide >-----------------------------------------------.
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| | Kou Reeto Ura Maajan Retsuden - Mukoubuchi: Goburei Shuuryou Desu Ne | |
| '----------------------------------------------------------------------' |
'----------------------------------------< by Barticle at hotmail.com >----'
01 INTRODUCTION .---------------------. 14 RULES
02 FEATURE LIST | Mukoubuchi DS Guide | o Custom Rules
03 PLAYER PROFILES | Version 1.01 | o Fixed Rules
04 MAIN MENU | 22 August 2010 | o Disallowed Rules
05 SCENARIO MODE '---------------------' 15 FINAL SCORE EXAMPLES
06 FREE PLAY MODE 11 CONTROLS 16 STATISTICS
07 MULTIPLAYER MODES 12 DISPLAY 17 CRIB NOTES
08 TRAINING MODES o Game Display 18 MUKOUBUCHI MANGA
09 SPECIAL ABILITIES MODE o Score Display 19 CONTACT
10 MAHJONG REFERENCE 13 OPTIONS 20 THANKS
------< INTRODUCTION >-------------------------------------------- [Section 01]
This is a guide to the 2007 Nintendo DS video-game Kou Reeto Ura Maajan Retsuden
- Mukoubuchi: Goburei Shuuryou Desu Ne. Let's call it "Mukoubuchi DS" for short.
The game is based on a long-running Mahjong manga (see Section 18) and was made
by Pai Arts.* They also released a Mukoubuchi game for the PS2 in the same year
(if you have any information about that other title do please get in touch).
Since being introduced to Japanese Mahjong last year by Sega's awesome Yakuza
(Ryuu ga Gotoku) series I've written guides for a number of Mahjong games. I'm
currently working my way through the more interesting MJ titles of the Nintendo
DS back-catalogue and making guides for them. This is my second so far, after
my previous guide to SuperLite 2500 Custom Mahjong.
I've tried to use both Japanese and the equivalent English Mahjong terminology
throughout this guide, in most cases giving the oriental term first and the
English version afterwards in brackets. I know that some purists will object to
my use of the terms Chow, Pung and Kong when referring to Japanese Mahjong but
these are the words I learnt from my first Mahjong game and they've been pretty
much standard in English texts on Mahjong for around ninety years so I'm quite
comfortable with their use here.
Obviously if you can read Japanese you'll be able to read the instruction manual
and the menus in the game so this guide is aimed primarily at English speakers.
You shouldn't be daunted by the Japanese text as there are only a few short
menus and options pages. The layout of these is mirrored in this guide so you
should be able to find your way around the game without any difficulty.
To limit the length of this document I've decided to omit full details of the
rules and equipment of Mahjong on the assumption that anyone buying this game
will probably already be familiar with them. If you are new to the game, or you
play a version other than the modern Japanese "Riichi" rules that appear in this
game, then you might like to read my complete guide to the terminology and rules
of Japanese Mahjong. It's available as a 74-page, illustrated, linked PDF and
can be accessed from the United States Pro Mahjong League download page.
http://www.uspml.com/site/downloads.htm (Barticle's Japanese Mahjong Guide)
If you want to discuss Japanese Mahjong then join the international community of
enthusiasts on Reach Mahjong's English forums. Hope to see you there. :)
http://www.reachmahjong.com/en/forum
This guide is designed to be viewed using a monospaced (non-proportional or
fixed-width) font, preferably Courier New. Some sections of the document will
display incorrectly if you are using a proportional font like Times New Roman.
*Incidentally the company logo is a visual pun - it's based around a lower-case
Greek letter Pi but their name is spelt "Pai" which is the Japanese word for a
Mahjong tile. Their logo also includes a 1000-point Mahjong scoring stick.
------< FEATURE LIST >-------------------------------------------- [Section 02]
Since it can be difficult to find any detailed information in English about the
content of a foreign game I like to include a quick description of the gameplay
features when I write a guide for a Japanese game - so here it is!
o single-player story, free play and special powers modes
o multiplayer online wi-fi, local wireless and Download Play modes
o modern Japanese Mahjong rules including Riichi and red fives
o twenty-two adjustable rule options (see Section 14)
o option to gamble with high stakes and a persistent money total
o twenty-nine unlockable characters
o basic statistical log including Yaku (scoring element) counts (see Section 16)
o score screens include breakdown of Fu (minipoints)
o save slots for three separate player profiles (see Section 03)
o multiple training modes (see Section 08)
o reference section including dictionary with over 300 terms (see Section 10)
o no option to highlight Tsumokiri (a drawn tile discarded immediately)
o no Dora or Furiten alerts and no wait indicators
o Japanese language only
------< PLAYER PROFILES >----------------------------------------- [Section 03]
The title screen prompts you to "press start" - it's a rare example of English
text in the game so enjoy it while it lasts!
This takes you to the profile loader screen which has three wide boxes, each
corresponding to one of the three available save slots. When you first start
these will all be marked with four large Japanese kanji characters offering you
the opportunity to make a "new registration" - so pick one. As you might expect,
you can either select with the d-pad and press the A button to confirm or simply
tap the touchscreen to make your choice.
Now you'll need to enter the name you want to use. You're limited to only four
characters so make the most of them! You can use the L and R shoulder buttons
(or their counterparts on the touchscreen) to cycle between the four screens of
characters you can use: hiragana, katakana, English letters and finally numbers
and symbols (you can mix 'n' match these). Use the d-pad to select a character
and A to accept or touch the screen to select one and tap it again to confirm.
All four screens have the same three options at the bottom of the right side.
The first one enters a blank space, the second one works as a backspace delete
and the third is used to accept the name you've entered (then when prompted you
can pick the left button to confirm or the right one to return to name input).
After entering your new (and possibly abbreviated) name you'll return to the
profile loader. You'll see your name displayed in the left half of your save
slot. There are also two bits of information on the right side - at the top is
your money total (this will be a big fat zero until you beat Chapter 1 in the
Scenario Mode (see Section 05)) and beneath that is an indication of how far you
have progressed through that mode (at this stage, not very).
Before we continue, look out for the two buttons at the bottom of the screen.
The one on the right says Modoru which means "return" - a very useful word to
learn as you'll see it a lot in Japanese video-games. You can tap this (or B)
to go back to the title screen. The other says Sakujo which means "delete" - you
can tap this (or X) then pick a save slot to delete it, so be careful! You will
be prompted to confirm deletion: the left option is Yes and right is No.
Select an active profile to use it and you'll be whisked to the main menu which,
conveniently, is described in the very next section of this guide.
------< MAIN MENU >----------------------------------------------- [Section 04]
The main menu has seven options which are presented in the following layout:
.----------------------------. .----------------------------.
| Scenario Mode | | Training Modes |
'----------------------------' '----------------------------'
.----------------------------. .----------------------------.
| Free Play Mode | | Special Abilities Mode |
'----------------------------' '----------------------------'
.----------------------------. .----------------------------.
| Multiplayer Modes | | Mahjong Reference |
'----------------------------' '----------------------------'
.----------------------------.
| Options |
'----------------------------'
Scenario Mode (see Section 05) Training Modes (see Section 08)
Play through the story and a series Practice your hand management, wait
of fourteen challenges analysis and scoring
Free Play Mode (see Section 06) Special Abilities Mode (see Section 09)
Play games with a free choice of Play through a series of ten challenges
characters and rule options using special characters
Multiplayer Modes (see Section 07) Mahjong Reference (see Section 10)
Play against other people through a Check terminology, permitted scoring
local wireless or internet connection elements and points tables
Options (see Section 13)
Configure your gameplay options
and pick custom rule settings
You can use the d-pad and the A button to pick an option or just tap the touch-
screen on the one you want, or you can press B to return to the profile loader.
------< SCENARIO MODE >------------------------------------------- [Section 05]
The first button on the main menu is used to access the single-player Scenario
Mode which is the "story mode" of the game. The story is comprised of fourteen
numbered chapters which unlock in sequence, so successfully completing the
challenge of the first chapter will start the second and so on.
The first time you play you'll go straight into Chapter 1. Thereafter (after
you've made some progress) you're given two choices when you start Scenario Mode
- the top one is to continue with your next chapter and the bottom one is to
start over from the beginning. After you've completed all fourteen chapters,
launching this mode will display an array of fourteen buttons which you can use
to access and replay any chapter (these are numbered with kanji characters from
1 to 14, from top to bottom and then from left to right).
Each chapter begins with a sequence of artwork stills and text boxes to set the
scene for you. You can page through these by tapping the touchscreen or pressing
button A, L or R. If you're keen to get to the action though you can hold down L
or R to speed up proceedings.
In this mode you seem to play as yourself so you'll occasionally see your name
amongst the dialogue. (It's kinda like that deal where you send off your kid's
name and some other details and they print a personalised adventure for them!)
As you might hope, each chapter involves playing a game of Mahjong but, rather
than just having to win the game, you're always given a specific objective to
achieve. I've given details of these below for each of the fourteen chapters
along with the names of your opponents and related information.
It's probably about this point at which I should confess my lack of Japanese
language skillz. I only know as much as I've taught myself from translating
video-games which means that I can read hiragana and katakana (albeit slowly)
and recognise most Mahjong terminology plus a few basic kanji words but beyond
that it's a rather long process of looking up each individual character and then
struggling to come up with something vaguely resembling a coherent sentence. As
a consequence I've made no attempt to transcribe the story here, sorry! If you
have a) the game and a b) decent working knowledge of Japanese then I'd welcome
your input. Even just a brief synopsis of each chapter would be awesome, thanks!
When you beat a chapter you get a message with three large red kanji characters
saying "wonderful!" and you're asked if you want to continue - the left option
is Yes (that's default) and the right is No. Each time you fail a chapter you
get two grey kanji that say "too bad!" and you're asked if you want to retry -
the left option is End and the right is Continue. If you choose the former then
you get the Game Over screen and two more options - the top one repeats the
chapter (which means having to click through the story slideshow again) and the
bottom one quits back to the main menu.
Completing a chapter unlocks one or more characters which you can then select
in Free Play Mode. These are listed in the following chapter summaries too.
o Chapter 1 - "Championship Disqualification"
Opponents: Mizuhara Yuuta, Yasunaga Ban and Ueshima
Objective: Score a direct hit on Mizuhara and finish above him (?)
Info: The rule options include Open Riichi and Arisu (see Section 14).
Unlocks: Ueshima character becomes available in Free Play Mode.
Beating this chapter also seems to unlock the Arisu and Binta rule
options for Free Play Mode and gives you 10 million Yen of working
capital to use when gambling in Panku mode (see Section 06).
o Chapter 2 - "Mahjong Parlour Murder"
Opponents: Akatsuka, Mito and Katsuta
Objective: Finish the game with all three opponents under 25,000 points (?)
Info: These three characters appear to represent the "Mito Group".
Unlocks: Akatsuka, Mito and Katsuta characters in Free Play Mode
o Chapter 3 - "Man of Ice"
Opponents: Hikage, Motoi Bunshichi and Hoshimiya Youko
Objective: Finish the match in top ("toppu") place
Info: The Dobon bankruptcy rule (see custom rule 2.3 in Section 14) is in
use so if a player gets busted out when you're in first place then
you'll pass the mission (that's how I did it).
Unlocks: Hikage character in Free Play Mode
o Chapter 4 - "The Deep Sea"
Opponents: Kannagi Aiko, Yasunaga Ban and Kai
Objective: Finish the game above Aiko (?)
Info: The story intro for this chapter includes an interlude at a casino
where you're prompted to bet on either the player, banker or a tie.
