ARA Mission and Vision

Mission Statement

To foster cooperation, share valuable resources, and to establish visibility and legitimacy for the American Riichi Mahjong community.

  • To foster cooperation in an individual and club level within North America.

  • To provide, exchange, and collaborate in the distribution and production of resources that are valuable to our community.

  • To increase visibility and establish legitimacy for the North American Riichi Mahjong community.

Core Values

We will look to achieve our mission statement by adhering to our core values of accessibility, transparency and the respect for autonomy.

Vision Statement

  • Encourage club tournament standardization

  • Host accessible tournaments

  • Establish a comprehensive repository of relevant knowledge and tools.

  • Foster relationships with international communities and groups.

Bylaws of the American Riichi Association

Ratified on October 7, 2024 by 16 members of the ARA Assembly.

Article 1. Organizational Name

  1. The name of the association shall be:

    1. American Riichi Association (ARA)

Article 2. Purpose and Objectives

  1. The purpose of ARA is to nurture and grow riichi mahjong in The United States of America (USA). With this goal in mind, ARA’s objectives are to:

    1. Promote riichi mahjong as a competitive sport in the USA

    2. Connect prospective and current players to local clubs and leagues, resources, and the broader community

    3. Coordinate and regulate national-scale tournaments

    4. Provide assistance to local clubs and leagues, including but not limited to assistance with formation, promotion, organization, and event hosting

    5. Represent American players to foreign mahjong organizations and other organizations

    6. Spread goodwill and friendship through riichi mahjong

Article 3. Members

3.1. Members

  1. There shall be four levels of membership in the organization:

    1. Registered Player

      1. Being a registered player of the association shall be open to individuals who intend to participate in tournaments, qualifiers, promotions, and other competitions and social events of the organization. Any individual who is residing primarily in the USA or has US citizenship has the right to be a registered player of the ARA.

    2. Registered Organization

      1. A registered organization is defined as any organization at or exceeding four players that meets on a regular basis. The organization shall be recognized by ARA and included in the club database. There are additional requirements for a registered organization to have an organizational representative, as outlined in 3.1. Members, §1.c. Organizational Representative. A mahjong organization can become recognized by ARA by submitting their organization’s relevant information to the ARA Executive Board, and will be approved as a new organization at the next Board Meeting and added to the ARA club map and database.

    3. Organizational Representative

      1. A Registered Organization may appoint one representative to the ARA Organizational Representative Body (“The General Assembly”) to exercise that organization’s right to attend, speak, make motions, and vote at general meetings of the association and in the Discord planning channels of the Board. This representative functions as the liaison between the Board and their mahjong organization.

      2. To appoint a organizational representative, a organization must meet the following requirements:

        1. Meet in a location that is publicly accessible

        2. Meet a minimum of once per month

        3. Have 12 unique members nominate the appointee.

      3. No individual may be the representative of more than one organization simultaneously.

      4. Organizational representatives are required to communicate their identity, email address, and maintain the relevant information about their organization and Registered Players in the ARA database.

      5. An organizational representative may resign in writing to the Executive Board.

      6. An organization may reassign their representative at any time by submission of the electronic nomination form.

    4. Executive Board Member

      1. The Executive Board shall be made up of 12 individuals among Registered Players, elected on a 3-year term. 

      2. The Executive Board is responsible for the day-to-day work of the organization and pushing forward its aims and goals, and each member is responsible for at least one project or function of the Board.

      3. The full powers and duties of the Executive Board are delineated in Article 4.


  1. Membership is open to any person or group interested in contributing to the goals of or participating in the events of the ARA. No member shall be excluded due to race, religion, gender expression/identity, or sexual orientation.

