Pro Mahjong Kiwame

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PRO MAHJONG KIWAME

ATHENA 1994

Description:

Pro Mahjong Kiwame is not the typical 2-player mahjong game normally found in MAME. In fact, this is one of the few mahjong games that maintains as much of the original feel of true Japanese mahjong as you will get in MAME. This means no items for player advantage, minimum to no cheating from opponents, and no stripping girls. This time, the only motivation to continue playing the game is the game itself :)

The game is a tournament based 4-player mahjong game. The player begins the tournament in the preliminaries and plays a series of mahjong matches to advance to the championship final to win the tournament.

However, due to the arcade nature of the game, each match in the tournament is severely shortened. A typical match normally consists of 2 rounds: East Round and South Round. Each round consists of at least 4 hands of play. With that in mine, an ordinary match would contain at least 8 or more hands of play. To shorten the match for arcades, only the last 2 hands are played: South Round 3rd hand and South Round 4th hand. Whoever has the most points at the end of the match wins and advances to the next round of the tournament. Only the last match consists of 4 hands: East Round 1st-4th hand.

As always, the further along in the tournament the player gets, the harder the opponents become. Though not in the sense of cheating or opening hand advantage that you see in other mahjong games. The game seems fair in how it distributes the tiles to each player.

Visually the game looks rather dull. Opponent's are displayed in single frame portraits and the mahjong table is shown overhead with each player's hand positioned along each 4 sides of the screen with the dead pile centered in the middle. Overall, nothing too special.

Although not all the rules are used, ie rules for remaining dealer, in order to keep the length of the game shorten for arcades, Pro Mahjong Kiwame is still a great title to play for anyone curious to understand, for the most part, how real 4-player Japanese mahjong is actually played.

Difficulty: 4/5
Artwork: 2/5

PRO MAHJONG KIWAME
MINI FAQ

Who Starts First?

Wind associations are randomly selected at the start of the match. The player selected as East Wind starts off as dealer.

How to Win/Lose a Match?

To win the match, you need to have the highest score between you and your opponents at the end of the match. If you have the highest score, you place 1st place in the match and advance another round into the tournament. You lose the match if your score is less than at least one other opponent at the end of the match. Note that this is base on the default setting.

Changes to the difficulty setting in the dip switch can change the requirement to advance from a particular match from placing in 1st place to placing in 1st or 2nd.

The Championship Final is a win or lose match. The game ends whether you win or lose.

Number of Opponents:

There are 3 opponents to play against in each match. The tournament consists of 8 matches.

Preliminary 1
Preliminary 2
Final 1
Final 2
Final 3
Quarter Final
Semi Final
Championship Final

Your Score at Opening Round:

Default is 25000 for player and opponents.

Changes in the Points Gap setting in the dip switch will change the player's and opponent's initial opening score.

Points Gain/Lose when Tenpai/No-Ten:

If 3 players win, each receives 1000 points. Loser loses 3000 points.

If 2 players win, each receives 1500 points. Losers lose 1500 points.

If 1 player wins, he/she receives 3000 points. Losers lose 1000 points.

Points Lose when Reach:

1000.

Scoring Multiplier:

Type A.

Number of Hands per Match:

The first 7 matches, preliminaries to semi final, consist of 2 hands: South Round 3rd and 4th Hand.

The championship final consist of 4 hands: East Round 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Hand.

Note that dealer does not remain dealer in this game if dealer wins or has Tenpai.

Number of Turns per Player per Hand:

Depends on how the game is played. Declaration of Ron or Kong can shift turns around leading to unequal amount of discards between player and opponents.

70 tiles are played in each hand.

Are there Items?

No.

What does Each Item Do?

There are no items in this game.

Can you Bet?

No.

Game Screen:

The player's wind is displayed in the red box in the middle of the screen. In this case, the player's wind is West.

The text above the player's wind reads the wind and hand of the round. In this case, it is the 3rd hand of the South round.

The dead pile is displayed in the center of the screen with the dora indicator revealed. More indicators are revealed as a result of declaring Kong or winning by Reach.

The number displayed on the lower right of the dead pile is the number of tiles left for play.

Beginner Friendly Features:

The opponent's latest discarded tile flashes when it can be of use to the player. The tile flashes when it can be used to create a revealed Chi, Pon, or Kong. It also flashes if the tile allows the player to go out by Ron.

Rules that Apply in Four Player Mahjong that isn't so Obvious when Playing Two Player Mahjong:

Turns alternate counterclockwise.

Wind association shifts counterclockwise if dealership changes after a hand.

The prevailing wind is the wind of the particular round. Besides the Championship Final, the prevailing wind is always South in this game.

East Wind is dealer, player to the right is South, next player to the right is West, and last player is North.

Players can make a reveal Chi using the latest discarded tile from only the player to the person's left.

Players can make a reveal Pon/Kong using the latest discarded tile from any of the three other players.

Players can declare Ron using the latest discarded tile from any of the three other players.

Declaration priority is as follows: Ron->Pon/Kong->Chi. For example if one player declares Chi and another declares Ron from the same discarded tile, the person declaring Ron will be allow to go out since Ron has priority over Chi. If two players can declare Ron using the same discard, the player whose turn would be next over the other will be allow to declare Ron.

Are there any Secrets?

None that I know of.

Dip Switch:

To access the dip switch, press Tab and scroll down the MAME game menu and click on dip switch. Settings changed will be made after the game is reset.

Setting Name	Setting Description
Coin A	Set Coin needed and Credit given for Player 1. Can also be set for Free Play. Default is 1 Coin for 1 Credit.
Coin B	Set Coin needed and Credit given for Player 2. Can also be set for Free Play. Default is 1 Coin for 1 Credit.
Demo Sounds	Turn On or Off the demo sound. Default is On.
Player's Tsumo	Set from Manual to Auto Default is Manual.
Flip Screen	Flip the game screen upside down by setting the option to Off. Default is On.
Service Mode	Enable service mode when game loads up when option is On. Default is Off.
Difficulty	Change requirement needed to advance to next round. The match selected and matches before require at least a 2nd place finish to advance to the next round. Matches after require a 1st place finish, ie the highest score. Cannot select the championship final match. Default is None. All matches require a 1st place finish to advance to the next match.
Points Gap	Changes initial score point gap between player and other opponents. Point Gaps: +6000 / +4000 / +2000 / -2000 / -4000 / -6000 / -8000 / None Default is None. All four players have an initial score of 25000 points.

Backup Error at Game Start Up:

If a backup error occurs at game start up, reset the game by pressing F3.