I picked the top choice and won with a "natural eight" but I don't
think it really matters which one you pick.
On my first attempt at this chapter, the girl (Aiko) drew a Tenpai
(ready) hand and was able to declare a Ron win off a discarded tile
before her first turn but unfortunately for her Mukoubuchi DS does
not recognise Renhou - which often scores as a Yakuman (limit hand)
- so the hand only scored a single double for Pinfu. Harsh!
You might need to focus your attention on her, perhaps even passing
an opportunity to win off another player's discard tile in the hope
of scoring a win off her subsequently.
I completed this chapter in a game in which Aiko got busted out and
Kai took first place (so I finished above her and clearly I wasn't
required to win the game).
Unlocks: Kannagi Aiko character in Free Play Mode
o Chapter 5 - "The Wilderness"
Opponents: Ezaki, Rau and Inui
Objective: Finish the game with Ezaki under 25,000 points
Info: This chapter has another menu choice during the story... so pick
one and see what happens!?
Ezaki is seated to your right. I did a good job of keeping him
under 25k. I ground him down and then slammed him with a massive
hand that busted him out with -17,600 pts! :9
Unlocks: Ezaki character in Free Play Mode
o Chapter 6 - "The Leech" (?)
Opponents: Fukanuma, "shadow 1" and "shadow 2"
Objective: Score a direct hit on Fukanuma then get two Tsumo wins
Info: Fukanuma sits to your right. The first time I used Riichi he dealt
immediately into my hand giving me an Ippatsu win but he isn't
always so helpful!
First you need to claim a Ron win off one of his discard tiles and
then you need to win a further two hands, this time using a self-
drawn tile for Tsumo. You must do it in this order - one time I got
two Tsumo wins and *then* Ronned him and I failed the mission.
When going for the direct hit on Fukanuma you might have to pass
up opportunities to win off the other two players. If you draw a
winning tile that would complete your hand (for a potential Tsumo
win) you'll need to restructure your hand to give a different wait
because discarding a winning tile would make you Furiten.
Once you've got the Ron win off him you should aim to make cheap
hands so you can go Tenpai (ready) quickly thus giving you more
turns in which to hopefully draw the winning tile you need. Try to
make a two- or three-sided wait if possible.
As soon as you meet the completion requirement the game will end so
don't worry too much about playing defensively. Your final placing
is unimportant so it doesn't matter if you lose a few hands.
Unlocks: Fukanuma character in Free Play Mode
o Chapter 7 - "The Leech 2"
Opponents: Fukanuma, Mitsuhashi Hidetoshi and Kai
Objective: Game ends early due to Fukanuma getting busted out
Info: Once again your target is seated to your right and you should try
to score direct hits off him when you can.
It doesn't need to be you that busts him though. I passed the
mission after one of the other two players knocked him sub-zero.
Unlocks: Mitsuhashi Hidetoshi character in Free Play Mode
o Chapter 8 - "Wicked Demon"
Opponents: Miyashima Gahou, "shadow 1" and "shadow 2"
Objective: Ensure that Miyashima wins the game
Info: This is the first chapter with a rule-set permitting the use of Red
Fives (see Section 14). Not just the normal three or four either -
it has the maximum possible allowance of twelve! (four per suit)
On my first attempt I managed to deal into his hand with Riichi
Ippatsu, Tanyao and five Red Fives giving him eight Han which was
worth 24,000 points for hitting Baiman (third limit).
Do whatever you can to help him win. Try to deal into his hand. Hit
the other two players with Ron wins to bring down their totals, but
be careful not to win too many points yourself! Study his discards
and open sets to determine his intentions then try to drop tiles
which he needs; he's sitting to your right so he can call Chii off
you to make a Chow as well as calling Pon to make a Pung. Kuitan is
Ari so the scoring element Tanyao (All Simples) can be claimed off
an exposed hand, giving a big win if combined with Red Fives.
Unlocks: Yamashiro Kouichi and Linda characters in Free Play Mode
o Chapter 9 - "Wicked Demon 2"
Opponents: Miyashima Gahou, Yasunaga Ban and Kai
Objective: Game ends early due to Miyashima getting busted out
Info: Having helped him out last time around, now you have to hit him
with all you've got! He's sitting opposite you at the table.
Red Fives are in use again but "only" six this time. (two per suit)
Unlocks: Miyashima Gahou character in Free Play Mode
o Chapter 10 - "Underground Pro"
Opponents: Mitsuhashi Hidetoshi, Tagawa Yoshinori and "shadow 1"
Objective: Finish the game above Tagawa
Info: Tagawa is seated opposite you.
Unlocks: Tagawa Yoshinori character in Free Play Mode
o Chapter 11 - "Underground Pro 2"
Opponents: Mitsuhashi Hidetoshi 2, Yasunaga Ban and Kai
Objective: Finish the game above Mitsuhashi Hidetoshi
Info: Much like Chapter 10, Mitsuhashi is sitting across the table.
You play a "quarter-game" over a single (east) wind-round.
Unlocks: Mitsuhashi Hidetoshi 2 character in Free Play Mode
o Chapter 12 - "Currents"
NB: In this chapter you are required to play two consecutive matches and
fulfil the completion requirements of both of them.
(match 1)
Opponents: Ezaki 2, Inui and "shadow 1"
Objective: Finish the game with Inui under 25,000 points
Info: Inui sits opposite you.
(match 2)
Opponents: Ezaki 2, Kai and Rau
Objective: Game ends early due to Ezaki getting busted out
Info: Ezaki sits to your right.
After several attempts at this I finally beat the chapter when Kai
made monster Double Riichi Tsumo Baiman wins in two consecutive
hands thus busting Ezaki (and Rau too for that matter!).
Unlocks: Ezaki 2, Inui and Rau characters in Free Play Mode
o Chapter 13 - "Master & Pupil Showdown"
Opponents: Mizuhara Yuuta 2, Yasunaga Ban and Tagawa Yoshinori
Objective: Finish the match in top place
Info: You'll need to build up a substantial lead because Yasunaga has a
tendency to conjure up big wins in the last couple of hands.
Unlocks: Mizuhara Yuuta 2 and Yasunaga Ban character in Free Play Mode
o Chapter 14 - "Ultimate Decisive Battle"
Opponents: Kai, "shadow 1" and "shadow 2"
Objective: Finish the match in top place
Info: It's the final chapter and you're up against the main character of
the manga so clearly he's going to put up a good fight...
...I must confess though, when I unlocked this chapter I didn't
have enough time to play another match so I quit out and for some
reason the game gave me completion on it!*
After completing Chapter 14, the game lets you replay any chapter
from Scenario Mode.
Unlocks: Kai character in Free Play Mode
*Whenever scores are tied, the priority goes to players in turn order around the
table starting with the one who had a seat-wind of east in the first hand. I
wondered if this might've explained my surprise victory but whenever I replay
the chapter I start as north and quitting counts as a fail... hmmm!
------< FREE PLAY MODE >------------------------------------------ [Section 06]
The second option down on the left side of the main menu accesses the single-
player Free Play Mode where you can play a normal one-off game with a free
choice of characters and custom rules. You also have the option of gambling.
When you start this mode you're shown the first of the six pages of your stats.
You can cycle through these by tapping Y. Read more about them in Section 16.
Press B to return to the main menu or A to continue.
Continuing gives you a couple of buttons offering you two different play modes:
1. Normal Mode
2. Blow-Out Mode
In Normal Mode you choose which character you want to be and the game is played
"just for fun". In Blow-Out* Mode you play as yourself and gamble your money
total against the other players'.
Next you have to pick characters from the roster (see below). When you first
play only five characters will be available here. Twenty will be unlocked as you
make progress through the Scenario Mode (see Section 05) and the remaining four
will become available when you beat Special Abilities Mode (see Section 09).
In Normal Mode you pick four characters; your first selection ("1 PLAYER") is
the one you will use and the next three will be your opponents. In Blow-Out Mode
you play as yourself (with your money total) and you pick three people to play
against. In either mode, selecting the large red question mark in the centre of
the grid will pick one character at random for you.
You gain your first 10 million Yen to use in Blow-Out Mode by beating Chapter 1
of Scenario Mode. You can also win prize money by giving correct answers in the
Training Modes (see Section 08) and this adds to your gambling total.
The characters all start out with 10 million Yen each with the exception of Kai
who gets 90 million and Yasunaga Ban who has 20 million. Like you, they all have
persistent money totals so any increases or decreases will still be there the
next time you turn on the game.
If a character loses all their money in a game they turn red on the roster and
they cannot be selected in Blow-Out Mode. If you could permanently bust everyone
though you'd have no-one left to play so their original money total is restored
after some time has passed. This seems to happen after about 24 hours real time.
When you've picked the characters for your match you're shown the first page of
your current rules settings. You can view or change these before you begin the
game (see Section 14) or just press A to start playing under the current set-up.
After the game has finished you'll see the resulting adjustments to the money
totals (followed by the Binta payments if you're using that rule). Then you get
two options - the one on the left is to quit out to the main menu while the one
on the right starts another game with the same characters and rule settings.
The full line-up of characters in Free Play Mode is illustrated below.
.----..----..----..----..----..----..----.
| 01 || 02 || 03 || 04 || 05 || 06 || 07 |
'----''----''----''----''----''----''----'
.----..----..----..----..----..----..----..----.
| 08 || 09 || 10 || 11 || 12 || 13 || 14 || 15 |
'----''----''----''----''----''----''----''----'
.----..----..----..----..----..----..----.
| 16 || 17 || 18 || ?? || 19 || 20 || 21 |
'----''----''----''----''----''----''----'
.----..----..----..----..----..----..----..----.
| 22 || 23 || 24 || 25 || 26 || 27 || 28 || 29 |
'----''----''----''----''----''----''----''----'
01 Kai [beat Chapter 14 to unlock]
02 Yasunaga Ban [beat Chapter 13 to unlock]
03 Mizuhara Yuuta [available from start]
04 Tagawa Yoshinori [beat Chapter 10 to unlock]
05 Ezaki [beat Chapter 5 to unlock]
06 Hikage [beat Chapter 3 to unlock]
07 Kannagi Aiko [beat Chapter 4 to unlock]
08 Mitsuhashi Hidetoshi [beat Chapter 7 to unlock]
09 Miyashima Gahou [beat Chapter 9 to unlock]
10 Fukanuma [beat Chapter 6 to unlock]
11 Katsuta [beat Chapter 2 to unlock]
12 Akatsuka [beat Chapter 2 to unlock]
13 Mito [beat Chapter 2 to unlock]
14 Ueshima [beat Chapter 1 to unlock]
15 Inui [beat Chapter 12 to unlock]
16 Rau [beat Chapter 12 to unlock]
17 Mizuhara Yuuta 2 [beat Chapter 13 to unlock]
18 Ezaki 2 [beat Chapter 12 to unlock]
19 Mitsuhashi Hidetoshi 2 [beat Chapter 11 to unlock]
20 Yanagino Satoshi [available from start]
21 Mitsukuni [available from start]
22 Yamashiro Kouichi [beat Chapter 8 to unlock]
23 Hoshimiya Youko [available from start]
24 Linda [beat Chapter 8 to unlock]
25 Kimura Junko [beat Special Abilities Mode to unlock]
26 Oikawa Katsuyori [beat Special Abilities Mode to unlock]
27 Kingo [beat Special Abilities Mode to unlock]
28 Motoi Bunshichi [available from start]
29 Fukami [beat Special Abilities Mode to unlock]
For reference, these characters are also depicted in the manual as follows:
Page | Page | Page 19 | Page 25
16 | 17 | left right | left right
======0======0=============0=============
14 | 06 | 03 15 | 22 26
------+------+-------------+-------------
11 | 07 | 04 16 | 23 27
------+------+-------------+-------------
09 | 18 | 12 20 | 24 28
------+------+-------------+-------------
10 | 02 | 13 21 | 25 29
------+------+-------------+-------------
08 | 01 | | 17 05
------+------+-------------+-------------
| | | 19
*The second play mode is labelled "Panku" which is the shortened form of the
Japanese rendering of the English word "puncture" - hence blow-out. Or it could
mean "punk". Or maybe it's something entirely different!? *shrug*
------< MULTIPLAYER MODES >--------------------------------------- [Section 07]
The third button on the left side of the main menu gives you the following three
options for playing against other people. I haven't actually played any of these
modes but I'll give as much information here as I can from studying the menus in
the game and the pictures in the manual and from poking buttons.
