Silver-Star MJ Guide - Version 1.00 - 23 May 2019 - by Barticle at hotmail.com ______ _ _ __ __ _____ _____ ______ _______ ____ _____ * | ____)| || | \ \ * / /| ___)| __ \ *| ____)(__ __) / __ \*| __ \ | |____*| || |* \ \ / / | |__* | |__) ) | |____ * | | | |__| || |__) ) * *|____ || || | \ \/ / *| __) | _ /* |____ | | | *| __ || _ / ______| || || |___*\ / | |___*| | \ \_______| | *| | | | *| || | \ \__ * *(________||_||_____) \/ * |_____)|_|* \__________|* |_| * |_| |_||_|* \___) _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ /________/|/________/|/________/|/________/|/________/|/________/|/________/| | _ _ || ___ || _ _ || _____ || ___ || _ _ || _____ || | | \ / | || / _ \ || | | | | || (_ _) || / _ \ || | \ | | || | ___) || | | V | || | |_| | || | |_| | || | | || | | | | || | \| | || | | || | | | || | _ | || | _ | || | | || | | | | || | | || | | _ || | | |V| | || | | | | || | | | | || _| | || | |_| | || | |\ | || | |_| | || | |_| |_| || |_| |_| || |_| |_| || (___/ || \___/ || |_| \_| || |_____| || |_________||_________||_________||_________||_________||_________||_________|/ 01 INTRODUCTION 05 MAIN MENU 09 SCORE DISPLAY 13 FIXED RULES 02 FEATURE LIST 06 CONTROLS 10 GAME SETTINGS 14 FINAL SCORES 03 AVAILABILITY 07 PLAY PROCESS 11 PLAYER STATS 15 TROPHIES 04 GETTING STARTED 08 TABLE DISPLAY 12 OPTIONAL RULES 16 CONTACT .------------------------------------------------------------------------------. | To jump to any section of this document use your web browser's Find function | | (with Ctrl+F on a PC or Cmd+F on a Mac probably) and search for the letter S | | followed by the exact section number - for example "s03" to find Section 03. | '------------------------------------------------------------------------------' .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 01 | INTRODUCTION s01 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' This is a guide to the Japanese video-game Ginsei Maajan which released for the Nintendo Switch in July 2018 and the Sony PS4 in November 2018. I'm playing on PS4 but pretty much everything here should apply to the Switch too. The title means "Silver-Star Mahjong" and it's spelled in kanji characters even though the game was released by a Japanese firm called Silver Star who usually give their name in English. The game's sub-title is Honkaku AI Tousai which means "Genuine AI Applied"! If you're new to mahjong or you play a version other than the modern Japanese "Riichi" rules used in this game, I would recommend my beginners guide which is available on the wiki site for the Yakuza game series. https://yakuza.wikia.com/wiki/Barticle's_Introduction_to_Japanese_Mahjong If instead you want a complete guide to the terminology and rules of Japanese mahjong, check out my illustrated hyperlinked PDF guide on the USPML website. http://www.uspml.com/site/downloads.htm (Barticle's Japanese Mahjong Guide) As with any Japanese mahjong game, you'll need to be able to read the Japanese kanji characters for the numbers 1 to 9 and the four winds (compass directions) plus the katakana words Chii, Pon, Kan, Riichi, Tsumo, Ron and Kyanseru. If you found this guide useful or interesting you can show your support by using the recommend function. If you have any feedback (especially suggestions for additions) then please feel free to contact me via email or GameFAQs message. This guide is designed to be viewed in a fixed-width font (preferably Courier New) and with 80 characters per line. Since December 2018 the default font for GameFAQs text guides is Courier New only when viewing on desktop platforms. .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 02 | FEATURE LIST s02 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' Since it can be difficult to find any detailed information in English about the content of a foreign game I like to include a quick description of the gameplay features when I write a guide for a Japanese game - so here it is! o one single-player play mode o no online multiplayer o modern Japanese mahjong rules including Riichi, Dora and tiered limits o ten rule options (see Section 12) but no red fives o optional Dora, Tenpai waits and Yaku Nashi alerts (see Section 10) o seven pages of player stats (see Section 11) o nine PSN trophies (see Section 15) o Japanese language only It's hard not to use the word "basic" when describing this game. The graphics are basic and there's only one basic play mode with no interesting challenges. There are trophies on PS4, but there's only nine of them and they're all very easy. At least the game's cheap - but it really does feel like a budget game! .