Pinfu 03 - CAUTION when the pair is honors

Pinfu means 'peace' in Japanese and 'mild' in Chinese.
But I think pinfu may be troublesome for newcomers in certain way.
One of the feature which includes problem is, this time, the head.

Not only suits but honors can be the pair (the eyes or the head) in pinfu.
But it does not mean any honors are OK with the head in pinfu.

For instance, no dragon, either white, red or green is accepted as a head of pinfu.
This rule is relatively easy.

The problem IS, neither round wind nor player's wind is allowed as a head of pinfu.
So that a beginner who doesn't (or can't) care what is the round wind or his own wind may make a hand with honors which will not be regarded as pinfu.

You can understand that the dealer never make a pinfu with a head made of east:
Because the dealer's own wind is always east.

Self-drawn is still OK because he will secure at least one yaku, concealed self-drawn or 'tsumo'.
If he tries to go out with other player's discard, he will pay a penalty called 'chombo'. 8000 if he is a non-dealer,
12000 if he is a dealer.

Conclusion: if you are new comer, you had better call 'riichi' in case your hand 'seems to be' pinfu and your head is made of honors.

Pinfu 02 - CAUTION when self-drawn

Pinfu means 'peace' in Japanese and 'mild' in Chinese.
But I think pinfu may be troublesome for newcomers in certain way.
One of the feature which includes problem is scoring system.

The minimum score of self-drawn hand in Japan is,
if you are a non-dealer,
300 for non-dealer and 500 for dealer .
It is called 'gomi' or 'garbage,' partly because it is a homophone of '5-3,'
partly because it is rather useless score as garbage.
Total earnings... 300*2 + 500 = 1100

Question: if you win pinfu with your self-drawn tile, how much can you earn?

1100 * 2 = 2200?  Nope.

The answer is 400 * 2 + 700 = 1500.

WHY?

OK, I understand you would like to read the following boring explanation.

The basic score of pinfu is 20.
Pinfu is 1 yaku, meaning 1 double
so the score will be 20 * 2 = 40

Since you draw your winning tile, you secure another yaku,
Tsumo ツモ　or "Menzenchin Tsumohou　門前清自摸和," 1 double
the score will be 40 * 2 = 80

Unlike in the end of WWII, Japanese mahjong scoring system quadruplicates the score since in the midst of the 20th century.
so that the score will be 80 * 4 = 320

Finally the score should be rounded to the nearest 100 above
therefore the score IS 400

Of course you do not have to memorize such procedure
Just keep in your mind that you will earn 400, 700

 N O T  1000 2000 OR MORE

Understand?

...I confess I didn't when I was a newbie.



Do you really understand?

Question 2
You have won pinfu, self-drawn with 2 dora.
How many point will you earn?
Hint: 4 doubles.

2000, 4000?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The answer is
1300, 2600

Therefore I say pinfu may be troublesome.

Pinfu -why also called "No Point" 01

A hand composed of sequence units (run) is called pinfu (peace).
Pinfu is also known as "no point," since this hand has no extra base points (mini-point) or "fu."

Basically the concept of evaluating hand is simple: the harder to complete, the higher the score will become.

Your hand will be counted as follows:

0. You will unconditionally earn 20 point.
1a. If your hand is concealed and going out with other player's discard, you will earn another 10 point.

1b. If your hand is concealed and going out with your self-drawn tile, you will earn 2 point and
     1 yaku, Tsumo(official name: menzenchinmohou 門前清摸和.)
     Pinfu is the exception: if you go out pinfu self drawn, at least you secure tsumo as well as pinfu
     without gaining 2 point : see Pinfu 02
1c. If your hand is partly revealed and going out with your self-drawn tile, you will earn 2 point.

2. If your hand contains a triplet or a four, you will earn extra point, from 2 to 32 according to the type.
3. If your last waiting component requires only one sort of tile, you will earn 2 point.
4. If your pair (eyes) is dragons, round wind or your own wind, you will earn 2 point.

Pinfu has only 0. and 1a...30 points. Therefore it is also called No Points.
Pinfu is 1 fan hand, one double, meaning 30 * 2 = 60 points.
In those days even if some player mistakenly discards a winning tile, each player except the dealer pays 60.
The dealer pays double: 120.

Later the rule has changed in Japan...the one who discards the winning tile pays all.
In this case, the loser pays 60 * 4 = 240.

In less than 50 years, the score has become inflated...4 times.
Today pinfu counts 240 * 4 = 960 rounded up to 1000.




If your pinfu contains no honor or terminal, it is also tan-yao ("tanpin")
Tan-yao is 1 fan, one double.
The score will be 960 * 2 = 1920 rounded up to 2000.

If your pinfu contains "mixed triple chow," three similar sequences (sansyoku)
the score will be 960 * 2 * 2 = 3840 rounded up to nearest hundred...3900.
Sansyoku is 2 fan, two doubles.

If your pinfu is tan-yao and contains sansyoku,
your score will be 960 * 2 * 2 * 2 = 7680 rounded up to 7700.

Please memorize the pinfu score as 1000-2000-3900-7700.
Do not calculate as (20+10)*4*2*4.
If you are a dealer, the score will be 1500-2900-5800-11600.