What is it?

The International Online Riichi Mahjong Competition (IORMC), is an annual online competition between countries which has both team and individual elements.

The IORMC was originally an informal annual match between Japan and South Korea in 2011. Over time however, more countries have joined and it has become the competition it is now which includes around 20 countries from all over the world.

The United States joined the IORMC competition in 2015, and has had steady improvements each year to the point that the US has finished in the top 4 from the main qualifiers each of the last 4 years. The goal is to continue fielding strong enough teams to perennially finish in the top 4 each year.

History

Format

The IORMC is based off the WRC ruleset with the following changes (see Regulations & WRC Ruleset for more details):

• Nagashi Mangan - On

• Oka - On (Tenhou standard)

For the USA Qualifiers, the format is as follows:

• To be eligible for selection, participants must meet IOC standards to represent a country (citizenship)

• 4 sessions of 4 games each

• Participants must play 3 sessions to be eligible

• Only the first 3 sessions count

• IORMC Ruleset is used

• The top 3 qualifiers plus the highest single session score (provided the person finishes with a >0 overall average) will qualify for the team. In the event that the person with the highest single session score is part of the top 3 qualifiers, then the next ordinal place (4th) would qualify.

• The next 4 players after the main team has been selected who accept will be alternates.