Yakuhai

Yakuhai is 1 han for each triplet or quad of a dragon, your seat wind, or the round wind. A call doesn't change the han.

The name players use is yakuhai (役牌). This site's glossary also lists it as Value Tiles. The EMA 2016 rules list it as fanpai or yakuhai.

Which tiles count

• The three dragons: white , green , and red . A dragon triplet is 1 han for every player.
• Your seat wind. The dealer is East. South sits at the dealer's right, West sits across, and North sits at the dealer's left.
• The round wind. That's East in the East round and South in the South round. It counts for all four players.

Any other wind is a guest wind. A triplet of it adds fu and no han.

The glossary entry is the short form: 1 han per set of dragons, seat wind, or round wind.

Double wind

When your seat wind is also the round wind, the triplet counts twice. You score 1 han as the seat wind and 1 han as the round wind. The dealer's East in the East round is the common case. In the South round, the player in the South seat has it.

Tenhou's rules list the seat wind and the round wind as two separate 1 han yaku. The ninth scoring example in the EMA 2016 rules is East in the East round, and it scores 1 fan for the seat wind plus 1 fan for the prevalent wind.

A red dragon pon

You called pon on red dragon: . These ten tiles are still in your hand.

The hand waits on or . makes 234 sou and keeps the pair of 5s. makes 345 sou and keeps the same pair. The red-dragon triplet is the only yaku, so either tile wins at 1 han.

The fu is the base 20, plus 4 for an open honor triplet. That's 24, and it rounds up to 30. At 1 han 30 fu, a non-dealer ron collects 1,000. The dealer collects 1,500. Those payments have no dora, no honba, and no riichi sticks.

Double East as the dealer

You're the dealer in the East round, and you called pon on East: .

The hand waits on or . The East triplet is 2 han, seat wind plus round wind. The fu is 24 on a ron, so the hand is 2 han 30 fu. The dealer's ron collects 2,900. A tsumo adds 2 fu, still 30 after rounding, and collects 1,000 from each player.

In the same round, a non-dealer with the same pon has 1 han. East is only the round wind for that player. A non-dealer ron at 1 han 30 fu collects 1,000.

A dragon pair is not a yaku

This hand is closed, with no calls.

You hold a pair of white dragons and a pair of 9 sou. The hand waits on or , a wait on two pairs.

turns the white pair into a triplet, and that triplet is yakuhai. A ron is 1 han 40 fu: the base 20, plus 10 for a closed ron, plus 4 for the white triplet. A triplet finished on a discard counts as open. 34 rounds up to 40. A non-dealer collects 1,300. The dealer collects 2,000.

A tsumo on the white dragon is 2 han 30 fu, because menzen tsumo adds a han. A non-dealer collects 500 from each other non-dealer and 1,000 from the dealer.

leaves the whites as the pair. A pair of dragons adds 2 fu and no han, so a ron on 9 sou has no yaku. You can't take it without riichi. A tsumo on it still wins, because menzen tsumo is a yaku of its own.

Pass that 9 sou and you can't ron any tile until your next turn. Tenhou's rules say a waiting tile that gives no yaku still makes you furiten for the turn. The EMA 2016 rules say the same in section 3.4.5. That section also makes you furiten on the white dragon when a 9 sou is already in your discards.

Open or closed

The han stays the same after a call. Neither the Tenhou yaku list nor the EMA 2016 list marks yakuhai as closed only. An open hand still needs a yaku, and a dragon or wind triplet is one that survives the call.

Tenhou also allows atozuke (後付け). You may chi first and pon the dragon later, and the hand still wins once the dragon triplet is there.

Common mistakes

• A guest-wind triplet scores no han. North is a guest wind for the South seat in the East round. An open hand with only that triplet has no yaku.
• A pair of dragons, your seat wind, or the round wind is not a yaku. It adds 2 fu, and it keeps the hand from being pinfu.
• The round wind counts for every player. In the East round, any player's East triplet is at least 1 han. The dealer's is 2 han.
• Double wind needs both winds. The dealer's East in the South round is the seat wind only, so it's 1 han.
• A pair of your double wind is 4 fu on Tenhou. The fu counter in the score calculator uses 4 and can switch to 2.

What sits with it

Honitsu often carries a dragon or wind triplet. Toitoi counts that triplet as one of its four. Two dragon triplets plus a pair of the third dragon is shousangen: 2 han on top of the 2 han from the two triplets. Three dragon triplets is daisangen, a yakuman.