Welcome to the mahjong pit!
Champaign-Urbana’s place to learn and play Japanese mahjong.
Urbana Mahjong Pit (UMP) is a riichi (Japanese) mahjong club sponsored by and affiliated with Araiguma: Advanced Battle Center, based in Urbana IL, open to everyone in Champaign, Urbana, and the broader Central Illinois area.
UMP started in August 2023 in the basement of Araiguma’s owner, where players affectionately called it the “mahjong pit,” and we have decided to honor our humble beginnings in our club’s name. We now meet in the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center alongside Araiguma Battle. The UCIMC is a welcoming and community-oriented space we are happy to be a part of and to call home.
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 help players improve their knowledge and skills (if they want to)
- To connect people to the national riichi scene (if they’re interested), and
- Like Araiguma itself, to give folks “a space to meet and a space to compete.”
We encourage the casual, the competitive, and the curious to join us! All skill levels welcome, and we gladly teach newcomers.
Join Our Mahjong Club
✓ Multiple Tables
✓ Weekly Meetup
✓ Teaching Available
Weekly Meetup
You can find our weekly meetup in the UC Independent Media Center’s Lower Level, Room 15
(meeting room attached to the Makerspace) from around 4:30pm – 9pm on Saturdays.
We can arrange meets on Thursday evenings during UCIMC Community Night (or other ad-hoc meetups) if there’s enough interest!
Questions?
The riichi community is 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.
You can join our Discord server and ask in our #learn-riichi and #wwyd-and-strategy channels!
Interested in joining or looking for more information?
You can email us or chat with the club members on the Araiguma Battle Discord!