Members of Rinshan Kaihou Cologne
The list is updated as new players join. The current club members are:
Manuel
Manuel was born on 1989-04-06 and works as a Chemist. He is married and lives in Cologne. His first contact with Riichi Mahjong was in 2014. Since then, he plays on tournaments all over the world, i. a. in the Netherlands, Poland, Austria, France and the Czech Republic. He founded the club “Rinshan Kaihou Cologne” in 2017. Manuel is an EMA-certified referee and was head referee of the 5th European Championship 2019 in Rosmalen, Netherlands. He was in Japan and has played in Jansōs there. He got himself an automatic table. Manuel speaks German, English, French, Luxembourgish, Dutch and Japanese.
His next goals:
- Becoming Mahjong Tutor for the European Region
- Becoming a referee at the World Championship 2022 in Vienna
- Taking the JPML Pro Test
- Continuously developing his Mahjong skills
Notable Prizes:
- Ryūiisō, Prag 2019 — 1st place 🥇
- Wakare no Taikai, Berghem 2022 — 3rd place 🥉
Fränk
- 24 years old from Luxembourg
- apprentice in software development
Fränk came into contact with Riichi Mahjong in 2015 by Manuel. Painting with acrylic colours and playing music is one of his hobbies, as well as playing video games and using his experience from his apprenticeship for video game creations. Fränk speaks fluently Luxembourgish, German, English and French. He also has a good understanding by hearing of the Dutch language.
Jonas
Thai “RPGReki”
Thai, known as “RPGReki”, is 30+ years old — he stopped counting at 30. He’s originally from Bavaria. He works as a Network Administrator. 1999 he had his first contact with Mahjong: Shanghai Dynasty for Windows 95. 2009 his first contact with Riichi Mahjong was the Anime Saki. Since then, he plays online from time to time. 2017 he moved to Northrhine-Westphalia and got his first “real” game in this club. When he’s not succumbing to pon-cats in Riichi, he plays Final Fantasy XIV Online or writes on his Web Novel Amauga. Thai speaks German, English and Vietnamese.
Notable Prizes:
- Sou no Tori, Aachen 2019 — 1st Place 🥇 (thus also German Champion 2019)
Ken “Panda”
Ken, also known as “Panda”, was born on 1987-10-15 and works as an Insurance Clerk. He is half-Japanese, half-German, and is originally from Nuremberg. 2011 he moved to Northrhine-Westphalia. His first contact with Riichi Mahjong was about 1999. But aside from a fun afternoon, he didn’t go deep into it. Over the years, he stumbled over it in Anime and mini-games. In 2019, he started to get into a deeper touch via the mini-game in the “Like a Dragon” game series. 2020 he joined the club. Thanks to the guidance and help of the other members, he did a much deeper dive into Richii. 2022, he played his first Tournament in Berghem, Netherlands. Ken speaks German, Japanese, English, German Sign Language, a bit Italian, few words in Korean.
His next Goals:
- Get much deeper and further into the Game and master it more and more
- To achieve a Yakuman Hand (of course, many more can follow after the first one)
- To play on further Tournaments National and International to meet new face and socialize with them
Sven
Sven it 25 years old and has been playing Mahjong for 3 years. It started with Doman Mahjong in Final Fantasy XIV Online, after that he quickly found our club here in Cologne. His hobbies include reading and video games. Sven speaks German and English.
Jinbi
Stefanie
Christopher
Born in the year 2000 and joined early 2022, Christopher belongs to the younger generation of Mahjong players, who primarily came to Mahjong through anime and the yakuza games. Playing actively since the end of 2021 he plays mainly to thoroughly learn Mahjong and to play with other people. Working as a Business Informatics Engineer, he speaks fluent English and German.