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 03 | AVAILABILITY s03 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' The PS4 edition is available to buy and download from the Japanese PSN store so you'll need a PSN user account registered in Japan and store credit in Yen. It's simple to create an additional user profile on your PS4. Go to the Power option at the far right of the main console menu, select Switch User, New User, Create a User, then create a new account. You'll need to set your country to Japan and that's where it gets harder since the menu language switches to Japanese! I'd recommend finding an online guide to creating a Japanese PSN account - the layouts change periodically so make sure you pick one that was written fairly recently. Once you've registered you'll need to be able to pay for the game. It might be possible to pay by Paypal but I think you'd need a Japanese Paypal account and I haven't investigated that option. The alternative is to purchase a PSN card and enter the code in the store. You could do this via mail-order but it's quicker and cheaper to use a retailer that sends you the code via email. I've used Cards Codes (cardscodes.com) to buy PSN credit several times. In the past it took 15-30 minutes for the code to arrive by email but this time it was pretty much instant. Remember to check the price of the game on the store first so you know how much credit you need. At launch it was 380 Yen (currently about 3.50 USD, 3.10 Euros or 2.70 GBP) but perhaps it could get even cheaper? If you set your console as the "Primary PS4" for your new account then all other users can share your games and you'll be able to play them with your usual U.S. or Euro account. If you skipped this during registration, you can find it on the main PS4 menu under Settings, Account Management, Activate as Your Primary PS4. [I've never used a Nintendo Switch but there are several guides available online that demonstrate how to purchase content from the Japanese Switch eShop.] .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 04 | GETTING STARTED s04 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' The first time you launch the game you'll be prompted to create a new save file for your player data. Unlike some modern Japanese PS4 games, it doesn't switch to the Western defaults for navigation controls so you'll need to press Circle to confirm or Cross to cancel.* [I think the equivalents on the Switch are (A) to confirm and (B) to cancel.] The title screen helpfully says "Press Any Button" in English, but you'll find that most buttons do nothing! Press Circle to continue to the main menu (see below) or Triangle if you want to browse through the game manual - it's quite detailed but all in Japanese of course. The next two sections below cover the layout of the main menu and the controls used during play so you can get into a match and start playing the game. *Circle and cross are the Japanese equivalent of tick and cross. Bonus trivia: the circle is called Maru which also means "round" (and the word Marumaru means "chubby") so that neatly explains the name of a certain Youtube celeb kitty. :) .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 05 | MAIN MENU s05 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' The main menu has four options: .-------------------. .-------------------. | Start Play | | Game Settings | (see Section 10) '-------------------' '-------------------' .-------------------. .-------------------. | Resume Play | | Player Stats | (see Section 11) '-------------------' '-------------------' You can also press Triangle here again to view the game manual which explains the controls (see below), sub-menu options and some fixed rule settings. .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 06 | CONTROLS s06 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' This section explains the controls used during play in the PS4 version. [I couldn't find enough screenshots online to confirm all the controls in the Nintendo Switch version of the game but they seem to be the exact equivalents so (A) is Circle, (B) is Cross, (Y) is Square, (X) is Triangle and (+) is Options.] left/right = select tile You can use the d-pad or the left thumbstick to select a tile to discard (or which tiles to use when making a call). You'll also use left/right when the game presents you with multiple commands at the same time. up/down = select command The game displays various commands when they're available to you. These are all labelled in simple katakana text as follows: Chii - Steal a tile to complete a sequence set (chow) Pon - Steal a tile to complete a triplet set (pung) Kan - Make a quad set (kong) Kyanseru - "Cancel" to reject a command Riichi - Declare Riichi Tsumo - Declare a win off a tile you drew on your turn Ron - Declare a win off an opponent's discard The option to "cancel" is always coloured blue and positioned below whichever other commands are offered. The two win options are orange and the rest are white. Circle = confirm / discard selected tile / use selected command The default option for calls (Chii/Pon/Kan) is cancel so you can press Circle to reject a call, although (unlike the last mahjong game I played!) there is also a dedicated button for cancelling. Cross = cancel / cancel command / return to cancelled command You can press Cross to quickly cancel any commands offered to you without having to select Kyanseru. If there's a command that would be offered to you on every turn, for example Riichi when you have a closed Tenpai hand or Kan when you have four matching tiles, you only need to reject it once (unlike the last mahjong game I played!) and you can press Cross to display the command again if you change your mind. Triangle = toggle waits display On/Off This display is shown prominently across the screen whenever you select a tile to discard which would leave your hand Tenpai. It shows which tiles would complete your hand and how many of each are potentially available. It also shows if your hand would be Furiten or Yaku Nashi (lacking a scoring combination). Square = toggle auto calls skip On/Off When this option is On (indicated by a grey box on the screen) the game will not offer you any calls (Chii/Pon/Kan). Options = open menu This menu has the following eight options: .