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.

A case of failure

Here is a sample of failure found on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAqX7V3wXbE

The principle of winning Japanese mahjong is really simple:

make four sets and a pair WITHOUT CHII OR PON

if you are not familiar with Japanese mahjong.

In this case, you will need 1p or 4p, 8p or 6s

and declare 'riichi.'

C'mmonnn! What the hell are you doing?

Just discard 1s or east!

The player has made a fatal error: chow without strategy.

Few chances remain including three mixed chow(sansyoku) of 123,

final draw or final discard

Like the TV episode, Saki wins four concealed triplets,

suuankou...yakuman.

48000 directly hits (datsui mahjong rule) the player.

Full Flush (Chin-itsu) Trainer 03

You can play the game as diabolic yet kawaii Saki does: "Rinsyankaihou!!"

Shoot, I should have discarded 7s instead of 8s to win...

Kan!

Tsumo!! Rinsyankaihou!!

No lightning. Just a modest sound and graphic.

Full Flush (Chin-itsu) Trainer 02

Kiyosumi Highschool's mahjong club members sing "to the world of score 10,000 100,000 1,000,000" at the ending theme.
Now we begin with 100,000 aiming 300,000 to win.

If your score becomes zero or lower, the game ends.

If your score exceeds 300,000 you win.

Below is a list of yaku which can be combined with chin-itsu 清一色(6)

Each number represents the fan of the score:

- Yaku designated by its formation -

1)一盃口 [Iipeikou] Two Identical Sequences “Pure Double Chow”
3)二盃口 [Ryanpeikou] Two Units of Two Identical Sequences

2)七対子 [Chiitoitsu] Seven Pairs: each pair must be unique.
8888 will not be accepted as two pairs.
Note: since the formation of this hand is so special, few hands will be combined.
Chin-itsu and Tan-yao are some exceptions.

2)一気通貫 [Ittsuu] Three Consecutive Sequences “Pure Straight”

1)断幺九 [Tan-yao] All Simples
3)純全帯幺 [Junchan] Terminal in Each Set

1)平和  (ピンフ) [Pinfu] No-points: All Sequences with waiting two way


2)対々和 [Toioti] Four Triplets

2)三暗刻 [San-ankou] Three Concealed Triplets
13)四暗刻 [Suuankou] (yakuman) Four Concealed Triplets

2)三槓子 [Sankantsu] Three Fours
13)四槓子 [Suukantsu](yakuman) Four Fours

- Yaku designated by its timing or procedure -

1)嶺上開花 [Rinsyankaihou] Supplement Tile “After a kong”　



13)天和 [Tenhou] Heavenly Hand
13)地和 [Chiihou] Earthly Hand
13)人和 [Renhou] Humanly Hand (Note: allowed in this game only)


1)リーチ [Riichi] Announce to be ready
2)ダブリー [Daburii(double-riichi)] Announce Riichi with First discard
1)一発 [Ippatsu] Winning after riichi within a first draw

1)ツモ [Tsumo] Concealed Self-Drawn

1)ハイテイ [Haitei] Winning with the last self-drawn tile
1)ホウテイ [Houtei] Winning with the last discarded tile

Can you visualize these yaku? if not, here are some samples:

2)七対子 [Chiitoitsu] Seven Pairs

2)一気通貫 [Ittsuu] Three Consecutive Sequences “Pure Straight”

123456789

and

1)一盃口 [Iipeikou] Two Identical Sequences “Pure Double Chow”

112233

Note: this hand is not a pinfu

1)一盃口 [Iipeikou] Two Identical Sequences “Pure Double Chow”

667788

and

1)平和 (ピンフ) [Pinfu] No-points: All Sequences with waiting two way

78 waits either 6 or 9: this case 6 is winning as well as iipeikou

if you win with 9, no iipeikou but pinfu will be accepted.

What is this hand? chiitoitsu?

It's ok, no one will contradict:

In this case, you can name the highest to claim.

If you declair this hand as chiitoitsu, your score is 9 fan

[Tsumo(1) + Chiitoi(2) + Chin-itsu(6)]

But if you claim this as ryanpeikou(3),

223344 + 77889 with wining 9

also pinfu(1) will be added.

Full Flush (Chin-itsu) Trainer 01

http://www.gamedesign.jp/flash/bamboo/bamboo.html

Someya Mako, a second grade student of Kiyosumi Highschool is good at making one-suit-only hand.
Of course Saki, Yuuki and Takei Hisa(buchou) make it handsome.
How about YOU?

