riichi
Pluralriichis (some meanings)
- 1A scoring condition (yaku) and 1000-point bet in mahjong, declared when one's hand is ready and waiting for a single tile to complete it.
With a closed hand one tile from completion, she announced riichi and set down her thousand points.
Calling riichi locks your hand, so you can no longer change any tiles.
Note
Japanese mahjong's ready-hand declaration came into English from Japanese 立直 (rīchi), itself borrowed from Chinese lìzhí. The word names two things at once: a yaku that scores, and a wager that costs. That is why players both win with riichi and pay for one. It works as a mass noun (declare riichi) and as a count noun with an ordinary plural (two riichis in one deal).
- 2The verbal declaration a player makes to announce a riichi bet, signaling that the hand is ready for a winning tile.
He announced riichi the instant he discarded the tile that made his hand ready.
Her riichi rang out, and the other players braced for a possible win.
Note
Here the word is the spoken announcement rather than the bet it opens. A player says it aloud at the table, so English uses the same noun for the shout and for the wager that follows. Context usually separates them. Her riichi rang out is the call, while she won with riichi points to the scoring bet itself.
- 3Clipping of riichi mahjong.
A few of us meet every Friday to play riichi.
Online riichi has grown popular among English-speaking players.
Note
The name of the game itself, cut down from riichi mahjong, the modern Japanese variant built around the ready-hand bet. In writing it is often capitalized, as in a game of Riichi, which helps keep the game apart from the bet within a sentence. Japanese mahjong is the plainer equivalent, and the clipped form belongs to casual talk among players.
- 4In pachinko and similar games, the state of being one symbol away from a jackpot, often triggering a special animation before the final symbol appears.
When the reels reached riichi, a flashy animation played before the final symbol landed.
A riichi doesn't guarantee a win, but it means the jackpot is just one symbol away.
Note
Pachinko took the mahjong idea of standing one step from victory and applied it to its symbols. Here it names the tense moment when everything but the last symbol has lined up for a jackpot. The word is often spelled reach, an English-looking respelling of the same sound, so reach and riichi in pachinko talk name the same thing.
Practice
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Origin
From Japanese 立直 (rīchi), itself from Chinese 立直 (lìzhí).