1. DS Download Play
2. DS Wireless Play
3. Wi-Fi Play
1. Download Play lets you play with two, three or four friends. Each of you will
need a DS but only one game cartridge is required. Pretty cool, huh?
When you choose this option you're shown a four-part numbered list with your
DS account username (not your Mukoubuchi DS profile name) listed as number 1.
There's also a signal strength meter in the top-left corner of the screen.
With the game cartridge you are the host* for the game. The other player/s
should now go to the Download Play option from the main menu of their console
where they should be able to find the Mukoubuchi game available. Obviously
you'll all need to have wireless comms enabled too, you can do this from the
System Settings menu (at least that's where it is on my gigantic DSi XL).
2. Wireless Play is another local multiplayer option but this time I think you
all need to have a game cartridge each.
Starting this mode takes you to the character selection screen - the same one
you get in Free Play Mode (see Section 06 immediately above). You can choose
from the same roster you have available in single-player, so if you haven't
unlocked any characters in Scenario Mode or Special Abilities Mode then you
will have a choice of only five characters here.
After picking your character you'll be prompted to select whether you will be
the host* for the game (top option) or a client (bottom option).
That's as far as I've got. Hopefully it all makes sense after that.
3. The last multiplayer option is for Wi-Fi Play using a wireless internet
connection. I've made some progress with this option but haven't actually got
as far as being able to play anyone.
In Wi-Fi Play mode the top screen shows three figures, from left to right the
number of matches you've played, the number of wins and the number of losses.
On the bottom screen there's a sub-menu for online play.
a. Wi-Fi Play
b. Friend Code
c. Match History
d. Wi-Fi Settings
a. Picking the first option prompts you to choose a character; again you're
restricted to those that you've unlocked in single-player modes. Use the
left on-screen button to confirm your choice.
If you've configured an internet connection for the game to use (see point
d. below) then you'll be given a three-part sub-menu as follows:-
x. With Friends!!
y. Call Everyone!!
z. Friend List
Picking either the first or second option gives a new screen with three
horizontal bars each with flashing text that says "searching" so it's fair
to assume that the game's looking for other players. I've never got any
opponents though so I guess that either the online play doesn't work if
you're outside Japan or no-one's playing the game any more (or both). If
you know otherwise please let me know.
b. Under the Friend Code option you get yet another menu:
x. Code Registration - enter your friend code, use "BS" to backspace
y. Code Confirmation - check the code you've entered
z. Friend List - view your current friends, use x to delete one
c. The Match History shows the statistics from your online play. These are
given over two pages in the following order:
1.1 Tsumo Wins count 2.1 Riichi Ippatsu Tsumo count
1.2 Ron Wins count 2.2 Riichi Ippatsu Ron count
1.3 Payment count 2.3 Riichi Ippatsu payment count
1.4 Calls Made count and percentage 2.4 Dora general count
1.5 Calls Received count
1.6 Riichi general count
The uses of "Furikomi" (payment) here refer to situations where you dealt
into an opponent's win - they declared a Ron win off your discarded tile
and you were required to pay the full amount of points for their win.
You can also press the Y button here to page through your Yaku (scoring
element) counts from online play. These are listed in the same order as
pages 2-6 of the Free Play Mode stats - see Section 16 for reference.
d. The fourth option from the Wi-Fi Play sub-menu is used to configure your
internet connection. Press A to select or B to return to the menu.
The large blue square is used to view or set-up your connection settings.
At first I thought you could use a connection already configured on your
console's main menu but it seems like you need to do it here within the
game as well.
This works a lot like the DSI's connection wizard - there are three boxes
marked 1, 2 and 3 which correspond to three different internet sources.
Pick one then tap the big blue box across the top to scan for nearby wire-
less connections. Pick the one you want and, if it's locked, enter the WEP
key using the on-screen keyboard and then tap the bottom-right button on
the touchscreen to submit and the bottom-right option again to confirm.
After a quick connection test you'll be dumped back on the config screen
and you can press B (Modoru again but spelt entirely in hiragana now) to
return to the main Wi-Fi Play menu.
The narrow orange box on the right-hand side (next to the big blue square
on the config screen) gives you a three-part red menu:
x. View MAC Address and Wi-Fi Connection ID
y. Cancellation of Wi-Fi User Information
z. Transfer of Wi-Fi User Information
The following fixed rule-set (listed on page 31 of the manual) is applied in
Download Play and WiFi Play modes. For rule descriptions check Section 14.
Game Length = Two rounds
Starting Score = 25,000 pts
Open Tanyao = On
Pinfu Tsumo = On
Riichi Ippatsu = On
Dora = Omote, Ura, Kan Omote and Kan Ura (all types)
Continuance Conditions = Tenpai/Tenpai
Concealed Kong after Riichi = On
Double Ron = On
Bankruptcy = On
Red Tiles = Off
Honba Value = 300 points
Agari Yame = On
Wareme = Off
Rate and Uma = Off
Two-Han Minimum = On
Arisu = Off
Binta = Off
Open Riichi = On
*Japanese games tend to use the word Oya ("parent") to indicate the host - the
same word that denotes the current east player (in English, the "dealer") in
Mahjong. The other players, either in Download Play or in a game of Mahjong, are
called the Ko ("children").
------< TRAINING MODES >------------------------------------------ [Section 08]
Mukoubuchi DS has three training modes which are accessible via the top-right
button on the main menu. In each mode you're presented with ten problems and you
input your answer. The number of correct answers you gave is shown at the end
and for each one you receive 1 million Yen which is added to your virtual total
for gambling in the Blow-Out games in the Free Play Mode. (I guess it's a handy
back-up in case things go horribly wrong and you lose all your capital somehow.)
If you make a perfect score of 10/10 in a training mode then a dragon tile is
displayed on the Training Modes sub-menu. Once you have all three dragons (by
getting 10 out of 10 in all three modes) a fourth option is added to the menu.
I didn't notice any rewards for completing the fourth training mode. I guess the
warm glow of satisfaction is reward enough!
If you want to cheat (and deny yourself a valuable learning experience!) all the
correct answers are listed in Section 17 below.
1. "What Would You Discard?" Problems
2. "What Are Your Waits?" Problems
3. "What Is Your Score?" Problems
4. Expert Problems [unlockable mode]
1. The first training mode is the classic discard-quiz, often known as "WWYD" in
English. You're presented with a scenario and you have to decide which is the
best tile to discard based on all the information available.
In each problem your hand of tiles is shown across the centre of the bottom
screen. Above this is the following data: hand number (for example east 3 for
the third hand in the first round), your seat-wind, your turn number within
the current hand and your score. Sometimes your score is given as text (for
example four character spelling Haikyuu Genten which denotes your starting
score e.g. 25,000 points) or it will often be relative, e.g. +3900 in profit.
The two tiles at the bottom are (on the left) the tile you have just drawn
and (on the right) the Dora.
You can use d-pad left/right to select any tile from your hand (or the tile
you've just drawn) and then press A to select it. Press X to delete your
selection or A to pick again. Press Y to submit your answer or B to quit out.
Two large grey kanji characters indicate a wrong answer or two red ones show
that you made the correct choice. Press A to see the correct answer along
with an explanation. Then press A again to proceed to the next problem.
2. The second training mode requires you to analyse a ready hand and identify
all the waits - the tiles that would complete it. There could be as few as
one or as many as nine (for a Pure Nine Gates wait).
For each problem you can use d-pad left/right to scroll through the full list
of tiles (usually thirty-four unless there are four identical tiles in the
hand presented). Press A to add the selected tile to your answer or X to
delete your most recent entry. Press Y to submit your answer or B to exit.
On some of the more complicated flush hands you might find it useful to use a
real tile-set to help you determine the possible structures and waits. That's
what I did anyways.
As on the previous mode, grey is bad and red is good, and the game shows you
the solution to each problem before you continue onto the next one.
3. In the third and final normal training mode you're shown a winning hand and
you have to calculate the payment/s made to the winner.
Above the hand of tiles is the current round-wind and player's seat-wind.
Below them is the winning tile with notes immediately beneath it to indicate
if it was a Tsumo (self-draw) or Ron (stolen discard) win and if the player
called Riichi. Next to that is the Dora (and maybe a Kan Dora sometimes).
You will need to determine both the Fu (minipoints) and Han (doubles) for the
hand and then either calculate the payment values or use a scoring look-up
table to find them.
Use the on-screen number-pad for entry and either press Y or END to submit
your answer. If two different payments are required (i.e. in a non-dealer's
Tsumo win where the dealer and other two non-dealers pay different amounts)
you will need to submit first one amount (non-dealer payment) and then the
other (dealer payment). Use X or DEL to delete one digit from your answer.
The solution in the top screen will show the breakdown of Fu, then the Yaku
and Dora yielding Han and finally the correct payment amounts. You may need
to press d-pad down to scroll through this if it's a long one.
4. The bonus unlockable mode is for the "Top-Grade Person"! B)
Basically this is just a combination of the three normal modes, although it
uses unique problems you haven't seen before.
As usual there are ten problems to complete. The first three are "What Would
You Discard?", the next three are "What Are Your Waits?" and the final four
are all "What Is Your Score?" types.
------< SPECIAL ABILITIES MODE >---------------------------------- [Section 09]
The final playable mode in the game is launched from the middle button on the
right-hand side of the main menu. It consists of ten individual challenges but
when you start only the first one is available. Beating the first unlocks the
second, beating the second unlocks the third and, well, you get the idea!
In each challenge you play as a different character, each with their own special
ability which will hopefully help you complete the level. In the summary below
I've also listed what I've called the "trigger" - the circumstances required
for their superpower to be activated.
After selecting a challenge you press A to begin or B to return to the menu. If
you fail it you're presented with two options - use the left one to quit or the
right one to retry.
The ten playable characters from Special Abilities Mode (and their powers) are
listed in order on pages 16 and 17 of the game manual.
Completing all ten challenges of Special Abilities Mode unlocks a further four
characters (specifically Kimura Junko, Oikawa Katsuyori, Kingo and Fukami) who
can then be used in Free Play Mode.
o Challenge 1
Character: Ueshima
Ability: You are more likely to collect extra doubles from Arisu
Trigger: You declare a win with a concealed hand
Objective: Score five or more doubles from Arisu on a single hand
Info: The rule-set for this game includes the Arisu rule option - when a
player wins with a concealed hand they get to flip a tile on the
dead wall and if it matches a tile in their hand they get an extra
double in the score calculation and they flip another tile (etc).