------------------------------. .------------------------------. | 1. Toggle waits display | | 5. Toggle auto calls skip | :------------------------------: :------------------------------: | 2. View player scores | | 6. View rule options | :------------------------------: :------------------------------: | 3. View/amend game settings | | 7. Suspend match | :------------------------------: :------------------------------: | 4. View game manual | | 8. End match | '------------------------------' '------------------------------' When using option 7 or 8 pick the left option (yes) to confirm. After suspending a game you can use the bottom-left option on the main menu to continue playing from where you stopped. It's a shame that it isn't easier to show the player scores - this function could easily be mapped to the L1/L2/R1/R2 buttons. Remember on PS4 you can also use the screenshot function to save gameplay pics - I always like to document my failed Yakuman attempts. :6 .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 07 | PLAY PROCESS s07 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' Use the top-left option on the main menu to start a new match. There's only one standard play mode in the game so there are no special features to explain. The first step is to select three opponents from a roster of twenty characters. Each one has a name but graphically they are only ever represented as static silhouette outlines. Each character is supposed to have a unique play-style and the game boasts "genuine AI" with no cheating! The characters are listed in order of strength from one star at the top (Kaito) to nine stars at the bottom (Razan). Use the Circle button to select/deselect characters and then press it again to confirm. The next step is to review/revise the rules. There are ten custom rule options for things like match length, starting scores, Kuitan, etc (see Section 12) but there is no option for red fives. Use L1/R1 to cycle through the pages, up/down to pick a rule, left/right to change it and Circle to confirm. The game then illustrates the process whereby the players select wind tiles to determine their relative seat positions and make two dice rolls to find who will be the first dealer (east seat) - this Chiicha is indicated with two red kanji. Play now commences and proceeds as normal. If a hand ends in an exhaustive draw (when the supply of tiles is exhausted), players with Tenpai (ready) hands are indicated with blue boxes and those with Noten (unready) hands are shown with red boxes. If a hand is won, the score screen is displayed (see Section 09). At the end of the match the "final scores" are determined (see Section 14) and added to each player's cumulative total (see Section 11). When you see a black box with two yellow options you can pick the left option (yes) to play another match with the same opponents and rule options. .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 08 | TABLE DISPLAY s08 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' This section describes the layout of the mahjong tabletop display. The full seven stacks of the dead wall are shown in the centre of the screen so when someone declares a quad set, not only can you see the Kan Dora indicator flipped, but you can also see the Rinshanhai (supplement tile) removed. Above the dead wall are the hand count (e.g. East 1, South 3, etc), the number of tiles remaining to be drawn from the live wall, the number of Riichi stakes on the table and the Honba count. Each player's seat-wind is shown on a small square blue marker. The red marker is the Chiicha mark which indicates the first player to be dealer (east seat) and also shows the current round-wind (east, south or exceptionally west). A green box above the first three tiles of your hand shows when you can press Cross to re-open a command pop-up which you've previously cancelled. .-----------------. There can be up to three small boxes above the fourth and | Waits Display | fifth tiles of your hand. The first box (grey) shows that :-----------------: the waits display is turned on - press Triangle to toggle. | Auto Skip Calls | :-----------------: The second box (also grey) indicates that you are passing | Furiten | all calls (Chii/Pon/Kan) - press Square to toggle. Finally '-----------------' the third box (red) warns you that your hand is Furiten. When a tile is stolen with a call it will appear in the open set formed and also as a ghost in the discard pool it was taken from. This is helpful in checking for Furiten tiles during defensive play. Discarded tiles are shown in three standard rows of six, with a fourth row added if necessary. If you have the appropriate option enabled (see Section 10), all Tsumogiri discards will be highlighted clearly in yellow. .