Held on 12th February 2025 at Burton Banter, Windsor Industrial Estate, Hawkins Lane, Burton upon Trent.
Meeting opened at 18.56.
Present: Eliot, Helen, Geoff, Tom and Jen.
Apologies: Val, Michelle, Xander, Amy and Chloe.
Item 1: Adoption of constitution
Proposal by Eliot:
Constitution of the Burton Riichi Mahjong Club
1. Name and Objectives
The club shall be called “Burton Riichi Mahjong Club” (BRMC). The objectives of the BRMC shall be to enable, facilitate and promote the playing of Riichi mahjong in and around Burton upon Trent.
2. Composition and MembershipThe BRMC shall consist of individual members.
Membership is automatically awarded to anyone who has completed at least one game at a meeting in the last two years.
Individual membership is lost if that individual does not complete a game at a meeting for two years, unless this is waived by a simple majority of the executive.
3. Governing Body
The governing body of the BRMC shall be an elected Executive.
The executive shall be made up of the Chair.
The holders of these posts must be distinct humanoids, and members of the club.
4. The Executive
Members of the executive have the power to:
Deal with all business of BRMC and decide on policy.
Ensure that the aims of the BRMC (as set out above) are carried out.
Be the final authority for interpretation of the game and the rules at all events held by the club.
Form sub-committees for any purpose.
Appoint, if needed, further members of the executive.
Deal with urgent business of the BRMC. If needed, these should be ratified at a subsequent General Meeting.
Do anything ancilliary to or connected with the above powers.
Attend ex-officio any sub-committee meeting.
Duties of the Officers forming the Executive:
The Chair shall be responsible for calling all meetings of the Executive and General Meetings and shall act as chairman at said meetings. He shall have unlimited authority over every question of order, unless challenged by a simple majority of the members present. On all voting matters, in the case of a tie, the Chair shall have a casting vote in addition to his ordinary vote. In addition, the Chair shall keep minutes of all meetings of the Executive and of General Meetings, will look after all correspondence of the BRMC.
5. General Meetings
The quorum of a General Meeting shall be three (3) members, including the executive.
Votes may not be proxied at a General Meeting. All members are entitled to one (1) vote.
An Annual General Meeting (AGM) shall be held once a year (usually in February).
An Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) may be held at the request of not fewer than two members. This must be held within one month of the request being received.
Both EGMs and AGMs require that notice of not less than one (1) week be provided to all members of the club, including the date, time, location and agenda of the meeting. This notice will set the agenda for the meeting.
Motions may be proposed either in advance of a meeting, or during Any Other Business. These must be seconded by another member to be voted upon.
Motions require a simple majority to pass, unless they involve a change to the constitution, in which case a two-thirds majority is needed.
All posts in the executive will be up for election at each AGM. The incumbants will vacate their post as of the end of the AGM (unless re-elected). There are no term limits on any post. Casual vacancies of executive posts will trigger an EGM.All General Meetings shall be minuted by the Chair (or a proxy), and these shall be distributed to the members within one (1) week of the meeting.
6. Alterations to the Constitution
Changes to the constitution may only be made at a General Meeting, as described above.
7. Conditions Governing Players
The Executive has full power to suspend any player who fails to comply with any of the following conditions:
A player must at all times abide by the constitution and authority of the BRMC.
When playing at an event in the jurisdiction of another authority, a player is required to abide by the rules of that authority.
8. Rules of Mahjong
The rules to which mahjong is played at events held by the club may be amended only by a General Meeting.
9. Dissolution
Upon dissolution of BRMC its assets, after all debts and liabilities are paid, shall be distributed in accordance with the wishes of those voting at a General Meeting.
Seconded by Jen.
Adopted unanimously.
Item 2: Election of Chair
Proposal by Jen for Eliot.
Seconded by Helen.
No other proposals.
Eliot elected for Chair.
Item 3: Adoption of rules
Proposal by Eliot:
The 2026 EMA Riichi rules with the following differences:
1. When there are only one or two attendees, mahjong shall be cancelled.
2. When there are three attendees present a game shall be played, with the fourth spot effectively being like an online player who has left the game.
3. When there are five attendees present a game of five shall be played whereby the player sitting East on the previous hand will sit out the new hand and be replaced by the player who was sitting out, who shall become the new North player. The 120k points will be divided into 24k each.
4. Games of 3 or 5 shall in all circumstances be considered ‘friendly’ games, with no impact on any ranking system in place.
5. Where there are 6 or more present and the numbers aren’t divisible by 4 then games shall be arranged to ensure everyone plays while having as few playing 3 or 5 player games as possible.
6. If 3 or 5 player games are required, those who played one such game at the last event will be prioritised for a 4 player game. If there are more such people than available seats then it will be settled by the rolling of dice.
7. If there are not enough mahjong sets then priority is given to those who were unable to play at the last event. Of those remaining, priority is given to those who have played the fewest games.
8. Yaku are named according to a set of English names, rather than with their Japanese names (except for riichi and pinfu).
9. The game will be terminated if a player’s score drops below -30000 points (i.e. they have no point sticks left).
10. The Japanese names for calls (i.e. pon, chi, kan, tsumo, ron) are used – not their Chinese counterparts or any other calls.
11. Abortive draws apply: 4 wind discards; ‘9 tiles 9 types’; 4 riichis; and 4 kans.
12. On an open kan or a late kan the kandora is revealed after the discard (or further kan).
13. Headbump rule applies for multiple ron calls.
14. A player must have at least 1,000 points to declare riichi.
15. 13+ han hands will be scored as yakuman. Double yakuman are also scored for the hands generally considered so.
16. The hand of man yaku (renhou) recognised in EMA rules is not recognised in these rules.
Seconded by Geoff.
Adopted unanimously.
Item 4: Any other business.
None
Meeting closed at 18.58