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Having seen this picture of a home-made seat wind indicator in a post by gamegrunt from 3-1/2 years ago, and having recently played my first games with real tiles and real people, I became inspired to make one myself. In addition to the poker chips I picked up for scoring, I recently got a hold of 8 identical silvery arcade style tokens which I plan to use for the honba count. The chinese set I acquired, which already had a round indicator marker, is now starting to resemble a riichi set, well, sort of.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=53280

Now all I have to do is find a good way to paint 3 red fives without ruining the tiles.
Then comes the hard part, finding some riichi mahjong players.

Assuming the round indicator shows all four winds this could be used for Chinese rules too.

A visual indication of seat winds is helpful for new players and it also shows the sequence of the winds for dora tiles; alternatively a simple mnemonic is useful. (Never eat Shredded Wheat)

If the dice are used to indicate the dealer then the winds can be determined from there. (Eat Shredded Wheat? Never!)

Separate tokens for the honba count is a nice idea and more convenient than using the dealer's scoring sticks (and having to swap these when the deal passes).

In most Japanese sets the red fives are extra tiles which can be swapped in/out as desired and there are four of them (two in dots). If you paint your tiles then they will always be red but if you want to play without that rule (it is optional) then you can just ignore the colouring I guess. I imagine some sort of undercoat would be wise to get a more vibrant red colour.

or2az wrote:Now all I have to do is find a good way to paint 3 red fives without ruining the tiles.

Two good solutions:

One is to take a red crayola wax crayon, and rub it on the surface of the tile to pack the wax into the grooves of the engraving, then buff the face of the tile with a dry cloth to clean the surface. It looks great, and can be undone with a toothbrush if you decide you don't like it.

Another is just to hand paint them with acrylic paint, which is permanent.

=)

In most Japanese sets the red fives are extra tiles which can be swapped in/out as desired and there are four of them (two in dots)

I realize that but I would only need to paint one of each. I never really liked one suit being more important than the others which is why I never use both of the red five dots.
I like Scotts' idea of using a red crayon instead of paint. It wouldn't be hard to find one and stick it in the box, especially if the paint is permanent. I thought it could be removed with acetone or some other chemical solvent, like when girls change fingernail colors with nail polish remover. Maybe that would remove the coloring of the actual tile itself. I'm not sure.

Never eat Shredded Wheat

That's not bad. (since I really do hate shredded wheat)
The ladies that I played chinese mahjong with use Eat Soy With Noodles.
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=53318#p57821
I basically remember ESPN, the sports network here in the states, and substitute W for P.
Don't remember where it came from, but it stuck with me.

Also, the round indicator does show all 4 winds by twisting the green part.
It was part of the original chinese set when I bought it.

Of course if you do find a grand total of three riichi players there's a good chance at least one will have a Japanese set.

I learnt "Never eat Shredded Wheat" as a child for remembering the points of the compass in clockwise sequence; of course for the seat winds it goes counter-clockwise.

I am liking the soy with noodles though - suitably oriental!

It's a case of whatever works. I remember the dragon sequence with the patriotic "red, white and blue" then swap blue for green.

Here's another winds mnemonic: http://img.docstoccdn.com/thumb/orig/126437024.png

It's a case of whatever works. I remember the dragon sequence with the patriotic "red, white and blue" then swap blue for green.

Now that's interesting, considering you are on the other side of the ocean. I would have figured you for alphabetical, green-red-white.

Our flag has the same colours! Also it's quicker to recall a short common phrase than to put words mentally into alpha order.

That's right. I forgot. And I see it every year flying atop the London Bridge alongside ours.

I remember the dragon order like a traffic light: Red, Yellow (ie White), and Green.

Had a friend construct a square about 1/2 inch thick wooden platform, including the lip, which lets my circular seat wind indicator fit in very nicely atop a green paper background, allowing it to turn easily (and look cool). The wood also provides a nice backing for the tiles in the discard pool, especially the large tile set I have.
I also tried Scotts suggestion (above) on using a red crayon to make the red fives, experimenting only on the smaller tile set I recently picked up.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=53280&p=57974&hilit ... ist#p57972
This is how it turned out. And, as Bart suggested, I switched the chinese white dragon tiles with the 4 blank tiles provided to give it a true japanese flavor.

Lastly, as I have stated before, all I have to do is find 3 riichi players, even if I have to teach them, or convert them from those "other" kinds.

Nice to see the result of the ol' red crayon trick - they've come out quite nicely.