ARA Invitational 2025

The ARA Invitational 2025 (“ARA Invitational”) is the USA’s final tournament to determine which 16 players will be sent to represent the USA at WRC 2025 in Tokyo. The Invitational will be a 64 player event held in NYC at the Executive Hotel Le Soleil at 38 West 36th Street on January 18-20, 2025 (Martin Luther King weekend).

Qualification

The top 64 players in our WRC qualification ranking who are eligible to represent the USA at WRC will be invited to the Invitational. If any among these top 64 decline the invitation, then qualification proceeds from ranks 65 and onward until all of the invitational spots are filled.

See the full ranking list on our WRC Qualification page.

Rules and Expectations

Please read the tourament rules and expectations in this document prior to the event.

Tournament Fee

The tournament fee for the invitational is set at $30. Payment will be handled by Sparrow’s Nest Studio. The fee is subject to a no refund policy.

Schedule

The event will be three days of six hanchan each, following this schedule:

8:30 AM Registration / Check in

9:15 AM Announcements

9:30 AM 1st Hanchan Start

11:00 AM 2nd Hanchan Start

12:30 PM Lunch

2:00 PM 3rd Hanchan Start

3:30 PM 4th Hanchan Start

5:00 PM 5th Hanchan Start

6:30 PM 6th Hanchan Start

8:00 PM Free Play / Awards Ceremony

Additionally, free play will be available at the Sparrow’s Nest Studio from 4-10pm on Thursday ($10 entry fee), with set practice organized by Riichi Nomi beginning at 6pm; as well as at 4pm on Friday (free to tournament participants), until the autotables begin being moved from Sparrow’s Nest Studio to the tournament venue.

There will be a group dinner following the Saturday night games, and on Sunday night there will be a presentation and focus group on potential designs for the USA qualification schema for the 2028 WRC, open to all.

Format

The format will be a cumulative set point scramble as described below, where players earn set points based on performance within two-hanchan sets where players face the same opponents and score based on cumulative score within each set. 4 points are awarded to first place in the set, 3 to second, 1 to third, and 0 to fourth in the set overall. Cumulative set points determine overall placement, with raw score as a tie-breaker for equal set points. Matchups are made randomly between players without regard to their prior performance.

Qualification for WRC

Qualification into the WRC via the US quota will begin at Rank 1 and continue downward until all 16 quota selections are determined. If any within these top ranks decline to attend the WRC, then selection will be filled by the next highest available rank.

Read more about the WRC on their website: https://wrc2025tokyo.com/ (JP) and on the WRC X (EN): https://x.com/WorldRiichi

Confirmed Player List

Results

Results are found in the Pacific Mahjong League’s site, linked here.

WRC Invitee List