Basic rules
Winning Hands
Four sets and a pair make a winning hand. Learn runs, triplets, tenpai, waits and the two special hands.
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The basic shape: four sets and a pair
When you win you hold 14 tiles, split into:
- 4 sets (mentsu) of 3 tiles each.
- 1 pair (the head): two identical tiles.
Two kinds of set
Run (shuntsu): three consecutive numbers in the same suit. Honors cannot form runs, and 9 does not wrap round to 1.
Triplet (koutsu): three identical tiles, numbered or honor.
Four identical tiles can be declared as a kan and count as one set. After a kan you draw a replacement tile from the dead wall, so your hand does not get shorter.
Tenpai: one tile away
A hand that needs just one more tile is in tenpai, and the tiles that would complete it are your waits. There are five wait shapes:
A two-sided wait has 2 kinds of tile and up to 8 copies that win. Closed, edge and pair waits have 1 kind and at most 4. So among tenpai hands, two-sided waits are usually better.
Shanten: how far from tenpai
The shanten number counts how many more useful tiles you need before you are in tenpai. 1 shanten means one more good tile puts you in tenpai; 0 means you are already there.
The basic aim when choosing a discard is to lower your shanten. When two choices give the same shanten, keep the shape that accepts more kinds of tile. The in-game hint works on exactly this idea.
Two special winning hands
Seven pairs (chiitoitsu): seven different pairs. This is itself a 2-han yaku.
Thirteen orphans (kokushi musou): one of each of the 13 terminals and honors, plus a second copy of any of them. This is a yakuman.
A winning hand also needs a yaku
Getting the shape is not enough: in riichi mahjong you must have at least one yaku to win. The next chapters explain what a yaku is and which ones are easiest to make.
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