Hong Kong Mahjong · Limit

Four Concealed Pungs (坑坑糊) in Hong Kong Mahjong: Limit Hand, Examples and Odds

In Hong Kong mahjong, Four Concealed Pungs (坑坑糊, haang haang wu) is a limit hand, scored Limit: all four pungs are concealed — every one drawn by yourself, none claimed from a discard — plus a pair. A limit hand scores the 10-fan cap straight away.

Four Concealed Pungs is really a concealed All Pungs. Ordinary All Pungs is 3 fan, but as soon as all four pungs are your own draws, it jumps to the limit.

The rules for Four Concealed Pungs

• All four sets are pungs (or kongs) — no chows
• All four must be concealed: three tiles drawn yourself, never punged from a discard; a concealed kong counts as concealed
• Punging or making an exposed kong of any set ends it — you're back to ordinary All Pungs
• The pair can be any tile

When winning on a discard still counts

You don't have to self-draw, but how the last tile arrives matters:

• Pair wait (four concealed pungs done, waiting for the pair): winning on someone's discard completes only the pair, so all four pungs are still your own — it counts.
• Two-pair wait (waiting for either pair to become a pung): winning on a discard completes a pung from someone else's tile, so that pung isn't concealed — only three are, and it drops to All Pungs. It counts only if you self-draw.

How Four Concealed Pungs is scored

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

How it relates to other hands

• All Pungs: Four Concealed Pungs is always All Pungs, but a limit hand scores only the limit.
• Concealed hand: it is always concealed (a concealed kong doesn't break that), and that isn't added either.
• Four Kongs: all four sets are kongs. Four concealed kongs make both limit hands, still counted once.
• All Terminals, All Honours: other all-pung limit hands, also counted once at the cap.

Four Concealed Pungs odds

How many pairs in the opening hand

You need to draw all four pungs yourself, so the more pairs you start with, the better. A 13-tile opening hand has 4 or more pairs about 2.2% of the time, and 5 or more only 0.11%.

Source: 1,000,000 random 13-tile deals (flowers already replaced).

How often it happens in play

In 100,000 hands of computer play on this site (81,026 wins), Four Concealed Pungs came up 18 times, 0.022% of wins; ordinary All Pungs was 5.8%. All Pungs is usually built fast by punging discards — and the first pung rules out Four Concealed Pungs, which is why the gap is so wide.

When Four Concealed Pungs is worth trying

• You already hold concealed pungs: one or two concealed pungs plus two or three pairs before it's worth refusing to pung.
• To pung or not: punging is faster but caps you at All Pungs; refusing means relying on your own draws. With plenty of wall left and none of your pair tiles discarded yet, you can wait.
• Prefer the pair wait: if you can choose, a pair wait still counts on a discard; a two-pair wait needs a self-draw.
• Scoring pairs: dragon or seat-wind pairs still pay a fan if you end up punging them, so you keep a fallback.

To get a feel for when to hold back, open a table of online Hong Kong mahjong and play the computers.

Four Concealed Pungs in other mahjong styles

Four concealed pungs exists in Japanese, Taiwanese and Chinese Official (Guobiao) mahjong, with different scores and self-draw rules: Japanese mahjong yaku list, Taiwanese mahjong tai table, Guobiao fan table. Sichuan mahjong has no such hand; the closest is Sichuan mahjong All Pungs.

FAQ

How many fan is Four Concealed Pungs?

In Hong Kong mahjong Four Concealed Pungs is a limit hand: Limit, the 10-fan cap.

Does Four Concealed Pungs have to be self-drawn?

Not always on this site: with four concealed pungs done and a pair wait, winning on a discard counts. On a two-pair wait, the pung completed by a discard isn't concealed, so it's only All Pungs. Some tables always require a self-draw — agree on it first.

Do concealed kongs count?

Yes. A concealed kong is four tiles you drew yourself and counts as a concealed pung; exposed and added kongs don't.

Related hands

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. Concealed Hand 1 fan No chows or pungs is worth 1 fan: do concealed kongs count, discard vs self-draw, building 3 fan with All Chows and No Flowers, and how common it is. Four Kongs Limit Four kongs and a single-wait pair: 18 tiles on the table, a limit hand and one of the rarest you'll ever see.