My boyfriend and I play riichi mahjong via phone app (just called Richii Mahjong on the Play Store on Android) and it's solid. I know that's not exactly what you're looking for, but hope it works in a pinch!

I think there's "sexy" versions in the same way you can find porn poker or shape matching games, if that makes sense.

I usually spend my time in MahjongDS, played through Delta on my phone. However, despite it being a really good mahjong game, it’s in Japanese only.

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.