Professional mahjong expanded beyond Japan with the launch of its first U.S. professional tour, as World Riichi and the United States Professional Mahjong League (USPML) announced a multi-stop event for June. According to the announcement, the 2026 U.S. Tour will bring players from Japan’s M.LEAGUE to Las Vegas and New York City for tournament play, exhibition matches and fan events.

Mahjong is a tile-based strategy game that originated in China. Riichi mahjong, the Japanese competitive format, has developed into a professional mind sport with dedicated leagues, broadcast coverage and international competition.

The tour will begin in Las Vegas from June 26th to 28th. A press conference is scheduled for 11:00am on June 26th, before the main tournament takes place across June 27th and 28th at HyperX Arena inside the Luxor Hotel & Casino.

According to the release, U.S. participants will have the chance to compete against eight professional players from Japan and the wider riichi mahjong scene. The lineup includes 2025 World Riichi Championship winner Kotaro Uchikawa, 2014 world champion Hiroshi Yamai, alongside M.LEAGUE players Sayaka Okada, Mari Takamiya, Yoshihiro Matsumoto, Sho Shiratori, Megumu Aikawa and Yuumi Uotani.

All Las Vegas matches will be played on automatic shuffling tables supplied by Alban. The event will also feature bilingual commentary from the creators of the Sukeban International podcast and will be livestreamed on the World Riichi YouTube channel.

Following the Las Vegas stop, the tour will move to Manhattan. New York City’s Sparrow’s Nest Studio will host a fan meeting on June 30th, followed by exhibition matches on July 1st. Those matches are also set to be broadcast on the World Riichi YouTube channel.

Tickets for the Las Vegas tournament went on sale on April 2nd. Early-bird entry was priced at $450 (~£354), before rising to $500 (~£393) from May 1st. Tickets for the Las Vegas After Hours event also went on sale at the same time.

The U.S. tour marked another step in mahjong’s international growth. While M.LEAGUE has built a large following in Japan through its professional league format and broadcast presence, events such as the World Riichi Championship and this new U.S. series signalled broader efforts to grow competitive riichi mahjong overseas.