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 09 | SCORE DISPLAY s09 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' The score screen for a winning hand gives a nice amount of detail. The winning hand itself is shown at the top of the screen. Directly below that are the top and bottom rows of the five stacks from the dead wall that are used as Dora indicator tiles. This shows all active indicators for Dora, Ura Dora, Kan Dora and Kan Ura Dora bonus tiles. The boxes below that list all Yaku (combinations) for the hand and the number of Dora along with the number of Han (doubles) for each of these. The first row at the bottom shows whether the win was by Tsumo (three kanji) or by Ron (two kanji), whether the winner was a dealer or non-dealer, the total Fu (minipoints) rounded up, the total Fu before rounding, the total Han and the calculated value of the hand. The second row shows the total value of the hand including any Riichi stakes and Honba points. If a limit is applied, this is shown with large kanji. The left panel has the winner's portrait (silhouette) and name, the hand count (e.g. East 1, South 3, etc), the winner's seat-wind and the counters for Riichi and Honba from the centre of the virtual tabletop. Pressing Triangle toggles the main panel to show how the Fu were determined. It gives the points for winning the hand and illustrates the type of wait and the composition of each set and the pair. .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 10 | GAME SETTINGS s10 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' The top-right panel on the main menu accesses the game settings menu. There's a total of eight options over two pages, all with On/Off settings. Use L1/R1 to pick a page, up/down to pick an option and left/right to toggle it On/Off. Press Cross to exit without saving or Circle to confirm and exit. (Sadly there is no option to increase your opponents' turn speed!) ________________________________________________________________________________ Page 1 1.1 BGM ¯¯¯¯¯¯ This option applies the background music in the game. 1.2 Sound Effects This option applies the sound effects in the game. 1.3 Auto[matic] Tsumo[giri] after Riichi Tsumogiri is when you discard the tile you just drew instead of discarding one you already had in your hand. This option automatically discards each tile you draw after declaring Riichi - unless you can use it to declare a Tsumo win (or to declare a quad set). If you set this option to Off (for some reason?!) you would need to manually discard each tile as normal. I guess this adds some degree of immersion but there's no real benefit since your hand is locked after Riichi. 1.4 Script Display This option applies the occasional lines of text dialogue from players. ________________________________________________________________________________ Page 2 2.1 Tsumogiri Display ¯¯¯¯¯¯ This option highlights all Tsumogiri discards (see above) with pale yellow shading in each player's discard pool. Consecutive Tsumogiri are often a sign that a player has a Tenpai (ready) hand, either that or they're just getting a lot of bad draws! 2.2 Dora Warning This option applies a red outline to a Dora bonus tile, but only when you select it in your hand. It's a subtle effect but it should be enough to stop you from discarding a Dora unintentionally. 2.3 Waits Display This option shows the tiles that would complete your Tenpai (ready) hand and how many of each are potentially still available. The first small grey box above your hand indicates when this option is On. You can toggle it On/Off easily during play by pressing Triangle. If discarding the selected tile would leave your hand Furiten, this is shown by katakana text at the top-right of the banner overlay. If your hand is Yaku Nashi (it won't qualify for any combinations so you cannot declare a win), this is shown by kanji text at the bottom-right. 2.4 All Tiles Displayed Open This option displays your opponents' hands flat on the virtual tabletop. (Yes, that does make the game a lot easier!) .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 11 | PLAYER STATS s11 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' The bottom-right panel on the main menu accesses your player stats. The stats are spread over seven pages and you can cycle through them with L1/R1. On any page other than the first, you can press Triangle to switch between number counts and percentage rates on some of the entries. ________________________________________________________________________________ Page 1 ¯¯¯¯¯¯ The first page lists you and the twenty computer characters. You are listed as "Pureiyaa" (Player) in katakana text. Hopefully you'll be at the top! The "final scores" (see Section 14) for each player from every match are summed and create an overall ranking of players here. Since the final scores from a match always sum to zero, the scores in the listing here all sum to zero too. ________________________________________________________________________________ The next three pages shows various stats based on your play history. Page 2 (left column) ¯¯¯¯¯¯ 1. Number of matches played 2. Number of hands played 3. Average placing 4. Number/rate of 1st places 5. Number/rate of 2nd places 6. Number/rate of 3rd places 7. Number/rate of 4th places Page 2 (right column) ¯¯¯¯¯¯ 1. Longest streak of consecutive 1st places 2. Longest streak of consecutive 4th places 3. Highest final score 4. Lowest final score 5. Longest streak of consecutive hand wins 6. Number/rate of busts ________________________________________________________________________________ Page 3 (left column) ¯¯¯¯¯¯ 1. Number/rate of hand wins 2. Average match score 3. Average hand win value 4. Average number of turns to win a hand 5. Number/rate of Tsumo hand wins 6. Number/rate of Ron hand wins 7. Number/rate of Dama* hand wins *Damaten (silent Tenpai) is when you have a ready hand but don't declare Riichi. Page 3 (right column) ¯¯¯¯¯¯ 1. Number/rate of Furikomi* 2. Average Furikomi* amount 3. Number/rate of drawn hands 4. Number/rate of drawn hands with a Tenpai hand 5. Number/rate of winning hands at Mangan limit or higher 6. Number/rate of Yakuman winning hands *Furikomi is when you discard into an opponent's Ron win. ________________________________________________________________________________ Page 4 (left column) ¯¯¯¯¯¯ 1. Number/rate of calls (Chii/Pon/Kan) 2. Number/rate of opponent calls (?) 