History

During the 2015 NYC Open, a group of players from across North America sat and talked about our different groups from all over the region. There were enough of us to realize that we should be working together to help each other out. From that discussion came an idea about bringing us together and the idea of an organization came into being. That organization would eventually become the North American Riichi Mahjong Association, or NARMA for short.

After Canada split off to form the Canadian Council in 2019, NARMA became an organization focused solely on American riichi mahjong. With this new targeted purpose, NARMA held a community poll and in April 2024 changed names to the American Riichi Association, or ARA.

Mission Statement

To foster cooperation, share valuable resources, and to establish visibility and legitimacy for the American Riichi Mahjong community.

To foster cooperation in an individual and club level within North America.
To provide, exchange, and collaborate in the distribution and production of resources that are valuable to our community.
To increase visibility and establish legitimacy for the North American Riichi Mahjong community.

Core Values

We will look to achieve our mission statement by adhering to our core values of accessibility, transparency and the respect for autonomy.

Vision Statement

Encourage club tournament standardization
Host accessible tournaments
Establish a comprehensive repository of relevant knowledge and tools.
Foster relationships with international communities and groups.

Board Members

Featured

David Bresnick, USPML (New York NY)

Hey everyone, I'm Dave! I started playing mahjong in 2006 when I stumbled across the game and got really stubborn about learning to play. Once I'd dug up some rules (thanks EMA!) I grabbed three of my friends and sat them down to play...and we just kept playing for years after that. In 2010 I founded the United States Professional Mahjong League (USPML) and continue to serve as its President. USPML has been involved in many major Riichi mahjong events over the past 15 years (major sponsor of the 2014 World Riichi Championship [WRC], host of the 2015 NYC International Open, host of the 2017 WRC in Las Vegas, host of the 2018 North American Open in NYC, major sponsor of the 2022 WRC in Vienna). We've also been doing convention-based outreach since 2014, making regular appearances at PAX East, PAX Unplugged, Otakon, and now NYC Comic Con. Over the years, USPML has built a great relationship with the Japanese Professional Mahjong League (JPML). We've helped run events like "Crash Course" which brought Western players to Tokyo to learn from Japanese professional players, as well as bringing guest pros to the US for conventions and events.

As a founding member of NARMA, I'm thrilled to see all the growth that's happened in the US mahjong scene over the past few years and look forward to seeing how much more we can build. These days I'm working with WRC as North American Director and running Sparrow's Nest Studio, our mahjong studio in midtown Manhattan. If you find yourself in NYC, come by and play with us!

Edwin Dizon, Seattle Riichi Mahjong Club

I can always figure how long I’ve played mahjong as I can always date it to when I watched the anime series Saki. I also quickly realized that it wasn’t realistic, yet I seem to have the apparent superpower of getting chiitoitsu.

On the more serious side, my hope is that mahjong in North America becomes equal to that of Europe and can eventually stand toe-to-toe with Japan. I bring my tournament director experience as a former player-director of the Seattle HS Metro Chess League.

(And while I’m wearing a Golden Eagles jersey, I’m actually a huge Hiroshima Carp fan.)

Aldwin Gordula, Chicago Area Mahjong Players

Nima Hosseini, Los Angeles Pride of Mahjong

I joined the Los Angeles Pride of Mahjong and the online mahjong community in 2017. Known as "Light Grunty" online, I made a series of videos aiming to teach new players the basics of riichi mahjong. Recently, I have been translating Japanese mahjong content into English, as well as creating new content for players who want to play mahjong competitively.

Zac Leak, Oklahoma Mahjong

Bichen Wang, Pacific Mahjong League

I joined Pacific Mahjong League in 2015 as a member and ended up the de-facto club leader as of 2019 when the Berkeley store was opened. We moved to Fremont in 2022 where we have a full-autotable mahjong parlor!

Luke Morgan, RIT Nine Gates Mahjong Club

I began playing mahjong in college in the mid-90's, and then once I graduated I thought I would never play again. Ten years later, I chanced upon a meeting of Rochester NY's fledgling RIT Nine Gates Mahjong Club and have been playing ever since. I run the mahjong information and strategy site Reach Mahjong of New York (mahjong-ny.com), as well as organize and judge at events across the country, from the Rochester Riichi Open to the NAO to the WRC. I hope to work towards growing a friendly, fair, and open mahjong club and tournament network across North America.

Steve Augustin

I'm Steve (aka Zel online), the leader of Southeast Michigan Riichi Mahjong. I learned how to play riichi in Japan while studying at Waseda University in 2005. Southeast Michigan Riichi was founded in 2009 and is one of the oldest continuously running clubs in the country. I joined in 2011 and took over leadership in 2016. I am currently leading the group remotely while temporarily in the Boston Area for work where I am trying to grow the player base here as well. I hope to use my experience interacting with the casual and competitive community to improve the availability of the game and skill level of players nationwide.

Claire Pozniak

I'm Claire, the president of Riichi Nomi NYC, one of the largest Riichi mahjong clubs in North America. We have over a hundred members, run weekly 8-hour ranked play in-person meetups, monthly local tournaments and social events, a team league streamed live on Amos REXX with commentary, and host the largest Open tournament in North America. Come play mahjong with me some time!!

Max Suddendorf

Hi I'm Max! I go by LightPinkYoshi or LPY online and I've been playing since 2012 and have run the Cincinnati Club since 2020. Around 2018 I started playing a bit more seriously and was immediately drawn into both the in person tournament scene and many online English speaking mahjong communities. Since then I've played riichi tournaments all over the US, Canada, and China once. I hope to be able to continue meeting and playing with more and more riichi players from all over.