Hong Kong Mahjong · 1 fan

Terminals and Honours (Mixed Terminals, 混么九) in Hong Kong Mahjong: Fan, Examples and Odds

In Hong Kong mahjong, Terminals and Honours (混么九, mixed terminals) is worth 1 fan: every tile of your winning hand, including exposed pungs and kongs, is a terminal (a 1 or 9 of characters, dots or bamboo) or an honour (winds and dragons), and you have both terminals and honours.

There is no chow made only of 1s and 9s — 123 and 789 always contain a 2, 3, 7 or 8 — so a Terminals and Honours hand is always four pungs plus a pair, which means it always scores All Pungs 3 fan as well. On paper it looks small; in practice the hand is at least 4 fan, and 5 fan with No Flowers.

The rules for Terminals and Honours

• All 14 tiles are 1s, 9s or honours — not a single 2 to 8
• You need both terminals and honours: all terminals with no honours is All Terminals, all honours is All Honours, both limit hands
• With no chows possible it is always four pungs (or kongs) plus a pair, so you cannot chow — only pung or kong
• Punging and winning on a discard are fine; you don't need a concealed hand. Flowers score separately

How Terminals and Honours is scored

The fan below are computed live by the same scoring code the game uses.

Common combinations:

How it relates to other hands

• All Pungs: Terminals and Honours is always All Pungs, and both are scored.
• All Terminals: only 1s and 9s with no honours at all — a limit hand.
• All Honours: only honours — a limit hand. Terminals and Honours sits between the two.
• Thirteen Orphans: also only terminals and honours, but one of each of the thirteen kinds plus a pair, not pungs — a different limit hand.
• Mixed One Suit: if your terminals are all from one suit (say 1 and 9 dots) plus honours, it is Mixed One Suit too.
• Scoring honours: pungs of dragons, the round wind or your seat wind add fan each, so this hand reaches the limit easily.

Terminals and Honours odds

How many terminals and honours in the opening hand

There are 13 kinds of terminals and honours, 52 tiles — just under 40% of the 136 tiles (flowers excluded). A 13-tile opening hand has 8 or more of them about 6.6% of the time, 9 or more only 1.8%, and 10 or more 0.36%.

Tile count isn't enough, though: you need pairs and pungs, ideally two or three terminal or honour pairs already. A hand opens with 3 or more pairs about 15% of the time.

How often it happens in play

In 100,000 hands of computer play on this site (81,026 wins), Terminals and Honours came up 2 times, 0.0025% of all wins. The computers never aim for it directly — it appears on the way to All Pungs or Mixed One Suit; All Pungs, for comparison, is 5.8% of wins.

Which hands suit Terminals and Honours

• Lots of terminal and honour pairs: three or four pairs of 1s, 9s or honours in the opening hand before it is worth thinking about.
• Pairs that score: dragon, seat-wind and round-wind pairs add a fan each once punged.
• Already going for All Pungs: break up pairs of 2 to 8 first and keep the terminals and honours for an extra 1 fan.
• Honours are easy to pung: honours can't be chowed, so pung them when they come out; most players throw 1s and 9s early.

To try it yourself, open a table of online Hong Kong mahjong — the computers play with you and count the fan for you.

Terminals and Honours in other mahjong styles

• Sichuan mahjong has no honours. Its closest hand is "quan dai yao", but the rule is different: every set just has to contain a 1 or 9, and chows are allowed (Sichuan mahjong Terminals in Every Set)
• Japanese, Taiwanese and Chinese Official (Guobiao) mahjong score it differently — see their tables: Japanese mahjong yaku list, Taiwanese mahjong tai table, Guobiao fan table

FAQ

How many fan is Terminals and Honours?

This site scores it 1 fan. But it is always All Pungs as well, so the hand is at least 4 fan, more with No Flowers, scoring honours or Mixed One Suit.

Can you chow in Terminals and Honours?

No. A chow is a run, and any run with a 1 or 9 also contains a 2 to 8. Only pungs and kongs work.

What's the difference between Terminals and Honours and All Terminals?

Terminals and Honours has honours; All Terminals has none — only 1s and 9s. All Terminals is a limit hand.

Does Thirteen Orphans count as Terminals and Honours?

No. Thirteen Orphans is one of each of the thirteen terminals and honours plus a pair, not four pungs, and it is a limit hand on its own.

Related hands

All Terminals Limit Four pungs and a pair from just six kinds of 1s and 9s: a limit hand, far harder than Terminals and Honours. All Pungs 3 fan Four pungs and a pair, no chows — 3 fan, exactly enough to win. Examples, scoring combos and how many pairs you need to go for it. Thirteen Orphans Limit One of each of the thirteen terminals and honours plus a pair: a limit hand, no claims allowed, with up to a 13-sided wait.