...me? I'm training at this page.
Also the software is available to download on this site so that you can play it without www.
http://www.gamedesign.jp/dl/bamboo.html

HOUSE RULE:

*Banboo tiles only.

*No chii(chou), pon(pung) is allowed so that the score secures 6 fan(haneman).
-If the score exceeds 5 fan, counting is really simple.
 from 6 to 7 fan : haneman, non-dealer 12000, dealer 18000
 from 8 to 10 fan : baiman, non-dealer 16000, dealer 24000
 from 10 to 12 fan : sanbaiman, non-dealer 24000, dealer 36000
 over 13 fan or yakuman : yonbaiman, non-dealer 32000, dealer 48000

*Unlike riichi mahjong the score will be added or subtracted same, either tsumo(self-drawn) or ron(claiming opponent's discard).

*Renhou(humanly hand), non-dealer's going out with other player's first discard. Counts as yakuman(32000).
Note: these days Renhou is not commonly accepted other than Tenhou or Chiihou.

If your hand is complete with the tile,

press right button of your mouse and choose 'ron'

Since the tile is dealer's first discard, you win Renho.

If you mistakenly choose "tsumo" or "ron",

penalty called"chonbo"  will be charged: dealer 12000, nondealer 8000

to be continued...

Ep.9-1 The captain's vision

Here I will show you what Fukuji Mihoko, "the captain" of Kazekoshi Girls' High School, sees with her beautiful odd blue eye.




Kataoka 'Tacos' Yuuki aims to come from behind by making full flush, a killer hand, composed of one suit only.

Dora indicater is 6 circles: it means that dora is 7 circles.

She dares to discard two of her dora, 7 circles in this hand, a tile which makes the score one more fan up.

Inoue Jun, top runner of this game, of course notices Yuuki's hand because she has placed a precious dora on her bank in front of her.
Then Jun calls riichi, declaring "my hand is ready to go out" to intimidate Yuuki, who plans to discard her another dora.

Judging from the river of Jun, 7 pinzu (7p, 7 circles or 7 dots) may her claiming tile.
I would like to talk more and more with this hand...maybe in another column.


If the player obtains a winning tile within the first turn of calling riichi, another bonus named 'ippatsu' will be added, one fan.

Imazine discarding a dora for the riichi-declaring player immediately.
If the tile reveals to be "bingo!" the score, at least 1 fan riichi hand, will be multplied 1 fan for dora and another 1 fan for ippatsu.
Minimum payment is 5200 for non dealer.



Amazingly Mihoko discards her dora gracefully with confidence, so as to prompt Yuuki to go ahead, clearing her dora, too.

Why could Mihoko put her dora on her own river?





Note: there are four of a kind in each tile; no fifth 6p exists, for example.



Waiting set for claiming 7p may be classified into five cases:



a Waiting either 4p or 7p: Open-Ended (ryannmen)

b Waiting 7p to compose 789 (penchan)

c Waiting 7p to compose 678 (kanchan)

d Waiting 7p or another to compose a triplet (shanpon)

e Waiting 7p to make a pair (tanki)

Then gather information from the river, dora indicater (6p, in this case) and my own hand.

Note:dora indicator indicates the real doras which are NEXT to dora indicator.

The dora is 7p because the dora indicator is 6p.



(i) Jun declares riichi with discarding 8p.

(ii) There are two 6ps on the river.

(iii) I have one 6p(iii-1), two 7ps(iii-2) and three 8ps(iii-3)

(iv) Yuuki discarded one 7p

and

(v) The dora indicater is 6p



...OK, let's deliberate each case listed above.



Case a : Waiting either 4p or 7p :Open-Ended (ryannmen)

(ii) There are two 6ps on the river.

(iii-1) I have one 6p

(v) The dora indicater is 6p

So all 6ps are found.
Deduction: Jun's hand doesn't wait either 4p or 7p: Open-Ended (ryannmen)



Case b : Waiting 7p to compose 789 (penchan)

Case c : Waiting 7p to compose 678 (kanchan)

(i) Jun declares riichi with discarding 8p.

(iii-3) I have three 8ps.

So all 8ps are found.
Deduction: Jun's hand doesn't wait 7p to compose 789 (penchan) or 678 (kanchan)



Case d : Waiting 7p or another to compose a triplet (shanpon)

(iii-2) I have two 7ps.

(iv) Yuuki discarded one 7p.

Deduction: Jun's hand doesn't wait 7p or another to compose a triplet (shanpon)



How about Case e : Waiting 7p to make a pair (tanki)?

