Tenhou Rankings and Advancement

[wavemotion]

Okay, I've got a couple of questions on the Tenhou rankings that I didn't see answered over on the fan-made English Tenhou Documentation page.

Here is the current Tenhou advancement chart:


The bottom ranking (at the top of the chart) is 'rookie' - then it advances through the semi-standard martial arts ranking of 9級 (9kyu - lowest amateur rank) up to 1級 (1kyu-highest amateur rank) and then to the dan (expert?) ranking from 初段 (1dan or 'being dan') up to 十段 (10dan) and then there is one more row under that... not sure what that is. Is that even higher ranked than 10dan?

As you can see the table is very forgiving during most of the kyu rankings. You gain points for winning... and generally don't lose points for finishing last. So it's just a matter of time before you march up through those lower ranks.

I'm guessing the second to last column is the # of players in the Tenhou database with that ranking. Interesting that it gets less and less as you head towards 1kyu and then bumps back up as you hit the dan rankings... I guess once you get down to 3 or 2 kyu you just push on to the dan levels where you maybe stagnate a bit.

What is the last column? The average 'rating' for players of that rank?

And does anyone know what the little black down-triangle/arrow is on those required points at higher levels? Does that mean you have to win/place in some sort of ranked events to advance?

As an aside, I assume that once you hit the 1dan or better area are allowed access to that higher-ranked lobby on Tenhou. I'm guessing that at 4dan and better you get access to the final higher-ranked lobby. I also assume that when you get down to levels where you can lose points, you can drop levels if you do really poorly.

This became interesting to me becase I just got my 5級 ranking on Tenhou this week!

[Iapetus]

The final row is indeed the ultimate rank. Once you reach it, you're it permanently. Only three have ever gotten it.

The last column is indeed the average rate for that rank. The interesting part is 1kyu having the lowest - apparently players who they lose a lot more than they win get stuck there.

At the dan levels, you will start with the amount of points in the 2nd column. When you reach the points marked with the triangle, you will rank up. And if you fall down to 0 points, you will rank down.

The requirement for the third lobby is 4dan R1800+. Reaching that goal prevents you from playing in the first lobby. The fourth and highest lobby can be accessed with 7dan and R2000+. These players can't play in the first or second* lobbies.

*recent change

[wavemotion]

Great info, thanks Iapetus!

[Referee]

Nice. So, shall I be playing at the 60, 15, 0, -45 lobby? I'm shodan, but when I put a hand to this forum, people finds many blunders, so there's still a lot to learn.

[Barticle]

初段 (1dan or 'beginning dan')

Fixed.

This became interesting to me becase I just got my 5級 ranking on Tenhou this week!

Congrats on the promotion. So you still have another couple of grades to go before you start worrying about last-place avoidance.

[wavemotion]

4級 now!

Does anyone know how to become a premium member? I've gotten so much from Tenhou and though I don't run Windows (for the Windows client), I'd like to support the site. I've no idea if I can pay via a US issued Visa card or Paypal or something else? I tried to navigate but got confused - when money is involved I hate being too confused for fear of sending them US$500 instead of 500 yen

I found this in the manual:

http://tenhou.net/man/#FREEANDPAIDVERSION

Which seems to explain between the basic Flash version, the Flash Premium version and the Windows Version. I currently have the Flash Premium selected (not sure why I was able to do this without a paid account - maybe it's a beta?). But I couldn't just find a place to upgrade my account.

[gemma]

Hey,

I think you should be able to upgrade your account on this URL: http://tenhou.net/reg/ You get to have a premium account for either a certain number of days or to a certain level, I forget which.

They allege to accept Mastercard and Visa. I doubt that they'll accept paypal. If you're asked for a zip code or something similar and your ordinary one won't fit into their system, 000-0000 usually gets you past that for those of us outside Japan.

[Iapetus]

http://arcturus.su/tenhou/

English manual.

[mrrrx]

Another method is to use the client. You can download the windows version for free on the main page (and you can spectate games with it). If you then try to play on the windows version it will show a registration link that I believe is specific for your tenhou ID, and I you can use that link to register your account. I think.

[wavemotion]

Thanks guys. Good info - I'll try to figure out what duration to support for.

I'm still a little confused as to the main benefit of a paid registration (beyond helping the site - which is worthy in itself). I know I'll gain access to the Windows client but I can't usually run that. Are the Dan-ranks or other lobbies prohibited unless you have a paid membership?

[Iapetus]

Thanks guys. Good info - I'll try to figure out what duration to support for.

I'm still a little confused as to the main benefit of a paid registration (beyond helping the site - which is worthy in itself). I know I'll gain access to the Windows client but I can't usually run that. Are the Dan-ranks or other lobbies prohibited unless you have a paid membership?

There's a table in the second section of the manual. 有料 means paid and 無料 means free. So for the lobbies, you can access only the first one in FlashPremium without paying. To get access to the dan and upperdan lobbies, you need to start paying, or downgrade to FlashEconomy (and reach the required rank/rate). And to get to the highest lobby, you must pay. There's also a whole lot of other fancy features there.

[wavemotion]

Thanks, Iapetus!

Given a poor google translate, am I correct in assuming that this line below the table:

※Flashプレミアム版を一般卓まで無料開放試験中

means that the Flash Premium features are free while in beta testing? I'm guessing that they will eventually want a paid account for the premium flash edition and that only Flash Economy will be free someday.

[Ignatius]

It says Flash Premium it´s freee only while playing in general tables 一般卓, looks like a kind of trial. Anyway you can always choose, economy エコノミー it´s free... I hope I translated it correctly.