ARA Meeting 5/18/26


Board Members In Attendance

  • Dave Bresnick

  • Luke Morgan

  • Laura King

  • Harrison Corp

  • Jenn Barr

  • Steve Augustin

  • Claire Hernandez

  • Nate Kozinski

  • Bichen Wang


Annual Board Meeting Presentations

  • [*These largely replaced normal working group updates]

  • Jai

    • Saikouisen Liason

    • Helped out with website

    • Recertification document and running the club recertification process

    • Will be participating in Incorporation WG

  • Jenn

    • Helping around to various groups and updates from Japan

    • Writing seminars

    • Will take over/help out with US Rankings WG

  • Luke

    • Heads Education WG

    • Information about new clubs and how to run tournaments and such

    • Gathering info about various mahjong topics

    • Code of conduct, pairing analyzer, tile identification, pro org rules translation and conversion from auto tables to hand shuffle, tournament rules shorthand, and how to visit a parlor in Japan

    • Also backup for Jai for Saikouisen

  • Claire and Harrison

    • Comms

    • Keeping the ARAbux up to date

      • Special thanks to Ember for making this spreadsheet

    • Certification and following tournament organizing

    • Discord revamp!

    • Getting people signed up on the ARA website and support for the website

    • 60 clubs! Make sure you get 4 people in the discord to get your custom icon! Post your logo!

    • ARA printout, newsletter, blog posts, and better calendar

    • 400 people registered to tournaments!

    • More assembly members from large clubs

    • More frequent updates on the website/instagram/discord etc.

    • Getting more clubs registered to ARA

  • Dave

    • WRC 2028 - want this to be the biggest and best riichi tournament

    • The US has a great community and probably is the biggest outside Japan at this point

    • WRPM and WRL with Laura

    • Exchange program for players from Japan and the US

  • Tamas

    • Tech WG & ARA portal

    • Pro orgs, tournament results upload, calendar, and APIs

    • Tech WG people need more people!!!

  • Laura

    • Community Engagement

    • Spent 6 months on medical leave 🙁

    • Documented WRC 2025 and the ARA invitational

    • Posting images from your meetup

    • Office hours with Nate

      • Great example is ‘how to run your first tournament’

    • Running the next election

  • Steve

    • Observer reports are all in the database

    • Rules WG

    • ARA Open Tournaments Penalties Project

    • Mini guides, short-form content, and judging expertise

    • Tahai and shouhai chombos are extremely unpopular

    • Maybe consider some sho-chombo penalties

    • Keep competitive integrity but also not be too harsh for new players

  • Bichen

    • 2028 cycle and tournament certification

    • Prepping for the 2028 ARA Invitational

    • Gathering info about the 2031 cycle

  • Nate

    • Tech WG Bug Hunter

    • US Rankings - on hiatus

    • Advocate for players who do not have a home club

    • ARAbux audit and updating all past tournaments and to update upcoming in person and online events

    • Some kind of championship that involves all clubs in the area

    • Create written materials for player development

    • If anyone is interested in teaching or localization, ping nate

    • Defense, building towards value, efficiency, etc

  • Max

    • IORMC

    • Hosted the qualifying tournaments for IORMC and managed the team

    • Consultant for Nate for running tournaments

  • [Link to copy of presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14haEoMOpUXzHjHSkzDhbPmvVZAFYAhrv2cry3cnjijY/edit?usp=sharing ]

Additional Updates and Discussion

  • Elections coming up for Claire, Steve, Bichen, and Max

    • Please nominate yourself

    • If you want to nominate someone, talk to them so they can nominate themself

    • June meeting will be election pitches

      • Why do you want to be on the board, what do you hope to accomplish, etc.

    • It’s a ranked choice ballot led by Laura

    • Ross volunteers to be the player at large to certify the election

  • Education

    • Modification of pro org rules from auto tables to hand shuffle

    • https://mahjong-ny.com/news/converting-pro-rules-to-handshuffle-events/ 

    • DM luke for discussion

    • Need photos for weird tile sets

  • Pro orgs

    • WRPM update

      • M league event in Vegas and New York at the end of June!

        • Absolutely incredible line up and meet all your m league celebrities and Jenn!

      • WRL in Vegas next weekend

        • ‘Riichi’ out to Laura if you want to come to vegas!

        • Jenn is working on this tournament. WRL passport - prizes. 4th-6th for free entry into all WRL events (worldwide)! (also auto tables available as prizes!!!)

    • Saikouisen

      • 3300 point diff for 1st/2nd for Ryuousen! Congrats to Danny

      • Pro Exam first weekend of June

      • M league event - shinkisen for pro members only for a seat in the tournament in December

    • ARML

      • Edwin flying back from Ryuousen

      • Going great

  • NAO

    • Likely to be September 2027 but not confirmed


Closed Session

  • Certified several tournaments

  • Next meeting June 15th, 2026

  • Nominations for Board members should go out tomorrow