Mihoko says "Judging from Yuuki's style of sorting tiles, her tiles are all characters except the leftest"

and "Remaining dora worries her...OK I will fix it up, so follow me!"

Speculation: it is Yuuki , not Jun, who has the fourth 7p.



You're beat? I'm beat. How about Mihoko? She makes such a conclusion within a few seconds.
Beautiful, warm and clever woman...another monster.

Characters (Craks: Wanzu or Manzu)

This page is made so as to help memorizing characters (cracks).
You may found "1m"... It means 1 manzu or 1 wanzu
ex. "I should have discarded 1m instead of 2m to go out half flush."

Tiles

Tiles are divided into two groups, the suits and the honors.
There are 34 kinds of unique tiles and four of each of the tiles;
So complete set consists of 136 tiles.

Note: four red tiles, one 5 character, one 5 bamboo and TWO 5 dots(circles)
may be found as a dora, for the replacement of normal four tiles.

*Free Riichi-mahjong game site

www.gamedesign.jp/flash/mahjong/mahjong_e.html

While there is a East-wind-round-only game site which I introduce here,
*Try riichi-mahjong! It's totally FREE! (introduction)
http://riichimahjong.blogspot.com/2010/05/simple-but-free-experience-of-riichi.html

this IS the site for the person who wish to play riichi-mahjong yet is not familiar with Kanji-characters!
Simple tutorial goes with the initial page which you will find with scrolling the page.

I have some to add...

You can call "Ron" only when you have at least one "yaku".
In other words, even if you have four sets and a pair, you cannot call "Ron" if you have no yaku.
For example, the yaku of the hand above is Tan-yao, All Simples, having no terminal or honor in each set.


More than thirty yaku exist but you do not have to memorize all when trying riichi-mahjong.

The easiest way to secure one yaku is as follows:

  1. Make your hand self-drawn:
      DO NOT USE chii(chow), pon(pung) or kan(kong)
  2. Declare riichi by pressing the riichi button
      which will appear automatically when you are ready to go out.

Your yaku is riichi. 1 fan.


Even if you follow my advice you may experience that you cannot call "Ron."
I guess you have already discarded the tile(s) related to your winning.
Note: you cannot call "Ron" if you have already discarded the tile related to your waiting ones.
For example, according to the picture above, if you have discarded not only 8 bamboo but 5 bamboo, you cannot call "Ron".

This is one of the toughest rule to master, self-sacred rule, or "furiten."
I will follow articles related to furiten in another page(s).

Still you can go out, calling "Tsumo" by drawing the tile you need. Good Luck!

PS: you may try your score plus minus zero and realize that Saki is not a human being but a monster \(^o^)/

Diagram of hands or "yaku" (right)

© Ryumon Juzo　2010    riichiryumon–contact@yahoo.co.jp

Diagram of hands or "yaku" (left)

 

Too big to show the entire picture so that I have to add another page which has the right part of this diagram.
If I hit upon a better idea to show you the picture, I will upgrade the page.

Best way to learn riichi-mahjong

I think the best way to learn riichi-mahjong is to obtain riichi-mahjong PC software sold in Japan and play it while consulting certain manual of riichi-mahjong.

I recommend you to visit the page of this blog to play riichi-mahjong with your PC.
*Simple but FREE experience of riichi-mahjong! (introduction)
http://riichimahjong.blogspot.com/2010/05/simple-but-free-experience-of-riichi.html

Problem: I don't think there are software of riichi-mahjong in English so that you have to "decode" Kanji characters to understand directions including various hands or "yaku".

I will make a list of yaku and upload on this blog so that at least you can understand the concept of each yaku easier: I promise I will show you a software of English version, if available someday.



If you live in Kanto Area in Japan, Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa or Saitama, I will visit and instruct you how to play riichi-mahjong, thirty-minute lecture plus exercise on PC, with a reasonable fee.
Mail me for further information.

What's "riichi-mahjong (Reach Mahjong) ?"

Riichi-mahjong (Reach Mahjong) is of course transformed from China-origin-mahjong but something different as follows:

1. The player who discards the winning tile pays ALL for the winner: so that discarded tiles must be displayed in order.

2. Players must secure at least one hand or "yaku" to declare winning: each player requires a knowledge of yaku. Thirty or more yaku exist.

There are other differences so newbies had a hard time in learnning riichi-mahjong, especially yaku, until datsui-mahjong, or arcade strip mahjong game appeared in early 1980s.