Ueshima is especially lucky when it comes to this and he'll need to
be as you need to get at least five matches to pass the challenge.
On my first attempt I got nine matches over the course of the game
and I failed - you must get five or more on *one* hand.
Your hand must be concealed for Arisu so remember not to open it by
calling discarded tiles from your opponents.
Go for cheap hands so you win more often. Favour Chow sets as these
are easier to complete. I think it might be advantageous to go for
a quick win too because then there will be more tiles left in the
wall which I assume the game rearranges in your favour.
o Challenge 2
Character: Katsuta (alongside Akatsuka and Mito)
Ability: You and your collaborators are more likely to win a hand
Trigger: Akatsuka or Mito calls a tile
Objective: Bust the "shadow" opponent seated opposite you
Info: In this challenge the three members of the Mito Group are working
together to bankrupt the silhouetted fourth character. Aim to get a
"direct hit" on him by declaring a Ron win on one of his discards
and try to avoid doing the same to your buddies!
The Renchan conditions are Oya Tenpai so you get to stay on as the
dealer either by winning the hand or by having a ready hand in the
event of an exhaustive draw.
o Challenge 3
Character: Miyashima Gahou
Ability: You are more likely to get Ippatsu and/or a Tsumo win
Trigger: You are waiting for a (red) five to complete your hand (?)
Objective: Win a hand with a total of five or more Han from Dora
Info: The requirement is to get at least five Dora in a single hand. You
can combine the Omote Dora, the Ura Dora, Kan Dora, Kan Ura Dora
and the Red Fives (the game is played with two reds in each suit).
I got two Red Fives, a Pung of the Omote Dora (standard Dora) and
one of my reds turned out to be the Ura Dora too so I got six Han.
Try to build your hand around the Dora and the middle-numbered suit
tiles so you can make more use of Red Fives.
Keep your hand closed and call Riichi so the Ura Dora is applied.
Declare Kong sets where possible to benefit from the Kan Dora (and
the Kan Ura Dora if the Kong is concealed so you can call Riichi).
o Challenge 4
Character: Fukanuma
Ability: Successful Sakizumo with thumbreading
Trigger: The player to your left calls a tile from another player
Objective: In a one-round game score a win using your ability
Info: Fukanuma combines Sakizumo (the dodgy practice of taking your next
draw from the wall before the player ahead of you has completed
their turn by discarding) with Moupai (the ability to "read" a tile
using touch alone).
Keep playing normally and it should just happen!
o Challenge 5
Character: Mitsuhashi Hidetoshi
Ability: You can determine which tiles your opponent is waiting on
Trigger: One of your opponents declares Riichi
Objective: Play a full game without once dealing into an opponent's hand
Info: The challenge fails instantly if you discard a tile which is taken
by one of the other players for a Ron win. It's not a problem if
they make a Tsumo win on a self-drawn tile though.
The special ability here is very handy! If one of your opponents
"reaches" and you're holding a tile that would complete their hand
the little arrow cursor will bounce up and down when you select it
so you know not to discard it.
Watch out for Damaten ("silent Tenpai") - just because a player
hasn't called Riichi it doesn't mean they don't have a ready hand.
Unfortunately the lack of Tsumokiri display in the game makes it
harder to spot when someone is in this position.
Remember that your hand becomes locked when you call Riichi so it
leaves you unable to defend. Also calling tiles by Chii, Pon or Kan
will lock tiles into melded sets, reducing your defensive options.
You might want to risk going for a quick win occasionally. Any hand
that ends with you winning is a hand where you haven't been ronned!
Perhaps *sometimes* the key to a good defence is a good offence?
o Challenge 6
Character: Hikage
Ability: You find it easier to win
Trigger: (something about efficient selection of discards?)
Objective: Win three consecutive hands in a row
Info: Once again cheap hands are the way to go here. Don't worry about
collecting Yaku (scoring elements) or Dora (bonus tiles), just make
sure your hand has the one Yaku it needs for a win and go for it.
Yakuhai (a set of dragons, round-wind or seat-wind) is always good
for a quick win. The rules give Kuitan Ari so you can call tiles to
go out more quickly with a exposed Tanyao (All Simples) hand too.
If you have no easy options for Yaku then keep your hand concealed
so you can use Riichi to give you the one Yaku you need.
The game seems to be quite generous with your starting hands. On</pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
two consecutive hands my initial draw of tiles was Tenpai and I was
therefore able to call Daburu Riichi (Double Reach) both times.
o Challenge 7
Character: Kannagi Aiko
Ability: Your initial draw of tiles will make you Tenpai (ready)
Trigger: One of your opponents called a tile in the preceding hand
Objective: Win three hands by Tsumo (self-draw) in one game
Info: You might as well pass up any opportunities for Ron wins as it's
only Tsumo wins that count towards your total. They don't need to
be Menzen Tsumo though - you can win by self-draw after calling
tiles to make open sets, just make sure you have at least one Yaku.
Magically receiving a Tenpai hand is a very cool ability and quite
useful in this challenge because it will maximise the number of
potentially winning picks from the wall you get.
If possible, construct a two- or three-sided wait - the more tiles
that would complete your hand, the better your chances of Tsumo.
Since it's only Tsumo wins that count and there's no need to build
your score, if your ready hand is closed then you don't need to use
Riichi because drawing the winning tile would give you Menzen Tsumo
as the one scoring element you need. If you do want to reach though
you may as well use Open Riichi - it doesn't matter if the other
players know your waits and defend against them.
I wonder if reaching would be beneficial though... If it forces the
other players to start defending then they won't go out with quick
wins that would give you one less opportunity to win yourself.
Hopefully you shouldn't have too much trouble with this challenge.
I got it on my first attempt.
o Challenge 8
Character: Ezaki 2
Ability: Your chances of winning with Ippatsu are increased
Trigger: You call Riichi
Objective: Get Ippatsu on three wins in a single game
Info: For this one you just need to keep your hand concealed, make ready
with a decent wait and call Riichi. Rinse and repeat.
Ezaki's special ability greatly improves your chances of getting
the winning tile on or before your next turn after reaching, giving
you the bonus Yaku of Ippatsu ("one-shot" win) that you need.
I got this one on my first try too.
o Challenge 9
Character: Yasunaga Ban
Ability: Your initial draw of tiles is favourable
Trigger: Your score was under 25,000 points at the end of the previous hand
Objective: Defend your 25,000 pts in two consecutive one-round games
Info: You don't need to win the games - just make sure you finish both of
them with at least the 25,000 pts you started with.
If your score drops below 25k then it triggers your superpower and
you'll draw a hand with a mixture of complete and partial sets to
give you a head-start in winning back some of those points.
After the first game you get two options - the left one is to quit
and the right one is to continue and play the second game.
o Challenge 10
Character: Kai
Ability: Someone draws a Tenpai (one away) or Iishanten (two away) hand (?)
Trigger: (something about overlooking a winning tile after Riichi?)
Objective: Achieve a score of 100,000 points
Info: I benefitted from a bug again here. When I first unlocked this
final challenge I attempted it once, failed, quit out, decided to
do Challenge 9 again, beat it... and the game told me that I'd
completed the whole Special Abilities Mode!?
Good news for me... 100,000 points is a lot! :9
------< MAHJONG REFERENCE >--------------------------------------- [Section 10]
The third button down on the right side of the main menu leads to the reference
section which has these four options:
1. Glossary
2. Yaku Summary
3. Minipoints Summary
4. Points List
1. The glossary is a dictionary of over 300 Mahjong-related terms. Unfortunately
it's entirely in Japanese and completely lacking in illustrations too.
Use the L and R buttons (or just tap the screen) to cycle through the ten
hiragana characters at the top of the display. These are listed in the order
A, Ka, Sa, Ta, Na, Ha, Ma, Ya, Ra and Wa, each connected to a list of terms
starting with related sounds (so for example the Ka section has words that
begin with Ka, Ki, Kyo, Kyu, Ku, Ke, and Ko plus Ga, Gya, Gi, Gu, Ge and Go).
Use the d-pad to scroll within and between pages. When you select a term it
will be shown in the top screen with both the standard and hiragana spellings
and a brief definition is given on the bottom screen. You can then press B to
return to the index listing.
2. The Yaku summary shows all the scoring elements recognised by the game. Press
L or R to switch between the five headings at the top of the touchscreen to
view respectively lists of 1-Han Yaku, 2-Han Yaku, 3-Han Yaku, 6-Han Yaku and
finally Yakuman (limit hands). You can highlight and select an entry to view
a description, then press B to return as usual.
For reference, the scoring elements are listed as follows:
[ 1-Han Yaku ] ----------------------------------------------------------
Riichi (Reach) Yakuhai (value tiles)
Menzen Tsumo (Concealed Self-Draw) Houtei (Last-Tile Ron)
Ippatsu ("one shot" win) Haitei (Last-Tile Tsumo)
Tanyao (All Simples) Rinshan Kaihou (After a Kong)
Pinfu Chankan (Robbing the Kong)
Iipeikou (Pure Double Chow)
--------------- [ 2-Han Yaku ] ------------------------------------------
Daburu Riichi (Double Reach) San Ankou (Three Concealed Pungs)
Chii-Toitsu (Seven Pairs) San Kantsu (Three Kongs)
Toi-Toi Hou (All Pungs) Shou San Gen (Little Three Dragons)
Ikkitsuukan (Pure Straight) Honroutou (All Terminals & Honours)
San Shoku Doujun (Mixed Triple Chow) Chanta (Mixed Outside Hand)
San Shoku Doukou (Triple Pung)
------------------------------- [ 3-Han Yaku ] --------------------------
Junchan (Pure Outside Hand)
Ryanpeikou (Twice Pure Double Chow)
Honitsu (Half Flush)
---------------------------------------------- [ 6-Han Yaku ] -----------
Chinitsu (Full Flush)
------------------------------------------------------------- [ Yakuman ]
Dai San Gen (Big Three Dragons) Tsuuiisou (All Honours)
Suu Ankou (Four Concealed Pungs) Kokushi Musou (Thirteen Orphans)
Suu Kantsu (Four Kongs) Ryuuiisou (All Green)
Dai Suu Shii (Big Four Winds) Chuurenpoutou (Nine Gates)
Shou Suu Shii (Little Four Winds) Tenhou (Heavenly Win)
Chinroutou (All Terminals) Chiihou (Earthly Win)
3. The third section explains the allocation of Fu (minipoints) when determining
your winning hand's score. The three sections from left to right show the Fu
awarded for types of win (on top of the standard 20), the Fu for various
types of wait and the Fu for different sets.
You can press d-pad up/down to cycle through the yellow text labels and press
A to select and view more information on your selection.
4. The final reference section here gives the score look-up tables which can be
used to reckon the payment/s required for any given combination of Fu (down
the left side) and Han (across the top). These tables do not include Bazoro
(Ban-Ban), the two doubles you automatically receive for a winning hand.
By default the score table for the dealer is displayed. You can press Y to
switch to the table for non-dealers. You can use the d-pad to scroll about.
For each Fu value there are two rows - the upper one is for Ron (stolen
discard) wins and the lower one for Tsumo (self-draw) wins.
Mukoubuchi DS recognises Kazoe Yakuman (Counted Yakuman) so a hand with a
total of thirteen or more Han scores at Yakuman (top limit).
The game does not however recognise the Mangan Kiriage rule (Mangan rounding-
up) so a winning hand with either 3 Han and 60 Fu or 4 Han and 30 Fu is not
scored at the Mangan limit.