3.2. Duration

  1. Player registration does not expire.

  2. Registered Organizations shall confirm their activity yearly via electronic form.

  3. Organizational Representatives shall reaffirm their nomination yearly via electronic form.

  4. Executive Board Members are elected on to 3-year terms. Refer to Article 4.5 for details.

3.3. Dues

  1. There are no membership dues.

3.4. Electronic Participation

  1. The publication of the association shall be the ARA website at its current URL (https://www.nariichi.org/) and other such publications as the Board may utilize. Significant communications on association matters will be posted on the website while communication on general matters shall be primarily conducted through email and the current central means of communication.  Matters requiring formal votes shall be communicated to members via direct email, as well as in a means of electronic communication approved by the board.

  2. It is the responsibility of each member, if they choose, to provide the Board with an up-to-date email address and an approved means of contact.

  3. Any notice that is required to be sent to a member may be sent to the member's most recent email address or an approved means of contact.

  4. If the association has no email address or username for that member, then notices do not need to be sent to them.

  5. Members may participate in any meeting of the association by synchronous electronic means, provided that the member is able to hear and be heard by the other participants.  This applies to meetings of the general assembly, the Board, or a committee of either.

Article 4. Executive Board

4.1. Structure

  1. The Executive Board shall be made up of 12 Registered Players elected on a 3-year term.

4.2. Meetings

  1. Executive Board Meetings shall be scheduled in concurrence with each Regular General Meeting.

  2. Quorum for meetings of the Board is a majority of the Board.

  3. Board meetings shall be held online unless otherwise approved in advance by the Board.

  4. Board meetings shall be documented to the public.

4.3. Powers

  1. The Executive Board has the power to create and propose motions to the General Assembly, who has the power to provide feedback on and approve or disapprove their projects and proposals through general votes.

  2. The Executive Board may delegate any of its powers to any club representative or working group.

  3. The decisions of the Executive Board are subject to the authority of the General Assembly and may not conflict with a decision made by a general meeting.

4.4 Duties

  1. Board members must attend a majority of General Meetings and provide written comments on the agenda items for that meeting if unable to attend.

  2. The Board is responsible for the timely communication of relevant information to members and maintenance of communication structures to unify the riichi mahjong community of the USA.

  3. Board Members must be participating in at least one active project to promote the mission of the association. They will provide updates on their projects at general meetings, and provide a report on the yearly progress at each Annual Meeting.

4.5 Elections

  1. Any registered ARA player can nominate themselves or any other one registered player for a position on the Executive Board.

  2. The election shall be in June, with the nominations opening in May. Voting will occur at the June meeting and the installation of any new Executive Board members shall be before the July meeting.

  3. The elections shall be held by ranked choice voting by the General Assembly, open for a minimum of two weeks.

  4. Each vote for an elected Board position shall be by secret ballot, except if there are no more nominees than available positions. If this is impractical due to the technology over which the meeting is being held, then this rule may be suspended by a two-thirds vote to allow for an alternate voting process or to make adjustments to the voting procedure.

  5. The term of office of each elected officer is three years, where a year is measured from the first general meeting following the election, where new board members would be installed, to the close of the following meeting in which the next regular executive board election begins (July - June), or until their successor is elected.

4.6. Vacancies

  1. In the event that a vacancy should arise in an elected office, it shall be announced with a two-week notice of a general meeting, in which nominations can be made. If a vacancy arises within two weeks of the next general meeting, it shall be announced at the general meeting.

  2. If the number of nominations would result in an uncontested election, the vacancy shall be filled at the next regular general meeting. 

  3. If the number of nominations exceed the number of vacancies, a special election will be announced, following all the rules stipulated in 4.5 except for schedule. The two-week period for voting is maintained and the election results shall be announced at the meeting after the special election where the new board members will be installed.

  4. Board members installed via special election serve for the remainder of the original elected board member’s term.

  5. In the case of a new seat due to board expansion, board members installed via special election serve for the remainder of the yearly election cycle plus two years.

  6. Resignations from an elected office must be submitted in writing to the Board.

  7. If the Board has ever fewer than three elected officers, then any member may call a special general meeting to fill the vacancies and complete any incomplete elections.

