Josh Havens

Region
Virginia, United States

Joined
2025

Achievements
Riichi Nomi Open 2025 winner, player for WRC 2025 representing America, 7th place in the WRC qualifier, 4th place at DC Open 2024, 8th place at Philly Open 2024

Background
I first learned about mahjong from a vtuber friend who was obsessed with the game at the time. I started playing Mahjong Soul during the first Saki collab, so shortly after learning mahjong I watched Saki and joined the Saki Fan Community discord where I met some of my closest friends. I played solely online for about 2 years since I didn't know anyone near me who played. I also didn't know anything about the tournament scene. When visiting family in New York in 2022, I went to one of the Riichi Nomi meetups and finally got to play in person. I played my first tournament at the Rochester Riichi Open in 2023.

I learned about WRC taking place in Tokyo and decided I wanted to do my best to attend that event. I spent 2024 playing in several tournaments to qualify for the Invitationals held in NYC in January 2025. I achieved my goal by placing 7th in the Invitationals. Traveling to Tokyo and playing mahjong with so many amazing players was a dream come true. Being in tenpai for suuankou while on stream was a big highlight.

About a month later I attended the Riichi Nomi Open in NYC. I had an incredible streak, getting five 1st places the first day, with a total of eight 1st places out of ten hanchans. I won the tournament with a total of 366.9 points.