------< CONTROLS >------------------------------------------------ [Section 11]
On the menus you can use the d-pad to navigate and the A button to confirm your
selection or B to go back to the previous screen. Where you have multiple pages
of information you can use the shoulder buttons L and R to cycle through them.
During the game you can use the following controls...
d-pad left/right - select tile to discard (or tiles to meld into)
(One annoying thing about the game is that it always asks
you which tiles to use when melding, even when there's only
one option, like if you call Chii on a 1 to make a 123 Chow,
or on any call of Pon or Kan.)
A button - confirm choice
B button - cancel pop-up menu or reject a call
X button - view current rule options (press B to return to game)
Y button - view wall, player faces and relative scores (B to return)
When you press Y the discard tiles will be temporarily
removed from the top screen display and instead the game
will show you the full Yama (tile wall) and the faces of the
four players (unless they're anonymous "shadows").
It also changes the way the player points totals are shown
on the bottom screen. Instead of the normal absolute values
the word TOP will appear next to the player in first place
and the other scores will be presented relative to this.
You cannot continue your game with this display. To resume
play you must press B which restores the normal view.
L button - view players and mission objectives (B to return)
If you press L while playing either Scenario Mode or Special
Abilities Mode then the top screen will show your three
opponents and confirm your current objective.
This function is unavailable (and unnecessary) in Free Play.
Start button - display option to quit (then A to quit or B to return)
Select button - display options menu (press B to return to game)
This is different to the options screen which you access
from the main menu. It's represented by five red squares in
the centre of the touchscreen. You can use d-pad left/right
to pick one and press A to cycle through its settings.
1. opponent play speed (3 settings)
2. in-game music (on/off)
3. player voices (on/off)
4. player faces shown on calls and wins (on/off)
5. tile display order (12 settings)
That fifth option allows you to specify the sequence in
which the three suits and the Honours tiles will be shown in
your hand. You can specify any combination of suit tiles
(3! = 6 possibilities) and whether the Honours are displayed
at the left or right end (6 x 2 = 12 options in total).
When you have the option of making a special action the game will present you
with a pop-up box on the right side of the bottom screen showing the action/s
available to you in gold script. The commands are illustrated below through the
magic of ASCII-art (not perfect but hopefully you get the rough idea).
-----
__|__ _____ CHII
| call Chow (steal a discard tile to complete a Chow set)
/
__|__o \
| / PON
/ | \ / call Pung (steal a discard tile to complete a Pung set)
.' /
_|___ \
| | / KAN
| | / call Kong (steal a discard tile to make a Kong set)
/ | / or declare a Kong using a self-drawn tile
----- | |
/ | | _____ SURUU
/\ | | / literally "through"
/ \ / |/ ignore an offer to use Chii, Pon or Kan
__ ____
_|___ \ ____/ /
| _) / \ /\ /__ YAMERU
| | \ / | ' \ quit (cancel call when picking tiles to meld into)
| \_.' / o__/
| | -----
| | ____ __|__ RIICHI
/ | call Riichi (make a ready bet)
/ /
____|_ -----o \ | | -----
/| _____ / / | | _____ __|__ OUPUN RIICHI
/ | / / / | call Open Riichi
/ | / / / / (exposing your hand)
.-----. \
| | / RON
| | / declare Ron (announce a win on an opponent's discarded tile)
|_____| /
\\ / -------
/ | TSUMO
/ --+-- declare Tsumo (announce a win on a self-drawn tile)
/ |__
\/ \ | | |
/\/ _|__ / --+--. | | KYANSERU
/\ | _) / | | | / literally "cancel" (dismiss the pop-up menu)
\ | / '-- \| |/
------< DISPLAY >------------------------------------------------- [Section 12]
This section of the guide explains the layout of the tabletop view during play
and the display that shows the determination of points after a won hand.
= Game Display =
At the start of each hand the top screen shows the faces of the players and the
tile wall (while the initial draw occurs). These aren't shown during play but
you can press Y if you fancy a quick peek (then B to restore normal view).
During play the top screen shows your opponents' hands along their three sides
of the table and their discard tiles are placed in front of these. The red
square is the Chiicha mark which stays next to the first player to have a seat-
wind of east in the game; it also indicates the current round-wind with the
kanji for east (in the first round) or south (in the second). If you are using
the Wareme rule option (see Section 14) you will also see the similarly sized
white marker indicating the player whose section of the wall was broken.
There are four pieces of information presented to you in the ornate frame in the
centre of the top screen. The three characters at the top-left indicate how far
through the game you are - the first shows the kanji for east or south for the
first or second wind-round, the second is the number of the current hand (so the
opening hand of the game would be "east 1") and the third character is Kyoku
which means a hand of play (there are four standard Kyoku per wind-round).
Beneath this in the bottom-left corner of the frame is a simple counter which
shows the number of tiles remaining to be drawn from the live wall.
On the right are two more counters, next to representations of Mahjong scoring
sticks. The top one is a 100-point stick used in the Honba count - the number of
consecutive hands that have just ended in either a draw or a dealer win. When a
player wins a hand they will receive an additional 300 points multiplied by this
number, either paid solely by the discarder on a Ron win or equally by three
other players on Tsumo. The game has an option to boost the multiplier from 300
pts to a more significant amount (see custom rule 2.8 in Section 14).
The bottom one is a 1000-point scoring stick. This counter indicates the number
of Riichi stakes that are on the table, from both the current hand of play and
any that were unclaimed from previous hands that ended in a draw.
Meanwhile, down on the touchscreen, at the top you have a representation of the
full fourteen tiles of the Wanpai (dead wall). The flipped tile on the third
stack indicates the Omote Dora. Each time a Kong is declared a supplement tile
will be taken from the left and a Kan Dora indicator flipped to the right. Your
hand of tiles is shown immediately beneath this.
The four players, their current seat-winds* and points totals are shown in boxes
near the bottom of the touchscreen - you're at the top and your opponents below.
This diagram shows how these correspond to table positions.
_______________ B
| | You | .---.
|____|__________|_______________________________ C | | A
| | Player A | | Player B | | Player C | '---'
|____|__________|____|__________|____|__________| You
(The game doesn't use a dealer marker or dice to indicate the current dealer so
instead you have to check which player has a seat wind of east. Alternatively
you can work it out from the hand count and the position of the Chiicha mark.)
There will be four or five command buttons along the bottom edge of the touch-
screen; these replicate various button functions. The second one only appears
when you're playing either Scenario Mode or Special Abilities mode.
____ ____ ____ ____ ____
|____| |____||____||____||____|
| | | | '---- show current rule options (X button)
| | | '---------- toggle score/wall display (Y button)
| | '---------------- show in-game options (Select button)
| '---------------------- display current objective (L button)
'------------------------------ show quit game option (Start button)
*The kanji after the character for the wind is Cha which means "house" and is
used to refer to players, for example Toncha is the "east house" or east player
(i.e. the current dealer).
= Score Display =
The score display is given on the bottom screen at the end of every hand that
ends in a win (as opposed to a draw).
Along the top is the winning hand with the winning tile shown on the right. Any
open sets are displayed to the right of this.
Beneath this to the left is the dead wall with all active Dora indicators shown.
To the right is a list of everything about the hand that generates Han (doubles)
including Yaku (scoring elements), Dora, Ura Dora and Arisu (see custom rule 3.5
in Section 14).
Along the bottom of the screen in gold text are the Fu (minipoints) total, the
Han (doubles) total*, a single kanji to show if the player was the Oya (dealer)
or Ko (a non-dealer) and the points awarded for the hand. If a limit is applied
then its two-kanji name will appear between the Han total and the Oya/Ko kanji.
There's also a small silver button at the bottom-right which can be used to see
a full breakdown of the Fu reckoning for the hand. I haven't seen this feature
in a video-game before but it's handy if you're learning to score in real life.
This view shows, in order from top to bottom, the Fuutei (default 20 points),
extra points for the type of win, points for the type of wait and points for the
type of pair. Unless the hand consisted only of Chows, the minipoints for any
Pung or Kong sets will be listed below this.
At the bottom is the Fu total, shown both before and after rounding-up.
Press A or tap the screen anywhere to return to the normal score screen and
again to continue the game.
*The Han total does not include Bazoro - the two Han you automatically receive
for declaring a win.
------< OPTIONS >------------------------------------------------- [Section 13]
The middle button at the bottom of the main menu can be used to access the
options for the game.
There are only six options, listed here in the order they appear in the game.
You can use the d-pad up/down to move between them and left/right to adjust the
values or you can just touch the screen. Pressing Select restores the default
settings and B returns to the main menu (accepting any changes you've made).
The default setting for each option is indicated here with an asterisk (*).
Select the bottom (seventh) option to access the custom rules setting screens.
You can read more about these in the next section.
(You can also access five basic gameplay options by pressing the Select button
during a game - see Section 11 for more details.)
1. Name: Text Display Speed
Options: Fast / Normal* / Slow
Info: This controls the speed at which text appears on the screen during the
storytelling screens in Scenario Mode.
2. Name: Discard Speed
Options: Fast / Normal* / Slow
Info: This governs how quickly or slowly your opponents take their turns.
3. Name: In-Game Event Animations
Options: On* / Off
Info: With this option you can specify whether the game will show a brief
animation when a character's special ability is activated.
4. Name: Voices
Options: On* / Off
Info: This option can be used to turn off spoken declarations during play.
5. Name: In-Game Background Music
Options: A* / B / C / D / Off
Info: Choose which music plays, if any.
6. Name: "Face Windows"
Options: On* / Off
Info: With this option set to On the game will show pop-up windows with the
faces of the players involved whenever someone calls or wins.
7. (select this option to access the custom rule settings - see below)
*This is the default setting for the option.
------< RULES >--------------------------------------------------- [Section 14]
This section explains the user-defined rules in the game along with those that
are always used and those that are never applied.
= Custom Rules =
There are twenty-two rule options which you can modify although these only apply
in Free Play Mode. (Each chapter of Scenario Mode and each challenge in Special
Abilities Mode has its own predefined rule-set.)
You can access the rule options by selecting the bottom button from the main
menu and then picking the seventh choice from the options screen. Alternatively
you'll be taken straight to them when you start Free Play Mode, immediately
after character selection.
The rules settings are presented over three screens which you can cycle between
with L and R. I've listed them here in the order they appear in the game so, for
example, number 2.4 is the fourth one down on the second page. I've indicated
the default settings with an asterisk. Just like the options menu, you can press
Select to restore the default values or B to confirm and exit.
You'll notice that several rules have the same two options available, these are
Ari (with) and Nashi (without). If you play Japanese Mahjong then you should
recognise these terms; if not, their usage is simple - for example Kuitan Ari
means the Kuitan rule is applied (On), Kuitan Nashi means it ain't (Off)!
During play you can press X to view the rule options currently in force (and
then press B to return to the game).
1.1 Name: Game Length
Options: Two rounds* / One round
Info: The standard length for a game in modern Japanese Mahjong is two
wind rounds (east and south), although sometimes you play only one.
The game calls the two-round game a Ton Nan Sen ("east south match")
although this is also known as a Hanchan - meaning a "half-game" -
because the traditional game duration under the original classical
Chinese rules is four rounds (east, south, west and north).
The one-round option is given as Ton Puu Sen ("east wind match") but
is sometimes referred to as a "quarter-game" for the same reason.
1.2 Name: Starting Score
Options: 25,000* / 30,000 / 35,000
Info: This option lets you specify the number of points that each player
has at the beginning of a game - also called the Haikyuu Genten.
