Welcome to the mahjong pit!
Champaign-Urbana’s place to learn and play mahjong.
Weekly Meetup
You can find our weekly meetup in the UC Independent Media Center’s Lower Level, Room 15 (in the Makerspace) from around 4:30pm – 10pm on Saturdays.
If there are any cancellations of or adjustments to our regular weekly meetup, they will be announced on the schedule and events page. Please check this page regularly — we’ll keep it up to date.
Saturdays don’t work? We can arrange ad-hoc or regular weekday evening meets if there’s enough interest!
Join Our Mahjong Club
✓ Multiple Tables
✓ Weekly Meetup
✓ Teaching Available
About Us
Urbana Mahjong Pit (UMP) is a mahjong club sponsored by and affiliated with the Araiguma: Advanced Battle Center, based in Urbana IL, open to everyone in Champaign, Urbana, and the broader Central Illinois area. The club focuses on riichi (Japanese) mahjong, but also officially supports Hong Kong Old Style (HKOS) and Mahjong Competition Rules (MCR).
UMP started in August 2023 in the lower level of the original Araiguma: Advanced Battle Center location, in a section of the arcade called “The Mahjong Pit“, and we have decided to honor these beginnings in the formation of a full fledged club continuing the usage of this name.
Our main goals are:
- To introduce people to this deep and fascinating game
- To offer an inclusive and friendly environment to have fun learning and playing mahjong
- To give folks a space to meet and to compete
- To help players improve their knowledge and skills (if they want to)
- To connect people to other mahjong organizations and the national riichi scene (if they’re interested)
We encourage the casual, the competitive, and the curious to join us! All skill levels welcome, and we gladly teach newcomers.
Questions?
We have tried to answer some common questions regarding our club and about riichi mahjong in the Frequently Asked Questions section. If you have any other questions, chat with us on Discord or contact us via email or the contact form.
Mahjong players are used to answering questions and helping people learn the game. We’re happy to explain rules, concepts, & terms, discuss strategy, and answer “What would you do?” problems. Just ask in our #mahjong-questions and #wwyd-and-strategy discord channels!
Interested in joining or looking for more information?
You can email us or chat with the club members on the Araiguma Battle Discord!