4.7. Working Groups

  1. The Executive Board, in order to fulfill the objectives stated in Article 2, may create working groups to work on specific projects.

  2. The Executive Board will be responsible for appointing a head of each working group created. Working groups are open to all Registered Players.

  3. The tasks and purpose of each working group must be documented.

Article 5. General Assembly

5.1. Structure

  1. The General Assembly is composed of all Organizational Representatives. 

5.2. Powers

  1. The General Assembly has the right to attend, speak, make motions, and vote at general meetings of the association and in the Discord planning channels of the Board. This Assembly functions as the liaison between the Board and their respective organizations.

  2. The General Assembly may recall an Executive Board member with a three-quarters majority.

  3. Organization Representatives may, in the case of absence, provide comments to the Executive Board to share on their behalf at the General Meeting.

  4. The General Assembly shall vote on all motions made by Assembly members, proposals made by working groups and the executive board, and in general and special elections of board members. Ranked choice voting will be used in all cases where the vote is not a simple yea/nay decision. A majority is required for approval unless otherwise stated by the bylaws.

  5. Voting is asynchronous, but in the case that the Organizational Representative will be absent for a prolonged period of time, they can delegate their vote to another member of their Organization by written or electronic notice to the General Assembly and the Executive Board.

  6. Assembly members shall recuse themselves from voting where motions and approvals will have a sole, direct impact on their organization (e.g. approval of that organization’s open tournament proposal) or a direct impact on their person (e.g. a board member recall vote when board member is also a member of the assembly).

5.3. Duties

  1. Organization Representatives have the responsibility of communicating the interest of their respective organizations to the Executive Board.

  2. Organization Representatives have the responsibility for maintaining the player registry for their respective organizations within the ARA player database.

  3. A designee (or designees) among the non-Executive Board members of the General Assembly has the responsibility to audit the results of the election of Executive Board members.

Article 6. General Meetings

6.1. Regular Meetings

  1. The ARA Executive Board shall hold Regular General Meetings, including an open session accessible to any interested member of the public, and a closed session open only to executive board members.

  2. Regular general meetings are to be held a minimum of once each calendar month at a time of the Executive Board’s choosing.

  3. Regular general meetings shall be called by the Executive Board with at least two weeks’ notice.

  4. All general meetings shall be held online unless otherwise approved in advance by a general meeting.

  5. Minutes will be provided online for both the open and closed sessions of the General Meetings.

6.2. Annual Meeting

  1. The annual meeting in May replaces the regular meeting and is subject to the same regulations as a regular meeting as noted in 6.1., with the addition of the following:

  2. Nominations for the annual executive board elections.

  3. Annual summary of working groups and other board initiatives.

6.3. Special Meetings

  1. Special meetings may be called on a minimum of one week's notice by

    1. The Board,

    2. The General Assembly, or

    3. The heads of Working Groups.

  2. These meetings can be utilized to discuss specific topics to further the work of the ARA. 

  3. Any subset of members can be invited to a Special Meeting, e.g. just one working group or just the Executive Board.

Article 7. Code of Conduct

7.1. General Application

  1. The Code of Conduct is ratified and amended by the General Assembly and will be publicly available through all ARA communication channels.

  2. This Code of Conduct applies to all people using the ARA Discord, in attendance at General Meetings, or in attendance at events hosted by ARA.

  3. Members and non-members are expected to follow the guidance of the Executive Board or General Assembly when informed they are out of compliance with this Code of Conduct.

  4. Violations of the ARA Code of Conduct will be addressed by the Executive Board and General Assembly expediently with appropriate corrective measures.

Article 8.  Bylaw Repeal Process

  1. These bylaws may be repealed by three-quarters vote of the board and three-quarters vote of the General Assembly.

  2. Upon repeal, all positions described by these bylaws are null and void.

  3. A new set of bylaws must be written and approved by leading members of the community.

Article 9. Bylaw Amendments

  1. These bylaws may be amended at a general meeting by a two-thirds vote with notice.