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FAQ 13C. Q: "I play Japanese Riichi mah-jongg, and need to know the rules for 3 players."

Here's the way I was taught by my Japanese friends:
Remove the suit of Craks, except the 1s, 5s, and 9s. The 1/5/9 Craks, and the North wind tiles, all act like flowers (as flowers are used in all Asian forms except Japanese). There is no North player (deal only to the other three). Deal always passes to the winner. It's always the East round. Scoring is in Points, not Fan (for each Fan, count 1 point). Each flower is 1 point.
You can read about another way to play 3-player at http://www.japanese-mahjong.com/3pmjintro.html. And see a reader's comments below (from the Maj Exchange Q&A Bulletin Board).
See "Tom's Three Rules on Table Rules" - you are free to use either of these, or to cherrypick whatever ideas you like from either of them.

JAPANESE RIICHI MAJAN FOR 2 PLAYERS
Many Japanese video games use one-on-one rules. "Yakuman DS" is one that I have played a lot. In this game, all 136 tiles are used in 4 walls as usual. One player is E, the other player is S (they should sit at opposite sides of the table). Play normally - either player may chow from the other. Expect high-scoring hands to be more possible than usual.
A Japanese couple I know, both professional and international players, play a 4-handed game with 2 people. One person plays 2 hands (like playing 2 Bingo cards at once). Their rule is that one hand is not permitted to feed the other, so they can only claim discards from the other person.

3-player Japanese majan

From: "Robert Lozyniak" (Robert at dhjetemije dotcom)
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 8:36 PM
Subject: 3-player variant of reach mahjong
> You can play several variations of reach mahjong (including 3-player 
> mahjong) at this site:
>  http://www.tenhou.net
> Their 3-player rules differ greatly from yours. In particular:
> - the only character tiles they use are ones and nines (no fives)
> - character tiles cannot be used as "flowers"; however, north wind tiles can
> - the scoring seems very similar (though not identical!) to that used 
> in 4-player mahjong
> - the deal seems to pass as in 4-player mahjong
> In short, it seems to be (with the exception of the north wind 
> "flowers") about as close to the 4-player version as one could 
> reasonably expect.
> However, I can't read much Japanese at all, so I might have made 
> errors. My point is, their 3-player rules for reach mahjong are quite 
> different from the ones you specify.

Hi Robert,
OK, thanks for the alternate info. I'll make sure readers of FAQ 13C have access to this alternative way to play.
May the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper  /  トム·スローパー   /   湯姆·斯洛珀   /   탐 슬로퍼
MJ溌Sloperama中com
Los Angeles, CA (USA)
September 26, 2007
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," available at bookstores and Amazon.com

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2-player Japanese, too

From: "Robert Lozyniak"
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 8:47 PM
Subject: Japanese 2-player mahjong
> In the 2-player Japanese mahjong games I've seen, all 136 tiles are 
> used (in the sense that tiles are _drawn_ from the full set of 136), 
> but each player is only allowed 18 discards before the hand ends. 
> Thus, the game uses (13+18)*2 = 62 of the 136 tiles, not counting the 
> dora. (Standard 4-player mahjong uses (13*4)+1+69 = 122 of the 136 
> tiles, again not counting the dora.)

OK, Robert, I'll add that to FAQ 13c as well.
Dewa mata,
Tom Sloper  /  トム·スローパー   /   湯姆·斯洛珀   /   탐 슬로퍼
MJ溌Sloperama中com
Los Angeles, CA (USA)
September 26, 2007
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," available at bookstores and Amazon.com

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Oh, and I forgot...

From: "Robert Lozyniak"
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 12:27 PM
Subject: 3-player mahjong
>I forgot to tell you: in the 3-player variant of Japanese reach 
> mahjong, you are not allowed to "chi" off an opponent's discard, 
> unless it is "ron". You may, however, form chi's out of tiles you draw 
> from the wall.

Hi Robert,
Yes, I knew that that was a standard practice in most 3-player variants. I see that I neglected to mention it in FAQ 13C (the parts of FAQ 13 used to all be together in one FAQ). So I'm adding this to the FAQ.
May the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper  /  トム·スローパー   /   湯姆·斯洛珀   /   탐 슬로퍼
MJ溌Sloperama中com
Los Angeles, CA (USA)
October 23, 2007
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," available at bookstores and Amazon.com

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I think that was me!

Subject: 18 discards
From: Mah-jong Montréal
Sent:Tuesday, October 30, 2007 7:16:33 AM
>Hi Tom,
>Regarding the post
>>From: "Robert Lozyniak"
>>Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 8:47 PM
>>Subject: Japanese 2-player mahjong
>I might be the originator of that way of playing; maybe not the first inventor in all Mahjong history, but there is a big chance I am responsible for its recent popularity this side of the globe. I can only honestly say I never seen it described anywhere, even on Japanese Web sites.
>Before knowing the rules for 3-player Japanese Mahjong, when I started my Mahjong club several years ago, I improvised this simplified way of playing when short of one player. We still use it frequently at our club. It's our favorite 3-player variant because it's less hassle than the more complicated conventional 3-player Japanese rules. I also come up with a way of playing when there is one player too much. On a 5-player table, every participant receives 25000 points in chips as usual. A first player is chosen randomly to sit out (the one who draws the blank/white tile, while others E, S, W and, N). Then, at every oya change, the player standing up takes the place of the leaving dealer.
>Recently, one of my pupil has mentioned it on Yakitori Online And, I received several e-mail asking questions about it. So I've written a Web page explaining that by having rules for 3, 4 and 5-player Mahjong, no matter how many players show up at your meeting, you can arrange tables so nobody is left out.
>Have a nice day,
>Walter

Hi Walter,
Aha! So you're the guy. Very cool. Thanks for the link to your 3, 4, and 5-player rules. I'll add the link to the FAQ when I get the chance. Gotta go for now, though. There's sightseeing to be done.
May the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper  /  トム·スローパー   /   湯姆·斯洛珀   /   탐 슬로퍼
MJ溌Sloperama中com
Chengdu, China
November 1, 2007
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," available at bookstores and Amazon.com

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