In Garthe's Hands #12

June 2, 2007

In Garthe's Hands #12

We have a request!! One faithful reader has expressed an interest in hands that are not "hands". Most of the hands I've covered so far involve some specific combination of triples and runs. However, some of the hands are situational, the triples and runs are not as important as what has the current situation in the game. I've covered a couple such hands so far, Reach and Concealed Self Draw. Remember, in both of these hands, the combination of runs and triples in the hand is not important, the hand must simply be "ready". One might consider these hands that are not "hands" because there's no specific combination necessary. There are several such hands but aside from the two mentioned above, they are comparatively rare. This week I'll cover 3 of the more unusual ones, Final Tile Win, King's Tile Draw (Quad Heaven Draw), and Add-a-Quad Win.

Final Tile Win: 1 Hand Point

Of the 3 hands this week Final Tile Win will probably be the most common (Haitei in Japanese). It is sometimes divided into two categories: Final Draw and Final Discard. Like Reach, the only requirement of the contents of the hand is that it be "Ready". The situation is that it is the last tile of the hand. This means that if the last tile drawn completes that player's hand, he can declare Mahjong, even if he didn't have any other Hand Points in the hand (Final Draw). Even if that last player to draw doesn't complete his hand, the last tile he now throws away is just as important. If that tile complete's one of the other players' hands then that player can now go out, even if he didn't have any other Hand Points in his hand up until that point (Final Discard). Of course, it will work together in the usual way with other hands to make for a multi-point hand if there are other points in the hand. Also, players will sometimes steal tiles toward the end of a hand to make their hands ready in case that hand ends in a draw. It can be a nice extra bonus to win on the Last Tile even though one was only going for the ready hand points.

A key point to be careful of with Last Tile is to not run afoul of the Missed Win rule. When that last player discarding is looking for something to throw away, he will often choose something related to a tile that was just discarded. For example, let's say I'm waiting for the 6-9 of dots with a ready hand that doesn't have any Hand Points in it yet. The second to last player discards my 6 of dots but I can't win on it because I haven't Reached, and I don't have any other points in my hand. Because he has just thrown the 6, the last discarder knows that it's a safe tile and unfortunately for me when he throws it, I still can't go out because I am now on a Missed Win. In fact, even if he had thrown the 9, my wait still leaves me subject to the Missed Win rule and would not be able to win on that tile either. Never forget the treachery of the Missed Win; it killed me more than a few times in my early days. Last Tile is unusual, but it's also a cool way to turn what might have been only 1000 points for a ready hand, into a few more for a winning hand.

King's Tile Draw (Quad Heaven Draw): 1 Hand Point

Next let's look at the Quad Heaven Draw. Once again, the only requirement for the hand's contents is that it be Ready. The situation is that a player has just completed a quad and the extra tile drawn from "Heaven" completes his hand. It's fairly simple actually, but some parlors have a special rule regarding this situation that I really REALLY hate, mostly I suppose, because I'm the only person I know to have ever been hit by it. If the player draws the tile to complete his quad himself, then it won't be an issue; the other 3 players will split the points to paid to the winner in the normal manner. However, if I throw the tile that completes a player's quad and the supplement tile that he draws from the King's Tiles is his winning tile, I am "Responsible", and I must pay the entire amount, even though I didn't throw his winning tile. It really ires me not only because I don't see why I should be paying when I didn't throw his winner, but it also takes precedence over the Missed Win rule which is usually one of the most sacred parts of Reach Mahjong. That player had actually thrown away one of his winning tiles and then drew it from Heaven and then I have to pay?!?!?!?!?!?! !"#$%&$%&'%&'($&'"#$%"%&$()%' Graceful loser that I am I may have lost some face with the staff on that one.

A note from Jenn: The reasoning behind this "Pow" or "Responsibility" rule (also seen in some Limit Hands) is that if you discard a tile that allows another player to declare a Quad, it means you threw a tile that has not yet been seen on the board and you should have an idea that it is quite dangerous. I'm not sure how I feel about this rule either, but there does seem to be some rhyme behind it.

Add-a-Quad Win (Robbing the Quad): 1 Hand Point

And last for this week will be the Add-a-Quad Win. Rarer in fact than some of the limit hands I wouldn't be surprised if many readers never get a chance to see it. The situation required here is that a player has bumped some triple and then draws the 4th of that tile to complete the quad. If he adds the tile to make his quad, and that tile completes another player's ready hand that player wins; the player making the quad must pay the winner. In general, concealed quads are exempt, though there is one situation where one can win even when the quad is concealed. When the winning hand is 13 Orphans, most parlors and home rules allow a win even when the quad is entirely self-drawn or concealed.

Because these hands involve situations and not combinations, it will be difficult to make very illustrative examples. But it just feels so empty without examples so let me go ahead and try anway:

Final Draw

The last tile drawn from the mountain was the 2 of Bams so the hand has Concealed Self Draw and Final Draw for a total of 500/1000 if it's non-dealer, or 1000 from each player if the winner is the dealer.

Final Discard

The player drawing the last tile from the mountain discarded the 8 of Bams and 9 of Dots was the Lucky dragon so the total is 2000 for a non dealer or 2900 if the winner is the dealer.

King's Tile Win

The 1 of Bams was the Lucky dragon so the player bumped hoping to get an outside hand. Unfortunately the 6 of Grands came so he was hoping to draw a 九 so he could change it to an outside hand but when the 9 of Dots came out, he quadded hoping to get lucky and he did!!! After quadding, he drew the matching tile for his head and gets one point for the King's Tile Draw and 3 more for the Lucky Dragons for a total of 4 hand points. That's 8000 for a non-dealer or 12000 for a dealer.

Add-a-Quad Win

A player had already bumped the 9 of Bams and when he drew the last 9 of Bams and added to the other 3 to make a quad, this hand won. Peace, 3 Colored Runs (concealed) and Quad Heaven Draw for 7700 points for a non-dealer or 11600 for the dealer.