3. Number/rate of Dama hands 4. Number/rate of Riichi declarations 5. Number/rate of Riichi wins 6. Number/rate of Riichi Ippatsu Tsumo wins 7. Number/rate of Riichi Ippatsu Ron wins Page 4 (right column) ¯¯¯¯¯¯ 1. Number of Riichi Ippatsu Furikomi 2. Number of Dora used 3. Number of Ura Dora used 4. Number of Kan Dora used 5. Number of Kan Ura Dora used 6. Highest number of Dora used 7. Average number of Dora used ________________________________________________________________________________ The final three pages list how often you've made each combination in hand wins. Page 5 (left column) ¯¯¯¯¯¯ 1. Riichi 2. Daburu Riichi (Double Riichi) 3. Ippatsu ("One-Shot" win after Riichi) 4. Menzen Tsumo (Fully Concealed Hand) 5. Rinshan Kaihou (After a Quad) 6. Chankan (Robbing a Quad) 7. Haitei Raoyue (Last-Tile Tsumo) 8. Houtei Raoyui (Last-Tile Ron) Page 5 (right column) ¯¯¯¯¯¯ 1. Bakaze (Triplet of Round-Wind) 2. Jikaze (Triplet of Seat-Wind) 3. Haku (Triplet of White Dragon) 4. Hatsu (Triplet of Green Dragon) 5. Chun (Triplet of Red Dragon) 6. Tanyao (All Simples) 7. Pinfu 8. Ippeikou (Pure Double Sequences) ________________________________________________________________________________ Page 6 (left column) ¯¯¯¯¯¯ 1. Ikkitsuukan (Pure Straight) 2. San Shoku Doujun (Mixed Triple Sequences) 3. Chanta (Mixed Outside Hand) 4. Chii Toitsu (Seven Pairs) 5. Toi-Toi Hou (All Triplets) 6. San Shoku Doukou (Three Matching Triplets) 7. San Ankou (Three Concealed Triplets) 8. San Kantsu (Three Quads) Page 6 (right column) ¯¯¯¯¯¯ 1. Honroutou (All Terminals & Honours) 2. Shou San Gen (Little Three Dragons) 3. Honitsu (Half Flush) 4. Junchan (Pure Outside Hand) 5. Ryanpeikou (Twice Pure Double Sequences) 6. Chinitsu (Full Flush) (gap) 7. Dora (bonus tiles) ________________________________________________________________________________ The final page lists your Yakuman (top limit) hand wins. Page 7 (left column) ¯¯¯¯¯¯ 1. Tenhou (Heavenly Win) 2. Chiihou (Earthly Win) 3. Dai San Gen (Big Three Dragons) 4. Suu Ankou (Four Concealed Triplets) 5. Suu Kantsu (Four Quads) 6. Shou Suu Shii (Little Four Winds) 7. Tsuuiisou (All Honours) 8. Ryuuiisou (All Green) Page 7 (right column) ¯¯¯¯¯¯ 1. Dai Sharin* (Big Wheels) 2. Chuurenpoutou (Nine Gates) 3. Chinroutou (All Terminals) 4. Kokushimusou (Thirteen Orphans) 5. Dai Suu Shii (Big Four Winds) 6. Suu Ankou Tanki Machi (Four Concealed Triplets on a pair wait) 7. Junsei Chuurenpoutou (Pure Nine Gates) (on a 9-sided wait) 8. Kokushimusou Juusan-Men Machi (Thirteen Orphans on a 13-sided wait) *Dai Sharin is a closed 22334455667788 flush in the Pinzu (Dots) suit. .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 12 | OPTIONAL RULES s12 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' The game has a list of ten basic rule options presented over three pages. You can revise the rule settings before a match or review them during play. Several rules use the standard terms Ari and Nashi (given in hiragana text) - Ari means the option is applied and Nashi means it's not included. ________________________________________________________________________________ Page 1 1.1 Chanfon ¯¯¯¯¯¯ This defines the default duration of matches. o Tonpuusen - a match lasts one round (round-wind east) o Hanchan - a match lasts for two rounds* (round-winds east and south) The setting with three kanji (including "east") is for one-round matches. *A Hanchan can extend into an extra round with Shaanyuu (see rule 2.4). 1.2 Hakoware Shuuryou This defines whether a match ends for bankruptcy. o Ari - a match will end immediately if player score/s drop below zero o Nashi - a match will continue with negative score/s 1.3 Oorasu Oya Agari Yame This defines whether the dealer has the option to end a match. Agari Yame allows the dealer (east seat) to choose to end a match early if they won the last standard hand of the match (East 4 in a one-round match or South 4 in a two-round match) instead of playing a Renchan (extra hand). o Ari - the dealer can decide to end a match o Nashi - the dealer is not given this option The option is presented to you in a large black box with two yellow buttons - pick the left option (yes) to end the match immediately. 