It's common for players to buy into a game with 30,000 points (the
Genten) and then to pay the difference between this and the starting
score into a jackpot for the ultimate winner called the Oka, but this
rule is not applied in this game.
1.3 Name: Open Tanyao
Options: On* / Off
Info: This is the (sometimes controversial!) Kuitan rule. When Kuitan is
Ari (On) you are allowed to claim the scoring element of Tanyao (All
Simples) on an exposed/open hand.
The "Kui" in the rule name refers to eating - when you steal discards
from other players by Pon or Chii you are, in a sense, "eating" their
tiles and so Kuitan is literally "eating Tanyao".
1.4 Name: Pinfu Tsumo
Options: On* / Off
Info: When Pinfu Tsumo is on you can claim the scoring element Pinfu on
a Tsumo (self-draw) win. Pinfu is defined as a "no points" hand, with
no Fu (minipoints) other than the basic 20 or 30 for going out. A
Tsumo win is normally worth an extra two Fu but with this rule you
waive the two Fu and take the extra Han (double) for Pinfu instead.
1.5 Name: Riichi Ippatsu
Options: On* / Off
Info: This simply turns On/Off the Ippatsu scoring element, the "one-shot"
win that gives an extra Han if you win on or before your next turn
after calling Riichi.
1.6 Name: Dora
Options: Omote, Ura, Kan Omote & Kan Ura*
Omote and Kan Omote
Omote and Ura
Omote only
Info: The third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh stacks of the Wanpai (the
fourteen tiles at the back end of the wall usually known as the dead
wall in English) can be used as indicators for Dora bonus tiles.
The standard Dora indicator is for the Omote Dora - this is the upper
tile on the third stack of the Wanpai. Each time a Kong is declared
another indicator is flipped on the top row (starting with the fourth
tile) and these indicate the Kan Dora or Kan Omote Dora. When someone
wins a hand after calling Riichi they can also apply the indicator
tile under the Omote Dora indicator (for the Ura Dora) and under any
active Kan Dora indicators (for the Kan Ura Dora).
Each Dora in a winning hand gives one additional Han (double) but
they cannot be used to fulfil the Ii Han Shibari (one-Han minimum)
for a win.
This rule option lets you choose what combination of these you want
to use in your game.
Some video-games give a helpful visual cue or sound effect when you
draw a Dora tile from the wall but in Mukoubuchi DS the only such
feature is a distinctive sound when you discard one - by which point
it's too late, your Dora is gone!
1.7 Name: Continuance Conditions in East Round / South Round
Options: Win/Win*
Win/Tenpai
Win/No-ten
Tenpai/Win
Tenpai/Tenpai
Tenpai/No-ten
No-ten/Win
No-ten/Tenpai
No-ten/No-ten
Info: When the current dealer wins a hand, an "extra hand" is played with
the same seat winds (so they stay on as dealer); this is known as a
Renchan or continuance. Optionally if a hand ends in an exhaustive
draw (when the whole supply of tiles has been used, or exhausted)
the dealer can stay on if they have a Tenpai (ready) hand or even if
they have a No-ten (unready) hand.
With this rule you can choose which condition applies and, if you
like, you can even have different conditions in each of the wind
rounds, for example if you pick the second option (Win/Tenpai) then
during the first (east) round the dealer will only stay on if they
win the hand but in the second (south) round they will stay on when
they win or if the hand ends in a draw and their hand is ready.
2.1 Name: Kong Declaration after Riichi
Options: On* / Off
Info: When this rule is On you are permitted to declare a concealed Kong
after you have "reached" (called Riichi) as long as it doesn't change
your wait/s or the overall structure of your hand. This could give
the score for your hand a major boost if you have the Kan Omote Dora
and Kan Ura Dora options allowed (see custom rule 1.6 above).
2.2 Name: Double Ron
Options: On* / Atama Hane
Info: This rule permits two players to declare a Ron win on the same tile
discarded by one of the other two players. The alternative is to
apply the Atama Hane ("head bump") rule in which case only one win is
recognised, that of the player nearest to the discarder's right.
2.3 Name: Bankruptcy
Options: On* / Off
Info: This is the Dobon rule which ends the game early when someone's score
drops below zero.
2.4 Name: Red Tiles
Options: Off* / Threes / Fives / Sevens
Info: With this rule option you can choose if you want to play with Akapai
(literally "red tiles") and, if so, what types.
These are special versions of numbered suit tiles which have purely
red markings. Each one functions like a Dora tile so it adds one Han
(double) to your score calculation although, again as with the Dora,
it cannot be used to meet the one-Han minimum for going out.
The use of Red Fives is a popular option in Japanese Mahjong but
unusually Mukoubuchi DS also gives you the alternative of playing
with either Red Threes or Red Sevens instead.
Typically only three or four red tiles would be used in a game but
again here you're given more freedom - you can use the next three
rule options to decide how many to include in each suit, up to twelve
in total! However many you choose, the red tiles will be substituted
for the corresponding normal non-red versions so you will still be
playing with the standard total of 136 tiles.
When this option is set to Off options 2.5, 2.6 and 2.7 below will be
greyed-out and unavailable.
2.5 Name: Red Tiles in Manzu Suit
Options: 1* / 2 / 3 / 4
Info: When custom rule 2.4 is On, this governs how many red tiles will be
used in the Manzu (Craks) suit.
2.6 Name: Red Tiles in Pinzu Suit
Options: 1* / 2 / 3 / 4
Info: When custom rule 2.4 is On, this governs how many red tiles will be
used in the Pinzu (Dots) suit.
2.7 Name: Red Tiles in Souzu Suit
Options: 1* / 2 / 3 / 4
Info: When custom rule 2.4 is On, this governs how many red tiles will be
used in the Souzu (Bams) suit.
2.8 Name: Honba Points
Options: 300* / 1500 / 3000
Info: Each time a hand ends in either a dealer win or a draw, one is added
to the Honba counter (see Section 12) and when a player wins a hand
they receive, on top of the basic hand score, an additional amount
equal to 300 multiplied by the Honba count. In a Ron (stolen discard)
win this is paid by the player who discarded the winning tile or on a
Tsumo (self-draw) win the cost is shared equally by the three losing
players. The Honba is reset to zero when a non-dealer wins a hand.
Although it's always good to get more points, in practice this is not
a hugely significant factor in the game - even with the counter at
three you make less than a thousand points - but, in keeping with the
the high-rate gambling ethos of the game, this option lets you switch
up from the standard 300 to a more hefty 1500 or 3000 points!
3.1 Name: Agari Yame
Options: Off* / On
Info: Under the Agari Yame rule, if the player who is dealer (east) in the
final hand of the game is leading on points and wins a hand they can
choose whether they wish to play a continuance as usual (and either
win more points or perhaps lose some!) or to end the game early (and
thus guarantee their victory).
In Mukoubuchi DS however you are not given the choice - if you are
east in the final hand (i.e. in a game where you started as north in
the first hand) the match will end automatically if you are the
points leader after winning a hand.
3.2 Name: Wareme
Options: Off* / On
Info: With Wareme set to On, the player whose section of the tile wall was
broken at the start of each hand is given a square white marker which
you can see in the top screen above their discards. The player with
this marker pays and receives double points. If they happen to be the
dealer too then the score effects are cumulative when they win.
The doubling effect of Wareme is applied after the normal score
calculation so, for example, if you get ronned on a dealer Mangan
when either you or the dealer has the Wareme marker then it would
cost you 24,000 points (ouch!) which could easily bankrupt you.
The Japanese word Wareme means "split" or "crevice" so it obviously
refers to the break in the wall. The white indicator is marked in
green with the kanji Katsu which is the first character in the
spelling of the word Wareme.
3.3 Name: Rate and Uma
Options: Off / 1-1-2* / 1-1-3 / 2-2-4 / 3-3-6 / 5-5-10
Info: Each of the active options for this setting consists of three digits.
The first number is the "exchange rate" used when gambling - it shows
how many hundreds of Yen are paid for each 1000 points. For example a
value of 1 means that each 1000 points costs 100 Yen.
The other two figures denote the Uma which is a final exchange of
points or money at the end of a game where the player in third place
pays a set amount to the player in second place and fourth pays a
larger amount to first. The numbers specify thousands of Yen so in
the case of the default 1-1-2 option, third pays 1000 Yen and fourth
pays 2000 Yen (this being equivalent to the 10,000 pts and 20,000 pts
exchanged in what would usually be called a "10-20" Uma).
See Section 15 below for some examples of final score calculations
under different rates and Uma.
The word Uma means "horse". Mukoubuchi DS uses the term "Jun'i Ten"
which means "position points".
3.4 Name: Conditional Two-Han Minimum
Options: On* / Off
Info: Normally the game is played with a one-Han minimum - you need Yaku
(scoring elements) worth at least one Han in order to declare a win.
With this rule in effect, however, a two-Han minimum is applied when
the Honba counter shows five or more (i.e. after five consecutive
hands have resulted in dealer wins or draws).
Han from Dora bonus tiles and red tiles are not counted when checking
if a hand meets the one/two-Han minimum requirements.
The formal name for this rule option is Ryan Han Shibari. Ryan is the
Japanese pronunciation of the Mandarin Chinese counting-number 2, Han
is the Japanese name for doubles and Shibari means "binding". The
name is sometimes shortened to Ryanshi.
3.5 Name: Arisu
Options: Off* / On
Info: Arisu is an uncommon rule option which can apply extra luck-based
doubles to the points calculation of a concealed winning hand.
When a player declares a win on a concealed hand they get to flip the
next tile on the top row in the Wanpai (dead wall) after the active
Dora indicator(s). If the revealed tile matches one in his hand then
he receives one additional Han in the points calculation (and if it
matches two or three tiles then he gets 2 or 3 Han respectively) and
he gets to flip another tile, working counter-clockwise along the
dead wall and into the live wall if necessary. This process continues
until either the latest flipped wall tile has no matches (so if the
first tile to be turned has no matches then the player gets no extra
doubles) or he reaches the end of the wall.
(It should be noted that a tile in the hand must exactly match that
on the wall to give the bonus; it is not like the Dora system where
the lucky tile is the next tile in sequence after the indicator.)
This rule option seems to be unavailable until after you've beaten
the first chapter of Scenario Mode (see Section 05).
3.6 Name: Binta
Options: Off* / 10-man / 30-man / 50-man / 100-man / 300-man / 500-man /
1000-man / 2000-man
Info: Binta is another unusual rule option. It really justifies the "high-
rate" tag in the game's title!
Binta is a type of Uma in which the four players exchange multiples
of a pre-defined amount (either points or money) at the end of a game
- but the multiples applied depend on how many people finished the
game with a score equal to or greater than the starting score (for
example 25,000 points).
Considering all six pairings of the four players in turn (e.g. AB,
AC, AD, BC, BD and CD), within each pair the player with the lower
score pays the other, so 4th always pays 1st, 2nd and 3rd; 3rd pays
1st and 2nd; 2nd pays 1st (and 1st pays no-one). In each pair the
payment will be the specified Binta amount if both players have
points totals less than their starting score or if they both have
totals equal to or greater than the starting score. If, however, only
one player's points are less than the starting score they must pay
double the Binta to the other player in that pair.
There are only three possible outcomes and these are summarised in
the table below which shows the overall multiples of the Binta amount
(B) paid or received by the four players.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th
-------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------
3 players under starting score | +6 x B | 0 x B | -2 x B | -4 x B
-------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------
2 players under starting score | +5 x B | +3 x B | -3 X B | -5 x B
-------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------
1 player under starting score | +4 x B | +2 x B | 0 x B | -6 x B
Like Arisu above, this rule option is greyed-out until you've beaten
the first chapter of Scenario Mode. When it first unlocks only the
three smallest settings are available to you. The others seem to be
added as you progress through the game or your cash total grows.
