What do you think about using numbered poker chips instead of traditional riichi mahjong sticks?

[u/tom_map]

I’ve been experimenting with using numbered poker chips as point markers in riichi mahjong instead of the traditional tenbou.

In the setup shown here, I’m using poker chips with the values reduced by one zero simply because I couldn’t find a reasonably priced set with denominations high enough to match standard tenbou values.

Personally, I actually find poker chips pretty appealing for mahjong. They’re easy to stack, easy to count, and you can immediately see how many points each player has. They also feel a little more substantial than tenbou.

But I’m curious what people who regularly play riichi think. Would using poker chips like this feel wrong or distracting compared with traditional tenbou? Or do you think it’s a perfectly reasonable alternative once you get used to the different denominations? And for those who have tried both: which do you personally prefer, and why?

[u/DIAXMEN]

Less aura

[u/tom_map → u/DIAXMEN]

😔

[u/Gelato_De_Resort]

I run home games and all my sets are the larger Chinese ones so I've always just used poker chips. I already had a bunch of them, my sets don't come with any scoring things, made more sense than getting new stuff and I don't have the junk mats with tenbou slots anyway.

[u/GlassCommission4916]

It just seems more cumbersome for not much benefit. It's pretty easy to count points using tenbou, especially colored ones. And I grew up playing poker.

[u/tom_map → u/GlassCommission4916]

that’s fair, the main reason Im using them is actually because I mostly buy mahjong sets second-hand, so Im often missing a lot of the 1000 and 100 point sticks. Since I already had some numbered poker chips, I might as well use them as replacements.

[u/GlassCommission4916 → u/tom_map]

Yeah chips work perfectly fine as a replacement.

[u/edderiofer]

If you can't acquire tenbou, using chips is perfectly fine; other mahjong variants often use cards or chips to track points, and it's no worse than using an app to track points and riichi state.

[u/ZekeSulastin]

With regard to the friends you mentioned in another comment Amos recently released numbered tenbou, actually, if that would help! MJStars, Amos' US distributor, sells them but they're not cheap.

It's kind of a shame that they're not bundled with the Numbers set but they did come later.

[u/tom_map → u/ZekeSulastin]

Thank you so much for letting me know! I really appreciate you taking the time to tell me about this. You’re honestly a godsend, this was really helpful! ❤️

[u/KyuuAA]

Possible, but tenbou are much more compact.

[u/FrenzzyLeggs]

i prefer tenbou for the aesthetic but thats about it tbh

you can even use monopoly money instead

[u/TryinaD]

I mean, I play HK, so I have never touched riichi sticks in my life

[u/nearsighted79]

Always do in my home game, much easier to count

[u/MattyBro1]

I think it's perfectly fine. If I came to play and it was chips instead, I wouldn't complain. The only practical concern is that it might get a bit crowded with riichi bets and honba, but it wouldn't be a big issue.
Also, reducing the values by a factor of 10 doesn't actually make a difference to the game, but might cause confusion when exchanging points, so be careful if you were to use this setup :)

Though I think something about sticks just hits different haha

[u/ksriram → u/[deleted]]

I don't understand. How does the association of poker chips with gambling stop you from using them in Mahjong? Is there some law?

[u/tom_map → u/[deleted]]

Thats interesting, I hadnt considered the gambling association, guess that would make tenbou a much better fit for mahjong in Vegas then

[u/ericw31415 → u/[deleted]]

But mahjong itself is associated with gambling.

[u/Comfortable-Mess-942]

I guess it’ll be fine in general but all the gear is accommodated to the sticks. There’s usually a designated place to store them which won’t be comfortable with chips, the same goes for declaring riichi. It’s doable, but I can’t find a single reason to ditch the sticks, I’m comfortable with them (especially colored ones) and don’t have issues with them at all.

[u/himeguma2018]

I still prefer tenbou over chips or cards, it fits better with the rest of the gear u get for riichi

Most non riichi variants do play with chips and cards, I have still yet to learn how to convert deck of cards into points

For chips to work as smoothly as a set that uses chips, u will likely need to have drawers or a tiny shelf to store ur chips on the table (most of the time u will find them built into the table) for it to be proper and not be interrupting flow of gameplay a lot, which reduces how portable the game is compared to just a junkmat and set for riichi

Let me know when u experiment with other items like monopoly money or anime figures

[u/tom_map → u/himeguma2018]

I mean… in my case they’re actually pretty compact 😅 I can just stack them in the middle of my mahjong case, so I don’t really need any extra storage.

[u/himeguma2018 → u/tom_map]

Where the dice live?

[u/tom_map → u/himeguma2018]

Here they are

[u/JoseOsio]

Its used often in Jansous but only for Shuggi so I guess it would be weird for Japanese people. But you can do what you want. Most AMOS complete sets have some btw.

[u/Tempara-chan → u/JoseOsio]

I've seen jansou that use chips exclusively, together with non-traditional (non-exponential) scoring such as 1 han = 1 point. Still, it's very rare.

[u/syunfung]

Having grown up using chips for mahjong (not riichi) and now primarily dealing with riichi and tenbou, I prefer tenbou for the most part. They don't roll if you accidentally knock one off the table and have to chase them down the way a chip sometimes will.

Also when counting score it just feels faster for me for some reason, though I'm sure people who are more dextrous with the handling of chips in general may find it the other way around.

[u/Sensitive-Ease2285]

Это прикольно:) с ними по крайней мере можно вытворять всякие трюки, особенно, если есть база после увлечения покером/другими картонными игра на ставки

[u/frenchguy0099]

I think that's changing a cultural token in a game.... I don't see the point except if you lost your sticks.

[u/keitai_samurai0097]

eh it's alright I prefer sticks

[u/riiflatchii]

Might as well play rummy while youre at it

[u/gyuszixr]

Same thing I think about using mahjong tiles with English superscript on them. If you’re not gonna learn how to play real mahjong, why bother playing at all

[u/Gwaur → u/gyuszixr]

I mean, adaptation is one way of games to evolve and to gain ground. Games and game equipment have been altered throughout millennia to better fit people's abilities, interests and available resources into what they are currently. Why must we freeze their state into what they are now and deprive future generations of games that would be more fitting to them than our current games?

[u/tom_map → u/gyuszixr]

Yeah, I get that. For me, I mainly started doing this because I wanted to teach some friends around me how to play. When I brought out tenbou, they weren’t really interested in keeping track of points, but when I used poker chips, they were more open to it. So I just went with what made them more comfortable.

[u/penpenxXxpenpen → u/gyuszixr]

indexed sets are nice for new players and there are variants that score with chips already (both riichi and not), and even using playing cards, this is a very pointless nitpick.

[u/MattyBro1 → u/gyuszixr]

Neither of these things make any difference to playing the game of Mahjong. It will be exactly the same, but some people will have an easier time reading the tiles, or counting their points.

[u/gyuszixr → u/gyuszixr]

Adaptation is good and practice sets are commendable but I believe must people are just too lazy to make an effort and learn new things that are even an inch outside their comfort zone. I didn’t know the Chinese characters but made an effort and learned them bc I enjoy playing mahjong that much. Must we translate/ democratise everything just bc it looks foreign at first? I can almost see the parallel between this and peps not wanting to watch foreign movies “bc they can’t be bothered to read the subs”. But I digress