1.4 Nanba no Oya Noten This defines if the conditions for extra hands change in the south round. Usually a Renchan (an extra hand or "continuance") is played after a hand results either in a win for the dealer (east seat) or in an exhaustive draw where the dealer has a Tenpai (ready) hand. Exceptionally in the Nanba (south round) an extra hand can also be played after an exhaustive draw where the dealer has a Noten (unready) hand. o Renchan - an extra hand is played after a south-round dealer Noten draw o Oya Nagare - an extra hand is never played after a dealer Noten draw The setting including the kanji for "parent" is for Oya Nagare. ________________________________________________________________________________ Page 2 2.1 Mochiten ¯¯¯¯¯¯ This defines the score with which each player starts a match. o 24,000 points to 30,000 points (in thousand increments) Every player is considered to pay a 30,000 pts buy-in and the excess points form a bonus called the Oka which is paid to the match winner. For example with the default 24k pts starting scores the Oka would also be 24k pts. No Oka is paid with 30k pts starting scores (it would be zero). 2.2 Jun'i Uma This defines additional payments which can be paid after a match based on each player's final placing. o 10-20 - 3rd pays 10,000 pts to 2nd, 4th pays 20,000 pts to 1st o 10-30 - 3rd pays 10,000 pts to 2nd, 4th pays 30,000 pts to 1st o 5-10 - 3rd pays 5,000 pts to 2nd, 4th pays 10,000 pts to 1st o Nashi - no Uma payments are made In determining the "final scores" (see Section 14) the points are divided by a thousand, e.g. 5-10 Uma payments would be shown as 10, 5, -5 and -10. 2.3 Toppu Kakutei Tensuu This defines a minimum score required for a player to win a Hanchan at the end of the south round instead of Shaanyuu (see rule 2.4) being applied. o 30,000 points o 30,100 points o 31,000 points o Nashi (At 30,000 pts a player will have broken even against their 30k buy-in and at 30,100 pts or 31,000 pts they'll have made a profit.) 2.4 Shaanyuu This defines whether a two-round Hanchan match will continue into an extra west (Shaa) round if no player achieves the target score (see rule 2.3). o Ari - a Hanchan can continue into a third round if the target is not met o Nashi - a match cannot run longer than specified (see rule 1.1) The Sudden Death rule is not applied so a match will not end immediately in an extra west round once a player achieves the target score. The Peinyuu rule is not applied so a match will never extend from an extra west round into an extra north (Pei) round. The Nannyuu rule is not applied so a one-round Tonpuusen match will never continue into an extra south (Nan) round. ________________________________________________________________________________ Page 3 3.1 Go Honba kara no Ryan Han Shibari ¯¯¯¯¯¯ This defines whether a conditional two-Han minimum will be applied. Usually a hand must have at least one Yaku (combination) in order to be able to declare a win. This is because modern Japanese mahjong is played with a one-Han minimum and any Han from Dora bonus tiles don't qualify. The archaic Ryan Han Shibari rule can apply a two-Han minimum but only when the Honba counter (the third number displayed in the centre of the screen) is at five or higher. Again any Han from Dora are not considered so for a winning hand you'd need two combinations worth one Han each or one combo worth at least two Han. o Ari - a two-Han minimum is applied when the Honba count is at 5+ o Nashi - the standard one-Han minimum is always applied 3.2 Kuitanyao This defines whether Tanyao* is valid in an open hand where one or more sets were completed with tiles stolen by calls (Chii/Pon/Kan). o Ari - Tanyao is valid in an open hand o Nashi - Tanyao cannot be claimed in an open hand *The combination Tanyao (All Simples) requires a hand with only suit tiles numbered two to eight inclusive - no ones, nines, winds or dragons. .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 13 | FIXED RULES s13 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' The in-game manual specifies the following rules which are always used: o Declaring a closed quad set or "upgrading" an open triplet to an open quad immediately after making a Chii/Pon call is not allowed. o Kuikae is allowed. (Chii or Pon calls allow you to make a sequence or triplet set (respectively) using one stolen tile and two tiles from your hand. When this rule is NOT allowed you CANNOT steal a tile and then immediately discard in the same turn another tile that could form a valid set with the two tiles you used from your hand. For example, if you had 567 in your hand and made a Chii call on a four in the same suit to make an open set of 456, you would not be permitted to discard the seven.) o Pao is not applied. o Atozuke is allowed. (A player can declare a Ron win on a hand which did not previously have any guaranteed scoring combinations.) o Declaring Riichi with a Furiten hand is allowed. o Declaring a closed quad set after Riichi is allowed. o Shaanyuu is an optional rule. (see Section 12) o Whenever two or more players have the same number of points, their placings (1st to 4th) are allocated according to the order in which they take the east seat (counter-clockwise from the red Chiicha mark on the table). o Hakoware is an optional rule. (see Section 12) o Abortive draws are applied in five cases. - Yonin Riichi All four players declare Riichi in the same hand. - Suu Kantsu Four quad sets are declared in the same hand (by two or more players). - Kyuu Shu Kyuu Hai A player can optionally declare an abortive draw if their starting hand contains nine or more different ones, nines, winds and dragons. (Pick the white option to accept the draw or the blue option to cancel.) - Suu Fontsu Renda All four players discard the same wind tile on their first turn. - Sannin Ron Three players declare a Ron win on the same discard tile. (If two players declare