Red Tiles and Bonus Chips
Chip bonuses are a rule used in many free-play mahjong parlors.
- When you win with ippatsu
- When you hit ura-dora
- When your hand contains red tiles
you receive chips as a bonus.
For the latter two, you usually get one chip per tile, so for example:
Dora 
Ura
Suppose you riichi with this hand, then tsumo with ippatsu, and one ura-dora appears.
That gives you 1 chip for ippatsu, 1 chip for ura-dora, and 2 chips for the red tiles, for a total of 4 chips.
If you win by tsumo, you collect that from all three opponents, so you receive 12 chips total.
The cash value of one chip depends on the parlor,
but many places are around 2000 to 5000 points per chip.
If one chip is worth 5000 points, then 12 × 5000 = 60000 points.
So on top of a haneman, you add income on that scale.
It is a pretty outrageous rule.
In free-play mahjong, chip bonuses are not a tiny side reward. They directly affect your results.
Ippatsu and ura-dora are pure luck,
but how you use red tiles can absolutely create a difference in chip income.
So this page is about red tiles and chip bonuses.
Red Tiles Are Better Than Dora
As long as chips exist, red tiles are worth more than ordinary dora.
Example 1
Chi 
Dora Tsumo
Of course you swap the ordinary dora for the red tile.
There is some risk that the dora gets pon'ed, but the chip difference matters even more.
And if a tile gets chi'ed, losing the red tile is clearly worse than losing a normal dora.
If You Have a Red Tile, Prioritize Tile Count
When your hand contains a red tile, choosing a riichi wait is almost always “tile count first.”
Example 2
Tsumo Dora 
Even if the shanpon wait feels easier to win on,
the basic play is still the ryanmen riichi.
Because a tsumo with chip bonuses pays triple, if one wait has twice as many tiles, it is absolutely more profitable.
Even if one chip is worth only 2000 points,
Ron for 2600 -> +4600
Tsumo for 1000-2000 -> +10000
The income difference is already that large.
If ippatsu or ura-dora get added, the gap only becomes larger.
Example 3
Tsumo Dora
Even in a hand where tsumo Sanankou is available, if there is a red tile,
discarding and riichi is still the practical choice.
There is already a major difference in winning ease between a four-tile wait and a seven-tile wait.
Theory Summary
In chip-bonus mahjong, you should actively aim for tsumo wins.
Calls Involving Red Tiles
Some parlors only pay red-tile chips for closed hands,
but if the rules do not work that way, then of course you should call aggressively when your hand contains red tiles.
Example 4
Dora
Suppose your upper player discards 
from this hand.
Even if it is still early in the hand, you should chi it without hesitation.
Maybe the hand still looks manageable as menzen, but there is no guarantee you will be able to use the red tile, and at worst it ends up as riichi only.
It is better to lock in Tanyao plus a red tile for 2000 and chips.
Unless the hand simply cannot form a yaku at all,
red-related kan-4 and kan-6 calls should basically be taken every time.
Then suppose everything goes smoothly and the hand reaches the shape in Example 5.
Example 5
Chi 
Now your upper player discards and declares riichi.
Yes, you should call this one too.
Many free-play parlors do not allow genbutsu kuikae, such as ponning Chun and then discarding Chun, or calling 1 from 234 and discarding 4,
but this red tile can be called basically everywhere.
This is the famous technique of chi'ing the kanchan and then discarding .
Chi 
Chi
This not only cancels the riichi player's ippatsu, but also raises your own expected income substantially,
so it is fair to say that giving up one draw is worth it.
After that, just push all the way. You almost never break a tenpai with two red tiles.
In Red-Five Mahjong, Riichi Immediately Even on a Bad Wait
Example 6
Tsumo Dora
If you make this hand damaten, that is just timid play.
Even on a bad wait, you should confidently fire the first riichi.
Tsumogiri'ing may look clever, but it is actually poor play.
There are not many truly effective improvements, and it is not as if becoming a ryanmen guarantee means you will win anyway.
In chip-bonus mahjong, flashy appearance is unnecessary.
The player who earns the chips is the one who wins.
Original Japanese page: http://beginners.biz/dora/dora07.html