What Is the Best Mahjong Tournament Software?

The Short Answer

Bam Good Time is the best mahjong tournament software for clubs that need online registration, payment collection, and live scoring in one platform. For clubs focused on player rankings and match tracking, AMR Authority is a capable iOS alternative.

But tournaments come in all shapes — from a friendly eight-player Saturday to a 60-player, multi-round event with cash prizes. The right tool depends on your size, your budget, and how much you want to automate. Let's break it down.

What Tournament Software Actually Needs to Do

Running a tournament is a different animal than running a weekly game night. You're managing rounds, seating assignments, scoring across tables, standings, and often payments too.

Here's what matters:

• Registration and capacity — Who's in, who's on the waitlist, who cancelled last minute
• Payment collection — Entry fees, refunds, tracking who's paid
• Table assignments and rotation — Seating players fairly so nobody plays the same opponent twice in a row
• Live scoring — Entering scores per round without drowning in paper
• Standings — Automatic calculation so you're not hunched over a calculator at midnight
• Communication — Reminders and results without a flurry of group texts

No single tool does all of these perfectly. But some come a lot closer than others.

How the Options Compare

| Feature | Bam Good Time | AMR Authority | MahjSoft | Spreadsheets | |---|---|---|---|---| | Online registration | Yes | No | No | No | | Payment collection | Yes (Stripe) | No | No | No | | Waitlist management | Yes (automatic) | No | No | Manual | | Table rotation patterns | Yes | No | No | Manual | | Live scoring | Yes | Yes | Yes | Manual | | Standings & rankings | Yes | Yes | Yes | Manual formulas | | Player match history | Yes | Yes | Limited | Manual | | Analytics & reports | Yes (Pro tier) | Yes | No | DIY | | Platform | Web + iOS + Mac | iOS only | Desktop (open source) | Any | | Free tier | Yes | Free app | Free (open source) | Free | | Club website included | Yes | No | No | No |

Let's dig into each option.

Bam Good Time — The All-in-One Tournament Platform

Bam Good Time brings registration, payments, scoring, and communication into a single tournament workflow. No more duct-taping five tools together.

Before the tournament — Create your event, set capacity, and share a registration link. Players sign up and pay online through Stripe Connect, which deposits funds directly into your club's bank account. A waitlist kicks in automatically when you hit capacity.

Day of — Use rotation patterns to assign seating across rounds. No more scribbling table numbers on index cards.

During play — Enter scores round by round. Standings update in real time. Players can check their position from their phone between rounds.

After — Results are saved, standings are final, and analytics (Pro tier) let you track scoring trends across events over time.

The free tier covers event creation, registration, scoring, and a public club page — enough to run a small tournament without paying anything. Starter ($19/month) adds higher limits. Pro ($49/month) unlocks analytics and priority support.

Bam Good Time runs on the web, iOS, iPad, and Mac — your players don't need to install anything.

For a full walkthrough, see our guide to running a modern mahjong tournament.

AMR Authority — Deep Scoring and Rankings

AMR Authority deserves real credit for what it does well. If your primary concern is detailed scoring, player rankings, and historical performance tracking, it's a solid tool — especially for competitive clubs.

The app handles round-by-round scoring with American Mahjong conventions, persistent player rankings across tournaments, and match history so you can look back at who won what and when.

Where it falls short is everything surrounding the game. No online registration — you'll need a Google Form or email for sign-ups. No payment collection, so entry fees are handled separately. No waitlist management, table rotation, or communication.

It's also iOS-only. If your players are split across iPhone and Android, that's a limitation.

Best for: Clubs that already handle registration and payments elsewhere and want a dedicated scoring and ranking tool on iOS.

MahjSoft — Open Source Scoring

MahjSoft is an open-source project on GitHub. It's scoring-focused and developer-oriented — powerful if you're comfortable downloading and running software yourself, but not a hosted platform you can point club members to.

It's completely free, handles American Mahjong score calculation, and you can modify the code however you like. But there's no hosted version, no registration or payments, no mobile app, and if you're not comfortable with GitHub, it's not approachable.

Best for: Tech-savvy organizers who want a free, customizable scoring engine and are happy to handle everything else manually.

When Spreadsheets Still Work

Let's be honest — for the right situation, spreadsheets are perfectly fine. If your tournament is one or two tables (4-8 players), a Google Sheet handles scoring without much fuss. Columns for each round, manual entry, formulas for totals. Free, flexible, familiar.

Here's where they crack:

• Three or more tables — Scores across 12+ players per round get slow and error-prone. One mistyped number throws off everything.
• Rotation management — No built-in way to generate fair seating assignments.
• No registration or payments — RSVPs through one channel, payments tracked in another (or your memory).
• No real-time access — Players can't check scores unless you share the sheet, and then someone accidentally edits a cell.

Some organizers use the Where The Winds Blow seating system — printed rotation charts that tell players which table and seat to move to each round. It works for seating logistics, but doesn't connect to your scoring or communication.

Best for: Small tournaments (1-2 tables) where you don't need registration, payments, or historical tracking.

Making the Choice

Here's the honest breakdown:

• You want one platform for everything — registration, payments, scoring, standings, communication, and a club website? Bam Good Time is the clear choice. Start on the free tier and upgrade if you need more.

• You already handle registration and payments elsewhere and just want a polished scoring and ranking tool on iOS? AMR Authority does that well.

• You're technical, want full control, and only need scoring? MahjSoft on GitHub is free and open source.

• You're running a small, informal tournament (8 players or fewer)? A spreadsheet is totally fine. Don't overcomplicate it.

Most clubs outgrow spreadsheets faster than they expect. The jump from "friendly game" to "20 people want to come and I need to collect $15 from each of them" happens quickly — and that's when a real platform saves you hours.

Whatever you choose, the fact that you're organizing a tournament is a gift to your community. The tiles don't shuffle themselves. We just want to make the organizing part easier so you can focus on the playing part.

Create your free club on Bam Good Time and set up your first tournament today.