a Ron win on the same discard, both their wins are valid, but any additional points (for Honba etc) are allocated according to the Atama Hane (head bump) rule - they go to the player sat nearest to the discarder's right, working counter-clockwise around the table.) o Chankan Ron is allowed only with a Chakan/Shouminkan. (A player is awarded the scoring combination Chankan (Robbing the Quad) when they declare a Ron win on the fourth matching tile that another player just used to "upgrade" an open triplet (made with a Pon call) into an open quad.) o Chuurenpoutou (Nine Gates) is valid in any suit. o Nagashi Mangan is not allowed. o Shou Sharin is not allowed. o Renhou is not allowed. o Kanburi is not allowed. o Open Riichi is not allowed. o Ryuuiisou without Hatsu is allowed. (You can make the Yakuman hand Ryuuiisou (All Green) using only the 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 Bams tiles. Hatsu (green dragon) can also be used but is not required.) o Shiisan Puutaa is not allowed. o Riichi Ippatsu is allowed. (Ippatsu can sometimes be optional, but it's always applied in this game.) o Yakuman Choufuku is allowed. (Two or more Yakuman can be claimed on the same winning hand - good luck!) o Ura Dora are applied. (An additional Dora bonus tile is applied when a player wins a hand after declaring Riichi. The Ura Dora indicator is in the bottom row of the dead wall under the standard Dora indicator.) o Kan Dora are applied. (An additional Dora is applied each time a player makes a quad set. The Kan Dora indicators are flipped on the top row of the dead wall.) o Kan Ura Dora are applied. (An additional Dora is applied for each Kan Dora when a player wins a hand after declaring Riichi. The Kan Ura Dora indicator/s are in the bottom row of the dead wall under the Kan Dora indicators.) o Pinfu Tsumo is scored at 2 Han with 20 Fu. (The usual 2 Fu for winning by Tsumo are waived in this case.) o Chii Toitsu (Seven Pairs) is scored at 2 Han with 25 Fu. (This is the only case where the Fu (minipoints) are not rounded up.) o Kiriage Mangan is not applied. (The Mangan limit is always applied to winning hands worth 5 Han, or 4 Han with 40+ Fu, or 3 Han with 70+ Fu. When the Kiriage Mangan rule is used, the Mangan limit is also applied to 4 Han with 30 Fu or 3 Han with 60 Fu - these cases both yield 1,920 base points, close to the 2,000 limit for Mangan.) o The Haneman limit is applied at 6 or 7 Han. o The Baiman limit is applied at 8, 9 or 10 Han. o The Sanbaiman limit is applied at 11 or 12 Han. o The Yakuman limit is applied at 13+ Han. (This is known as Kazoe Yakuman or sometimes "counted Yakuman" in English.) .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 14 | FINAL SCORES s14 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' The screen after each match shows the players in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th position and applies four stages to convert their points total into a simplified format which I like to call "final scores". 1. Technically players buy into a match with 30,000 points so this amount is subtracted from their score to show their profit. The scores are then divided by one thousand and rounded to an integer value to make them simpler. If necessary the winner's score is adjusted so that the four player scores including the Oka (see below) sum to zero. 2. Each player starts a match with an agreed number of points specified in the rule settings (see Section 12) - the default in this game is 24,000 points. The differences between the buy-ins and the starting scores are added to form the Oka which is a bonus paid to the player in 1st place. The default is 24 (thousand) points because 4 x (30k - 24k) = 24k pts. 3. The optional Uma rule applies one final exchange of points based on each player's position. With a 5-10 Uma, for example, the player in 3rd pays five (thousand) points to 2nd while 4th pays ten (thousand) points to 1st. The Oka and Uma will never change the players' positions. 4. The figures from Steps 1, 2 and 3 are added to give the final scores for each player. These sum to zero and reflect each player's overall profit or loss. Here's an example with the default 24,000 pts starting scores and 10-20 Uma. | End Scores | Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 ================+================+==========+==========+==========+========== Player A (1st) | 32,800 points | 1 pts | 24 pts | 20 pts | 45 pts ----------------+----------------+----------+----------+----------+---------- Player B (2nd) | 26,500 points | -3 pts | 0 pts | 10 pts | 7 pts ----------------+----------------+----------+----------+----------+---------- Player C (3rd) | 24,500 points | -5 pts | 0 pts | -10 pts | -15 pts ----------------+----------------+----------+----------+----------+---------- Player D (4th) | 12,200 points | -17 pts | 0 pts | -20 pts | -37 pts .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 15 | TROPHIES s15 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' On PS4 this game has a very short list of very easy trophies! The trophies are listed here in the default order from the console trophy list; I've given English translations of the names and requirements. Since this is a budget game, there are only nine trophies - five Bronzes, two Silvers, two Golds and no Platinum. The game has no online play so there are no online trophies. 