3-Player Mahjong (Sanma) Rules | CoinMahjong on CoinPoker

Guide to 3-Player Mahjong

Sanma is three-player Riichi mahjong in the Kansai style, not just the 4-player game with a seat removed.

With fewer tiles and extra dora, hands come faster and score bigger.

Think of it as the short-handed version: more action and bigger swings.

New to Riichi? Here’s how the game works, with the sanma differences called out.

For the full rules, read the 4-Player guide. For every yaku and what each hand pays, see Hands and Scoring.

A full Riichi set has 136 tiles: characters, circles and bamboo numbered 1 to 9, plus winds and dragons.

In sanma: characters 2 to 8 are removed, leaving 108 tiles.

Build a 14-tile hand of four sets and a pair, with at least one yaku (a scoring pattern).

A set is a sequence (such as 3-4-5 in one suit), a triplet or a quad.

In sanma: some yaku, including sanshoku doujun (the same sequence in all three suits), can’t be made because the character suit is incomplete.

Claim discards with pon or kan to complete sets, or keep your hand closed and declare Riichi when you’re one tile from winning, staking 1,000 points.

In sanma: there’s no chi, and play continues even if all three players declare Riichi.

Win by drawing your winning tile (tsumo) or claiming the winning discard (ron).

Your score comes from han and fu, which CoinMahjong calculates for you.

On a tsumo, only the other two players pay, and each North tile you set aside adds a dora.

On a ron, the discarder pays the full 4-player amount.

Already play 4-player? These are the rules that change.

Rule	4-player	3-player (sanma)
Players	4	3
Tiles	136	108: characters 2 to 8 are removed, so only the 1 and 9 of characters remain
Chi	Allowed, from the player on your left	Not allowed. Pon, kan and ron work as normal
North tiles	A normal wind tile	Can be set aside as nukidora, worth one dora each
Self-drawn win (tsumo)	The other three players pay	The other two players pay; the missing fourth player's share is dropped, not shared out

When you draw a North tile, you can set it aside face up and draw a replacement tile.

Each North set aside counts as one dora, adding 1 han to a winning hand.
Setting a North aside doesn’t open your hand.
Nukidora isn’t a yaku, so your hand still needs one to win.
After riichi, you can only set aside a North you just drew. None on the last tile.
A North triplet is 1 yaku.
If the dora indicator is 1 characters, 9 characters is the dora.
If the indicator is West, North is the dora, so each North you set aside is worth 2 dora.

Missing Yaku: with characters 2 to 8 gone, some yaku can’t be made, including sanshoku doujun (the same sequence in all three suits).
All-Riichi: play continues even if all three players declare Riichi. The hand isn’t washed out.
Points Floor: The game ends when a player’s points reach zero, or fall below zero.

Sanma is hanchan (East + South rounds) or tonpuusen (East round) format.

In the app, they’re listed as Kansai Full and Kansai East.

Rule	CoinMahjong 3-player
Format	Kansai-style three-player Japanese riichi mahjong
Tiles	108 tiles: characters 2 to 8 removed, plus honours
Starting Points	35,000
Dora	Standard dora, plus ura dora on a riichi win
Nukidora	Each North tile set aside counts as one dora
Chi	Not allowed
Yaku required	Yes
Scoring	Full han and fu calculation, adjusted for three players