It never occurred to me that a con would have this, so I appreciate you mentioning it. I’m gonna keep an eye out for it at my local cons. I’ve played a ton of riichi mahjong digitally but very, very little with real tiles.
What I’ve seen when looking back is a lot of the retro games aren’t in English. It’s not a big deal once you’re familiar with the game, but I definitely don’t recommend that approach for beginners. Not retro (yet), Yakuza 0 was the game that got me started with riichi mahjong. It has the added benefit of being a way to make a little money for other stuff in the game.
The current game I play is Mahjong Soul. Super friendly to beginners. It has a cosmetics-only gacha, and sexy anime girls is very much the trend in gacha these days.
LiS2 wasn’t my favorite. It started to feel like misery porn after a while, not to mention bordering on the absurd with the variety of situations they put the kids through. I think the story would have been stronger without the cult chapter. Expanding on the themes in the last chapter might have been a better choice and more consistent with the overall narrative. I will say, though, the endings are solid in the “choices matter” department. Best in the series with that, and a standout in gaming in that category.
I liked Before the Storm and True Colors, so I’m definitely looking forward to Deck Nine continuing the series with Double Exposure.