Welcome
Welcome to the website of the European Mahjong Association, home of mahjong players from all over Europe. Mahjong is a game of skill and strategy which originated from China (Chinese: majiang). It is being played by people all over the world, but in time many different styles, with different rules evolved.
However, roughly speaking, the basics are the same in every variation: a player is required to make a winning combination of sets (usually 4 sets of 3 tiles) and a matching pair. Sets are made with tiles acquired from the stack (the wall) or completed by claiming them from an opponent.
The requirements for a winning hand differ from rule set to rule set, but most commonly a minimum number of 'fan' ('han', 'yaku' or 'doubles') is required. These can be achieved by forming scoring patterns.
More on the different rule sets here
When EMA was founded, during the first Open European Mahjong Championship (OEMC), it was with the propagation of Mahjong Competition Rules (MCR) in mind. MCR was adopted as the 'de facto' standard for international tournaments - they originated from China, where many variations were successfully transformed into one.
In the years after that first OEMC, a similar - and successful - attempt was made made to standardize the Japanese rule set. These 'Riichi' or 'Reach' Competition Rules (RCR) led to the first European Riichi Championship in 2008.
While MCR and RCR are currently the only rule sets that are actively propagated, this is not to say that other rule sets do not have the attention of EMA. A widely spread rule set like 'Hong Kong mahjong' is being played actively throughout Europe as well.
More about EMA here