1. Strongest Improvement [Gold] Get 1st place in one match including Razan. Razan is listed at the very bottom of the player roster with the maximum rating of nine stars. Add him and two other players to a match and win it. 2. Baiman or Higher [Gold] Win one hand capped at the Baiman limit (or above). The Baiman limit is applied to hands worth 8, 9 or 10 Han (doubles). You'll usually need winning hands with several combinations and several Dora bonus tiles to score at the limits (Mangan, Haneman, Baiman, etc). The usual combination of Riichi and Pinfu provides a sound basis for hands, unless your tiles are obviously suited to something else. The sequence sets are more efficient, a closed hand (no steals) has potential for Menzen Tsumo (Fully Concealed Hand), Pinfu can combine with other sequence-based combos and Riichi can give extra Han from Ippatsu and Ura Dora. Unfortunately the game lacks red fives, but you can still make use of the other Dora to boost your scores. While triplet sets are less efficient and prevent Pinfu, you can score nicely if the tiles are Dora or they come out as the Ura Dora on a Riichi win. A triplet also gives the potential to make a quad set which adds a Kan Dora - and a Kan Ura Dora on a Riichi win. I got quite lucky and didn't require any Dora. I was able to build a Tenpai (ready) suit flush without any steals, declared Riichi and won by Tsumo for 8 Han in total. 3. Haneman or Higher [Silver] Win one hand capped at the Haneman limit (or above). The Haneman limit is applied to hands worth 6 or 7 Han. (see above) Since these three trophies stack, I was able to get this one with my Baiman. 4. Mangan or Higher [Silver] Win one hand capped at the Mangan limit (or above). Mangan is a conventional points limit applied to hands with base points* of 2,000 pts or more (but fewer than 6 Han). This can be achieved by 3 Han with 70+ Fu (minipoints), or 4 Han with 40+ Fu, or 5 Han (with any number of Fu). (see above) I got this trophy on a winning hand worth 4 Han with 40 Fu. *The "base points" for a hand are calculated by rounding up the Fu to a multiple of ten, doubling that twice and then doubling again once per Han. 5. Acquire Top Place [Bronze] Get 1st place in one match. This trophy will pop when a match finishes with you in 1st place. You can play one-round matches to save time. 6. Tsumo Win [Bronze] Win one hand by Tsumo. You can declare a Tsumo win on a tile you drew on your turn if your hand is completed by that tile and your hand qualifies for at least one combination. 7. Ron Win [Bronze] Win one hand by Ron. You can declare a Ron win on an opponent's discarded tile if your hand is completed by that tile and your hand qualifies for at least one combination. However if your hand is currently Furiten, you cannot declare a Ron win. 8. Furikomi [Bronze] Pay for an opponent's Ron win. The term Furikomi refers to the payment of the full value of a hand won by Ron, paid by the player that discarded the winning tile. Even if you play very cautiously and defensively, you would probably get this sometime after you've declared Riichi (when you can't pick your discards). 9. East 2 Hand [Bronze] Storm into the East 2 hand! Matches always start with an east round which consists of East 1, East 2, East 3 and East 4 hands. The trophy pops as soon as East 2 begins. Even with the potential for dealer Tenpai draws, abortive draws (see Section 13) or someone getting busted out very early, you should get this trophy very quickly and easily. In most cases you'll get it at the start of the second ever hand you play in the game. .------------.-----------------------------------------------------------------. | Section 16 | CONTACT s16 | '------------'-----------------------------------------------------------------' I welcome all feedback on this guide and any contributions you'd like to make. I'm also happy to receive questions about this or any other mahjong game, or about the rules and terminology of Japanese mahjong. You can email me at barticle at hotmail.com - obviously changing the "at" to an @ and removing the spaces. It would be helpful if you include the word "mahjong" somewhere in the subject line and tell me which game you're playing. ___________ ___ \______ / ___ / / / / __ \_/ / / / \___ ________ _________/ \__ ___ ______ / / ________ .-------o / __ / \___ // ___/\_ ___// // ___// / / __ / | ANOTHER / / / /_____/ // / / / / // / / / / \/ / '---------/ /-/ // __ // /-----/ /---/ // /---/ /--/ _____/---------. / / / // / / // / / / / // / / / / / GUIDE | / \/ // \/ // / / \_ / // \_ / \ / \________ o-----' \______/ \______/ \_/ \____/ \_/ \____/ \___/ \___________/ -- Silver-Star Mahjong Guide Copyright 2019 James R. Barton Initial version 1.00 completed 23 May 2019 All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. This guide may be downloaded and printed for personal, private, non-commercial use only. This work is subject to copyright. It may not be hosted online or otherwise distributed publically or reproduced either in whole or in part without the advance written consent of the author. Any violation would constitute an infringement of copyright and is strictly prohibited. The only website with my consent to publish this guide is GameFAQs/Gamespot. If you find this file hosted on any other site I would be grateful if you would inform me at the email address given at the top. Thanks!