2020 International Online RIichi Mahjong Competition - CAN Qualifiers

It’s that time of the year again! In cooperation with the Canadian clubs, the CAN qualifiers are now officially announced for the IORMC competition held in November!

What is the IORMC? Originally a competition between South Korea and Japan in 2011, it has turned into a worldwide competition with countries from all across the world! With a short format, it’s not rare to see haymakers thrown left and right as countries (and now individuals!) battle it out for top honors!

This year, there will be 5 qualifier sessions, starting on Saturday, August 8th and for each Saturday afterwards save for a break on August 22 & 29th. More information and the registration link can be found here.

2020 WRC Application Process - USA

Hello! As the curtain falls on 2019, the stage is set for 2020 and the 3rd World Riichi Championship.

With the date starting to appear on the horizon, we wanted to make sure that everyone is aware of the process for getting a seat this year, as it differs to some extent from what happened when the WRC was on home turf as it were.

As Riichi Reporter has, well… reported, the USA will have just 5 seats available for this iteration. This meant that we were unable to offer seats to regional tournament winners like in 2017. Instead, interested players who wish to participate this time around will need to fill out a form provided by the WRC (link TBD), and they will evaluate your resume as well as your results in NARMA sanctioned tournaments to select the 5 participants to represent the US.

If you’re trying to hash out what your expenses will be like, it was also revealed through Riichi Reporter that the entry fee would be around 400 euros (~450 USD).

When we find out the link to state your interest, we will immediately pass it on to all of you!

Best of luck in the new year!

Request for Proposal for 2021 North American Open

NARMA is looking for a host for the 2021 North American Open.

If you are a club, and you think you can host the 2nd iteration of the tournament, please send a Request for Proposal (RFP) to tournaments at nariichi dot org. Any questions can also be sent to the same e-mail.

Your RFP should include at least the following:

  • Dates, including alternate dates

  • Location

  • Max field size (if any)

  • Tournament Format (including schedule)

  • Staffing Levels

  • Contingency Plans (i.e. substitutes/fill-ins/etc)

  • Tournament Budget (Profit/Loss Statement)

  • Food/Lodging Arrangements (if any)

Tournament Sanctioning Guidelines/Call For Tournament Results

NARMA, in an ongoing process to provide standards that will allow tournaments to be recognized internationally, have revised our sanctioning guidelines to be more in line with established standards. Please refer to the link on our homepage for the new policies. A PDF version is also available for download.

To that extent, we are also putting out a call for tournament results. If your tournament can meet the sanctioning guidelines, and was held in the last year, please register as if you were going to hold a tournament, and one of our members will reach out to begin the process of reviewing your tournament retroactively approved.

IORMC US/Canada Rules and Registration

Hello! Thanks for your patience!

We are ready to take signups for the IORMC Qualifications. Dates and times for US and Canadian qualifying can be found in our last article.

Both USA and Canada sessions will be on Tenhou and constitute of 4 hanchan each. USA will pair players by dividing the players into quartiles by score and putting one person from each quartile together avoiding duplicates when possible. Canada will be pairing randomly.

There are some rules changes, those are found below with translations (error: busting is not allowed).

Eligibility rules for the IORMC state that in order to participate for the US or Canada, you must either posses a passport of that country or have permanent residency. While we will not ask for that detail of personal information, we do ask that you respect their rules when signing up.

Registration for each country are found below (Players can register by end of day Wednesday for each session up until the penultimate session. You will receive a link to enter the tournament lobby once registration for each qualifier date closes):

IORMC US/Canada Qualification Schedule

Hello! Tournament coordinator Edwin here with an announcement regarding the qualifiers for the 2017 IORMC to be held later this year.

(Edit: Canadian qualifiers are announced below)

First of all there is a new addition to the tournament! Not only will there be the team competition as done in prior years on November 5th at 1100 UTC (0300 PST/0400 MST/0500 CST/0600 EST/0700 AST as we will have turned the clocks back already for those observing Daylight Savings time), but there will be an individual competition for the top 16 finishers two weeks later on November 19th at the same time!

We had 17 countries represented last year and we only expect that number to grow this year!

That said, it is that time again for us to start qualifications!

At this point, the US qualifiers will be held on Tenhou for the following dates:

  • Saturday, July 29
  • Saturday, August 26
  • Saturday, September 16
  • Saturday, September 30

The US will hold their qualifiers first at 1200 PDT/1500 EDT.

Same qualifying format will apply. The top 2 qualifying scores will be taken with the average of all hanchan scores within those sessions becoming the basis of ranking players. This is to factor in the possibility of byes in rounds which would adversely affect those receiving byes.

Updated: Canada will have their qualification on the following dates:

  • Saturday, September 2
  • Saturday, September 9
  • Saturday, September 16
  • Saturday, September 23
  • Saturday, September 30

A minimum of 2 qualification sessions is needed to qualify, and if you play 4 or all 5, your lowest session is dropped.

Canada will hold their qualifiers first at 1400 PDT/1700 EDT/1800 ADT

The rules have changed since the last IORMC, and we will have those posted here as well as links to registration for the qualifiers so please stay tuned over the coming days!