I nixed watching this in favour of K-On. After K-On finished, I decided to give it a go because I definitely did not want to spend my time watching Endless Eight (lol). I'm no big fan of any gambling-related games, so this anime wasn't anywhere high on my to-watch list. The first few episodes... entertained me in the same manner Hikaru No Go makes placing monochrome circles as fun as Starcraft. But it was the tournament episodes that really got the ship moving.

I was actually motivated enough to read a bit on riichi mahjong rules and try playing (this flash-based riichi mahjong game was recommended by some anime boards). So from someone with with zero knowledge, I slowly went through the ropes and after a month I managed to do my first rinshan kaihou...

... which also happened to be my first yakuman win. Now I can totally relate with the euphoria you get when you manage to do this. It's an incredible moment of awesome. Just to share how much damage a yakuman deals, here's the total score for the game:

All those losses mean nothing, hah! 

Anyway, seems like the anime will end before the nationals start. Hopefully the second season will be as captivating as this one.

i think someone already posted this here or maybe somewhere else.

Average Japanese mahjong.

I know how to play lol, but no ppl around me knows how to play. 
Ended up playing Jyanryuumon.