Mahjong

Benjamin is an avid mahjong player and the only Western player to place in the top three in two different international mahjong championships, the 2007 Open European Mahjong Championship and the 2008 European Japanese Mahjong Championship. He was the inaugural champion of Japan’s GPC celebrity Mahjong league.

Benjamin knows Mahjong. He helped the European Mahjong League write their tournament rules and officiated one of their championships. He also authored the rules for one of the largest online Mahjong sites on the Internet. Benjamin has written for academic and general publications in both English and Japanese on gambling culture as well as the debate around the legality of casinos in Japan.

As the first Western researcher at Osaka University of Commerce’s Institute for Amusement Industry Studies, Japan's only gaming-focused think tank, Benjamin worked on topics ranging from the legality of the pachinko industry, to the social history of Japanese mahjong, and presented his research to interested parties from both the public and private sectors.

Whether it’s for a tournament, online gambling site, or a strategy guide, Benjamin can help you get the rules right for your Mahjong project.

An established author and published researcher, Benjamin takes pride in his ability to write engaging and fact-based opinion pieces. Previous publications include Metropolis and The Japan Times.

Are you trying to find out whats trending in Japan’s gambling scene? Let Benjamin guide you with his advisory service.

Since sitting down for his first game, Benjamin has been fascinated with Mahjong’s mechanics and rules. Three years after learning the game, he took third place at the Open European Mahjong Championship and the following year placed second at the inaugural European Riichi Mahjong Championship in 2008. He traveled across the world from China to Denmark competing against the global community’s best players. He was also awarded a prestigious Fulbright Fellowship to Kyoto University to conduct research on the game’s culture.

From 2008 to 2011 Benjamin worked as a researcher at Osaka University of Commerce, where he published and presented on trends in Japanese mahjong, as well as the gaming industry at large. Based on his research, he wrote a number of articles in popular media outlets, such as the Japan Times. He also helped write the official rules for Japanese Mahjong for the European Mahjong Association, as well as other private entitites. He is proud that Japanese mahjong sets sold by many Western importers feature a pamphlet acknowledging his work.

Since he began this journey, Benjamin has met and collaborated with gaming legends such as Kojima Takeo, Tanioka Ichiro, and Fukumoto Nobuyuki. He continues to stay in touch with his network of friends and always enjoys a game at his favorite parlor.