The options for the Binta amount are all expressed as multiples of
the kanji Man which denotes ten thousand so the lowest 10-man option
equates to 100,000 Yen (10 x 10,000). Since the largest available
Binta value is 2000-man (twenty million) and you can win up to six
times this (if you're the only player above the starting score), it's
possible to take home a tasty 120 million Yen from a single match! :D
(...and that's in addition to your normal winnings too.)
3.7 Name: Open Riichi
Options: Off* / On
Info: Open Riichi is a special variant of Riichi in which either the whole
hand or just the waiting portion is exposed to the other players at
the point of "reaching". In Mukoubuchi DS the whole hand is shown.
With a concealed Tenpai (ready) hand the player has the choice of
either calling normal Riichi (worth one Han) or Open Riichi (worth
two), in either case paying 1000 points as usual.
When one of your opponents declares Open Riichi the game blocks you
from discarding any tile which they could use for a win and it's fair
to assume that the computer-controlled players have at least enough
common sense not to deal into your Open Riichi hand. Consequently you
would usually only use this when you have a multiple-sided wait early
in the hand (giving you a good chance of winning by self-draw) or if
one or two opponents have reached (and are unable to defend).
*This is the default setting for the rule.
The three screens of custom rules and their defaults settings are summarised in
this handy cut-out-and-keep guide:
- - 8< - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1.1 Game Length 2.1 Conc. Kong after Riichi 3.1 Agari Yame
= Two rounds = On = Off
1.2 Starting Score 2.2 Double Ron 3.2 Wareme
= 25,000 pts = On = Off
1.3 Open Tanyao 2.3 Bankruptcy 3.3 Rate and Uma
= On = On = 1-1-2
1.4 Pinfu Tsumo 2.4 Red Tiles 3.4 Two-Han Minimum
= On = Off = On
1.5 Riichi Ippatsu 2.5 Red Manzu 3.5 Arisu
= On = 1 [if 2.4 On] = Off
1.6 Dora 2.6 Red Pinzu 3.6 Binta
= All types = 1 [if 2.4 On] = Off
1.7 Continuance Conditions 2.7 Red Souzu 3.7 Open Riichi
= Win/Win = 1 [if 2.4 On] = Off
2.8 Honba Value
= 300 pts
- - 8< - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
= Fixed Rules =
The game uses fairly standard modern Japanese rules - if there can ever be such
a thing as a "standard" rule-set in Mahjong! The manual does however specify on
page 32 the following seven rule settings that are always used:
o Mangan Kiriage (Mangan rounding-up) is not applied, so a winning hand worth 4
Han (doubles) and 30 Fu (minipoints), or one worth 3 Han and 60 Fu, will not
be rounded to the Mangan limit.
o The scoring element Chii-Toitsu (Seven Pairs) scores 25 Fu and 2 Han.
o The total amount of No-ten Bappu points shared when an exhaustive draw occurs
is 3,000 pts. Players with Tenpai (ready) hands receive these from those that
were No-ten (unready).
o The rule of Keishiki Tenpai (loosely "Tenpai form") is applied, so a hand of
tiles will be recognised as being Tenpai regardless of whether it has the
potential to form Yaku or not. This is significant both in the distribution of
No-ten Bappu and in the determination of Renchan (continuances).
o A pair of seat-wind tiles is always worth 2 Fu and a pair of round-wind tiles
is also always worth 2 Fu but rule-sets differ as to whether a pair in "double
wind" (when the seat-wind and round-wind coincide) should be worth 2 or 4 Fu.
In Mukoubuchi DS it's 4 Fu.
o A player is permitted to declare Riichi when Furiten (the state where calling
Ron on any tile is blocked because one of their discards is also one of their
waits) and they are also allowed to overlook a win after reaching. In such a
situation they can only win by Tsumo - by drawing the winning tile themselves.
o If two players have the same number of points, either at the end of a game or
during play, priority in determining placings goes to the player who had the
the seat-wind of east earliest in the match.
For example if a game ends and the players at west and north in the final hand
are both tied for first place with the same score then the match win would be
taken by west (they were east in the second hand of the first round) and
second place would go to north (they were east later, in the third hand).
This determination can be applied at any stage of the game so, technically,
even at the very start of a match when the four players all hold the same
starting score, the east player is 1st and the north player is 4th.
= Disallowed Rules =
Page 32 of the manual also lists the rules which are *disallowed* in the game,
but I'll describe them here for the curious reader. B)
o Daburu Yakuman (Double Yakuman) - Some rule-sets recognise the following four
hands as double Yakuman worth 64,000 pts to a non-dealer or 96,000 pts to the
dealer: Dai Suu Shii (Big Four Winds), Kokushi Musou Juusanmen Machi (Thirteen
Orphans won on thirteen-sided wait), Chuuren Poutou Kyuumen Machi (Nine Gates
won on nine-sided wait) and Suu Ankou Tanki Machi (Four Concealed Pungs won on
pair wait). In Mukoubuchi DS however they are not acknowledged.
o Renhou (Human Win) - Awarded either a Yakuman or a Mangan depending on the
local rules, this is when a non-dealer draws a Tenpai hand and completes it
by Ron before their first proper draw. Like Chiihou (Earthly Win), Renhou is
interrupted by any preceding calls for discards.
o Nagashi Mangan (Terminal & Honour Discards) - This is a special Yaku worth a
Mangan which can be claimed if a hand ends in an exhaustive draw, every tile
you discarded was a Terminal or Honour and none were stolen by other players.
o Kanburi (Shaken Kong?) - This is an optional one-Han scoring element awarded
for calling Ron on a tile that was discarded by a player after they've just
declared a Kong and taken their replacement tile.
o Shiisanpuutaa (13 Unrelated Tiles) - A Yakuman is awarded to a player who
begins a hand with thirteen tiles that cannot form sets together (for example
suit pairs of 3-4 or 3-5 would not be allowed) plus a duplicate of one of the
thirteen. If you want to see this in action then check out Mahjong Taikai IV
on the PS3!
o Kyuushu Kyuuhai ("nine types, nine tiles") - One of the five situations in
which an abortive draw can occur is when a player holds, after taking making
their first draw in the current hand of play, nine or more different types of
Terminal and Honour tiles and they choose to declare a draw.
o Kuikae ("eat and replace") - This is when you have a complete concealed Chow
or Pung in your hand, you call Chii or Pon (respectively) using two of those
tiles and then immediately discard the third tile from the original set. It's
not unusual for this to be disallowed.
o San Cha Hou ("three players win") - Although uncommon, it is conceivable that
a player could discard a tile only to have all three opponents declare a Ron
win on that same tile. This is another one of the five occurrences that can
cause an abortive draw.
o Pao - This is a responsibility payment which penalises a player for discarding
a tile which is taken by an opponent to complete the final required set for a
Yakuman - usually Dai San Gen (Big Three Dragons) or Dai Suu Shii (Big Four
Winds) - but only in cases where all the other sets needed are complete and
exposed (so the opponent's potential for making the Yakuman is quite evident).
If a player has two exposed Pungs of dragon tiles and another player discards
the tile that lets them make the third set for Dai San Gen, or if a player has
three Pungs of wind tiles exposed and someone discards the tile that lets them
complete the fourth for Dai Suu Shii, then the discarding player has to pay.
If the hand is won by Tsumo the discarding player pays the full amount or if
the hand is won by Ron from a third player then the discarders pay half each.
o Kokushi Musou Tenpai-ji no Ankan Ron Agari - The scoring element Chankan is
known as "Robbing the Kong" in English because it permits you to declare a win
by stealing (or "robbing") the tile used to complete a Kong but only if it is
specifically an *exposed* Kong. Some rule-sets allow one exception, namely you
can "rob" a *concealed* Kong if you use the tile to complete a Kokushi Musou
(Thirteen Orphans) hand. In Mukoubuchi DS this exception is not allowed so the
declaration of a Kong of any Terminal or Honour tile will always thwart your
attempted Kokushi unless it's an exposed Kong and your hand is already Tenpai.
Remember, these rules or combinations are all excluded from Mukoubuchi DS.
------< FINAL SCORE EXAMPLES >------------------------------------ [Section 15]
This section gives three worked examples of how the final scores are calculated
at the end of a game using different starting scores (see custom rule 1.2 in
previous section) and various values of rate and Uma (custom rule 3.3).
The basic procedure is as follows:
Step A - Any Riichi sticks unclaimed on the table are given to the winner.
Step B - The starting score is subtracted from each player's score (so the four</pre><pre id="faqspan-3">
individual points totals will now sum to zero).
Step C - The scores are rounded to the nearest thousand. The winner's score is
rounded last and may be adjusted to preserve the zero sum.
Step D - The scores are converted into money based on the selected rate. For
example with the 5-5-10 setting, the rate (the first digit) is 5 which
means that each 1000 pts is worth 500 Yen, or 2 points gives 1 Yen.
Step E - The cash Uma is applied. With the 5-5-10 option, the Uma is 5-10 which
means the player in third place pays 5,000 Yen to the player in second
place and fourth pays 10,000 Yen to first.
o Example 1 - Starting score: 35,000 pts - Rate and Uma: 5-5-10
Placing | End Scores | Step A | Step B | Step C | Step D | Step E
---------+------------+--------+---------+---------+------------+-------------
1st | 49,500 pts | 49,500 | +14,500 | +15,000 | +7,500 Yen | +17,500 Yen
---------+------------+--------+---------+---------+------------+-------------
2nd | 42,300 pts | 42,300 | +7,300 | +7,000 | +3,500 Yen | +8,500 Yen
---------+------------+--------+---------+---------+------------+-------------
3rd | 30,400 pts | 30,400 | -4,600 | -5,000 | -2,500 Yen | -7,500 Yen
---------+------------+--------+---------+---------+------------+-------------
4th | 17,800 pts | 17,800 | -17,200 | -17,000 | -8,500 Yen | -18,500 Yen
o Example 2 - Starting score: 30,000 pts - Rate and Uma: 1-1-3
Placing | End Scores | Step A | Step B | Step C | Step D | Step E
---------+------------+--------+---------+---------+------------+-------------
1st | 54,800 pts | 57,800 | +27,800 | +28,000 | +2,800 Yen | +5,800 Yen
---------+------------+--------+---------+---------+------------+-------------
2nd | 29,500 pts | 29,500 | -500 | -1,000 | -100 Yen | +900 Yen
---------+------------+--------+---------+---------+------------+-------------
3rd | 16,700 pts | 16,700 | -13,300 | -13,000 | -1,300 Yen | -2,300 Yen
---------+------------+--------+---------+---------+------------+-------------
4th | 16,000 pts | 16,000 | -14,000 | -14,000 | -1,400 Yen | -4,400 Yen
(In this case the four end scores should add to 120,000 pts (4 x 30,000) but
instead they come to 117,000 which shows that there were three 1000-pt Riichi
stakes left unclaimed. These are paid to the player in first place in Step A.)
o Example 3 - Starting score: 25,000 pts - Rate and Uma: 1-1-2
Placing | End Scores | Step A | Step B | Step C | Step D | Step E
---------+------------+--------+---------+---------+------------+-------------
1st | 52,100 pts | 52,100 | +27,100 | +27,000 | +2,700 Yen | +4,700 Yen
---------+------------+--------+---------+---------+------------+-------------
2nd | 20,900 pts | 20,900 | -4,100 | -4,000 | -400 Yen | +600 Yen
---------+------------+--------+---------+---------+------------+-------------
3rd | 16,100 pts | 16,100 | -8,900 | -9,000 | -900 Yen | -1,900 Yen
---------+------------+--------+---------+---------+------------+-------------
4th | 10,900 pts | 10,900 | -14,100 | -14,000 | -1,400 Yen | -3,400 Yen
------< STATISTICS >---------------------------------------------- [Section 16]
Your stats from Free Play Mode can be viewed by pressing Y after you first enter
that mode. Keep pressing Y to page through the data.
The first page shows basic general statistics then the other five pages count
the number of times you've made Yaku (scoring element) or Yakuman (limit hand)
in a winning hand during play.
Page 1
1.1 Total number of games played
1.2 Average placing (e.g. 1.00 = all 1st, 4.00 = all 4th)
1.3 Hand win rate
1.4 Calling rate (stealing opponents' discards to complete sets)
1.5 Current money total
Page 2
2.1 Riichi
2.2 Menzen Tsumo (Concealed Self-Draw)
2.3 Ippatsu ("one-shot" win after Riichi)
2.4 Pinfu
2.5 Tanyao (All Simples)
2.6 Iipeikou (Pure Double Chow)
2.7 Yakuhai (Pung of value tiles - seat-wind, round-wind or any dragon)
2.8 Houtei (Last-Tile Ron)
Page 3
3.1 Haitei (Last-Tile Tsumo)
3.2 Rinshan Kaihou (After a Kong)
3.3 Chankan (Robbing the Kong)
3.4 Daburu Riichi (Double Riichi)
3.5 San Shoku Doujun (Mixed Triple Chow)
3.6 Ikkitsuukan (Pure Straight)
3.7 Chanta (Mixed Outside Hand)
3.8 Chii-Toitsu (Seven Pairs)
Page 4
4.1 Toi-Toi Hou (All Pungs)
4.2 San Ankou (Three Concealed Pungs)
4.3 Shou San Gen (Little Three Dragons)
4.4 Honroutou (All Terminals & Honours)
4.5 San Shoku Doukou (Triple Pung)
4.6 San Kantsu (Three Kongs)
4.7 Honitsu (Half Flush)
4.8 Junchan (Pure Outside Hand)
Page 5
5.1 Ryanpeikou (Twice Pure Double Chow)
5.2 Chinitsu (Full Flush)
5.3 Suu Ankou (Four Concealed Pungs)
5.4 Kokushi Musou (Thirteen Orphans)
5.5 Dai San Gen (Big Three Dragons)
5.6 Shou Suu Shii (Little Four Winds)
5.7 Tsuuiisou (All Honours)
5.8 Ryuuiisou (All Green)
Page 6
6.1 Chinroutou (All Terminals)
6.2 Chuurenpoutou (Nine Gates)
6.3 Suu Kantsu (Four Kongs)
6.4 Tenhou (Heavenly Win)
6.5 Chiihou (Earthly Win)
6.6 Dai Suu Shii (Big Four Winds)
------< CRIB* NOTES >--------------------------------------------- [Section 17]
This section lists the solutions to the problems in the Training Modes (which
were previously described in Section 08).
There's not really much value in going through the training without actually
figuring out the answers for yourself - but, if you want 'em, here they are!
I've used the following notation here: E = east wind (Ton)
S = south wind (Nan)
W = west wind (Shaa)
N = north wind (Pei)
R = red dragon (Chun)
Wh = white dragon (Haku)
G = green dragon (Hatsu)
[7] = winning tile or drawn tile
_3333_ = open set or any declared Kong
I haven't differentiated between the three suits except to group together tiles
of the same suit. It should be possible to identify each of the problems from
the patterns of numbers replicated here.
o What Would You Discard? (training mode 1)
1[1]2223 2345666 5 3 in first suit
11223 11[2]3445 WhWh 2 in first suit
123445[6]77 135 SS 1 in second suit
123[4]57 34556 456 1 in first suit
12345568 45 456[7] 7 in third suit (drawn tile)
12357 2355 1[2]3 WhWh 5 in first suit
133455[6]8 234 245 2 in third suit
13567 12 34[5]67 WW 1 in second suit
23 [2]44 12344789 G 4 in third suit
2334688 3[5] 13456 1 in third suit
233[5] 34556 34577 5 in first suit (drawn tile)
234 33 [2]3499 S NNN 3 in second suit
34[4]899 3457 5789 4 in first suit
[3]4579 5667 34677 6 in third suit
3467[8] 334456677 7 in second suit
3568[9] 2356 45667 3 in first suit
4455789 [3]5 356 GG 3 in third suit
45678 234[4]789 89 8 in third suit
46 56 [1]223356 GGG 4 in first suit
556688 67[8] 34445 4 in third suit
599 1235678[8] 388 9 in first suit
67 23[3]445 556688 5 in third suit
8 23346789 7899[9] 6 in second suit
o What Are Your Waits? (training mode 2)
1 RR 55 22 66 33 44 14 - simple Ryanmen (two-sided) wait with tiles mixed
1111222233334 45
1111222234567 347
1112223334445 23456
1112223334567 1234578
1112345678999 123456789 - nine-sided Chuurenpoutou (Nine Gates) wait
11233 234 45556 2 in first suit
1222345 444 RRR 136 in first suit
1223344556678 258
1233334567889 78
1233444567889 7
1234444555678 1369
1234555567789 13467
1234555567899 369
1235677778889 489
2222345678888 5
22234 NN 333 SSS 25 in first suit + N
2233445566 RRR 2356
234 5667788 567 58 in second suit
2344456999 NNN 147
2344556888 GGG 25
3333455556789 4679
3333456777888 25678
3334445666777 34567
45555 23455 RRR 36 in first suit
555678 2345678 258 in second suit - three-sided Tanki pair-wait
o What Is Your Score? (training mode 3)
1188 223344 SS N[N] 9600
[1]23 99 999 WWW _EEE_ 3200 all
123[2]34 22999 _SSSS_ 1200, 2300
123[3]45 666 WWW SS 6400
12399 [7]89 _2222_ _WhWhWh_ 3200 all
123999 77788899 1300, 2600
123 [7]89 56777888 1300
123 99 77788899[9] 3000, 6000
22255[5] 222 22 _567_ 2600 all
222 123[3]45 45556 1000, 2000
33[3]45 _NNN_ _SSSS_ _EEEE_ 1000, 2000
3344556[6] 2255 33 1600, 3200
444 23[4]66 234 _6666_ 800, 1600
4445[5]678 _1111_ _NNNN_ 2600
567 11[1] 234 SS _8888_ 2000
678 11 23[4] _9999_ _WWWW_ 9600
[7]89 999 WW _1111_ _SSSS_ 3900
999 111[2]3 SSS _WhWhWh_ 6400
999 233445 12[3]44 1300 all
999 W[W] _234_ _5555_ _GGG_ 800, 1600
o Expert Problems (training mode 4)
What Would You Discard?
233445 23[3]5 2345 2 in second suit
235567[8] 45577 67 2 in first suit
2356789 [4]5568 78 9 in first suit
2467 3346[8] 23467 8 in second suit (drawn tile)
[3]45568 234555 23 6 in first suit
466789 3[4]55 4577 9 in first suit
5567 2334557 3[3]5 5 in second suit
What Are Your Waits?
1112224445678 35689
1113334567888 23456789
1114445678999 3456789
1234577889999 36
1234455667899 369
4567788889999 3467
What Is Your Score?
1112299[9] _789_ _NNNN_ 6800
111 5[6]7 SS _EEEE_ _345_ 6800
123 111 444[5]6 _SSSS_ 2300 all
55 [6]78 _9999_ _6666_ _NNNN_ 1500 all
5667[7]8 NN _SSSS_ _1111_ 3200
56777[7] 22 _9999_ _NNNN_ 6400
5678[8]999 678 _SSSS_ 1200, 2300
678 23[4]55999 _WWWW_ 2300 all
7[7] _456_ _SSSS_ _111_ _9999_ 1300, 2600
789 11 11[1]222333 3000, 6000
*I'm using "crib" in one of the many English definitions of the word - "a set of
exam answers used for revision or cheating" - and not so much in the sense of
"chillin' in ma crib wit' yo homeys". :9
------< MUKOUBUCHI MANGA >---------------------------------------- [Section 18]
I decided to add this section to collect information about the source manga on
which the game is based. To be honest I don't know much about it so this will be
quite a short section! As ever, I am happy to receive contributions so if you're
a fan of the comic please drop me a line.
Mukoubuchi is serialised in the fortnightly mahjong manga Kindai Maajan ("Modern
Mahjong"). The story's been running for a long time - evidenced by the fact that
Volume 27 of the collected works was issued a couple of months ago (June 2010).
The main title "Mukoubuchi" is written in the chunky black brush-script hiragana
characters* that you see on the front of the box/manual. The full title includes
the line of characters above this, these read "Kou Reeto Ura Maajan Retsuden"
which means "high-rate underground mahjong biography-series".
The main character is Kai - the younger fellow with the pointy chin and the mop
of unruly black hair who's depicted on the box front. You play as Kai in the
final challenge in the Special Abilities Mode (see Section 09) and you play
against him in the last chapter of Scenario Mode (Section 05). He's also the
first character listed in the roster for Free Play Mode (Section 06), unlocked
by beating the final chapter in the story mode.
I have one issue of Kindai Maajan featuring Mukoubuchi, from January 2010. I
can only follow some of what's going on but it seems to place an emphasis on the
action on the table, following the progress of play in some detail.
I don't think there's an anime based on the manga but I have seen five volumes
of a live-action version of Mukoubuchi for sale on DVD.
*I really like the title logo, so much so that I made it into a wallpaper for my
phone. If you'd like this (327x410 jpeg) send me an email and I'll hook you up.
------< CONTACT >------------------------------------------------- [Section 19]
I welcome all feedback on this guide and any contributions you'd like to make.
I'm also happy to receive questions about this or any other Mahjong game or
about the rules and terminology of Japanese Mahjong.
You can email me at barticle at hotmail.com - obviously changing the "at" to an
@ and removing the spaces. It would be helpful if you include the word "Mahjong"
in the subject line and tell me which game you're playing.
------< THANKS >-------------------------------------------------- [Section 20]
I would like to thank...
o sasuraiger for recommending the game to me on the reachmahjong.com forum
o Benjamin for his support and encouragement
o Berlitz, Tuttle and (especially) tangorin.com for great language resources
o tsurara_mai for the handy Kanji Sonomama DS Rakubiki Jiten guide
o sushief_inc (eBay trader) for their excellent worldwide games sales service
o Marsen Jules and the good people at Kompakt for their beautiful music
I will be happy to give credit and thanks to anyone who makes a contribution.
--
Mukoubuchi DS Guide
Copyright 2010 James R. Barton
Initial version 1.00 completed 10 August 2010
Current version 1.01 completed 22 August 2010
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.
This guide may be downloaded and printed for personal, private, non-commercial
use only. This work is subject to copyright. It may not be hosted online or
otherwise distributed publically or reproduced either in whole or in part
without the advance written consent of the author. Any violation would
constitute an infringement of copyright and is strictly prohibited.
The only websites with the author's consent to publish this guide are GameFAQs
(www.gamefaqs.com) and its affiliates (i.e. Gamespot).
If you find this file hosted on any other site I would be grateful if you would
inform me at the email address given at the top. Thanks!
