Here are the list of yakus obtainable under Japanese Mahjong rules.

1 yaku

Reach (立直)

- Must be fully closed, and only when a person declares Riichi. Once you declared riichi, you CANNOT change your hand. You can still make a closed kan as long as it does not change the waits. If you tsumo/ron a riichi hand, 1 yaku is automatically here and you can open the ura doras.

1-shot (一発)

- Only when declaring riichi. A 1-shot is defined when you tsumo/ron a riichi hand during the turn you declare riichi. Another condition is that there are no calls around this time. The extra han is yours if you pulled this off.

Tsumo (門前清自摸和)

- Only for a fully-closed hand.

Last draw tile (海底撈月)

- One of the lucky han where you draw the last tile that happens to be the winning tile. The meaning of this statement is "Scooping the moon out of the bottom of the sea."

Last discard (河底撈魚)

- Another lucky han where you ronned the final discard tile from another person. The meaning of it is "Scooping the fish out of the river."

Dead wall draw (嶺上開花)

- Another lucky han that has a condition when you declare a kan, and draw the winning tile from the dead wall.

There is also a unique rule such that when you make an open kan (meaning taking the 4th tile discarded to make a kan), if you tsumo by the Dead Wall Draw, the person who discarded the 4th tile must pay in full instead. This rule is called "The responsible one pays". (責任払い)

Robbing a quad (搶槓)

- Only applies when someone makes a late kan (A.K.A adding the 4th tile he draw onto the pon)

All sequences (平和)

- Only applies when your hand is purely closed, a 2-sided wait and all of your melds are sequences and a worthless pair. (You still can have a wind pair as long as it is not your wind/round)

All simples (断么九)

- All of your melds do not have any terminals or honors. In some rules, a kuitan (Open tanyou) is allowed, and vice versa. Make sure to read the rules before playing.

1 identical sequence (一盃口)

If you have something like this : 667788 pins, then thats an identical sequence. Your hand must be fully closed.

2 yakus

Double Reach (ダブルリーチ)

Same as a normal reach, except that you are already in tenpai after just 1 draw without any calls whatsoever.

Straight (一気通貫)

In a pin/wan/sou set, you have each tile from 1 to 9. Loses 1 yaku if open.

3-coloured straight (三色同順)

In each pin/wan/sou, you have identical sequences (Like 345 in pin, wan and sou sets). Loses a yaku if open.

3-coloured triplet (三色同刻)

Same as above, except that you have 3 of the same triplets in each kind. Unlike the above, it doesn't lose a yaku even if it is open.

Mixed terminals (全帯么)

Each meld contains a terminal or honor. Loses a yaku if open.

All triplets (対々和)

Every meld are triplets/quads.

7-pairs (七対子)

A special hand where you have 7 pairs in your hand. Must be fully closed and automatically gives you a 25-fu hand no matter the circumstances.

3 concealed triplet (三暗刻)

A hand consisting of 3 concealed triplet melds.

All terminals and honors (混老頭)

A hand that consists only the terminals and honors. Since it is paired with 7-pair or all triplets, it will always yield at least 4 hans.

Little 3 dragons (小三元)

A hand that has 2 dragon triplets and 1 last dragon as a pair. It will yield at least 4 hans after adding the dragon yakuhais.

3 kans (三槓子)

Your hand consists of 3 of any kind of kans. Statistically its the hardest non-yakuman point to win.

3 yakus

Mixed Flush (混一色)

Your hand only consists of 1 suit plus the honor tiles. Loses a yaku if open.

2 identical sequences (二盃口)

You have 2 different identical sequences in your hand. In this case, a 7-pair hand doesn't apply anymore.

Pure terminals in each set (純全帯么)

Your hand strictly consists of a terminal in each set, without honors. Loses a yaku if open.

6 yakus

Flush (清一色)

Your hand only consists of 1 suit, nothing else. Loses a yaku if open.

Auto-Mangan yaku

Terminal/honor discards (流し満貫)

Only to be done during a null round by exhaustive draws. If your discards are purely made of terminals and/or honor tiles only, you'll automatically get a Mangan hand (2000/4000 to non-dealer, or 4000 each to dealer). In some rules, your discards must not be called from others. This scenario is stackable, thus more than 1 person can pull this off, although it very rarely happens.

Japanese Mahjong - Special Yakuman

Here's a list of the special yakuman that you can possibly throw out.

1. DaiSanGen (大三元) (A.K.A The Three Great Dragons, Difficulty 4/10)

To get this yakuman you need to have 3 triplets of chun, hatsu and haku (red, green and white). Whether it is open or not it doesn't matter. Then follow it up by a pair and another triplet or a sequence. 1 yakuman reward.

A ShoSanGen (The Little Three Dragons) is NOT a yakuman, but awards you 2 hans if you have any of the 3 dragon pairs.

There is also a special rule regarding this hand (and also DaiSuuShi). If all of your dragon triplets are open, the person who discarded the last dragon tile to make the last pon will be in big trouble. If you tsumo your open Daisangen, he/she will have to pay you in full. If you ron from another player, the payment is split in half. (The one who dealt the last pon tile pays half of it, and the other person who get ronned pays the other half.)

2. ShoSuuShi (小四喜) (The 4 Little Winds, Difficulty 5/10)

You need to have 3 triplets of the winds and a pair of the last wind. Doesn't depend on close/open hand. 1 yakuman reward.

3. DaiSuuShi (大四喜) (The 4 Great Winds, Difficulty 8/10)

Same as ShoSuuShi, except all 4 winds must be a triplet. Again, you don't need to completely close the hand. Since it is a very rare yakuman, 2 yakuman limit is the prize. (A.K.A Double Yakuman)

The special rule such that the person who discarded the last tile for the last wind pon is to pay in full if you tsumo the hand applies here.

4. Tsuu-Ii-sho (字一色) (Pure honors, Difficulty 6/10)

This requires you to have just honors only. That's right, 4 triplets of honor and a pair of another honor tile. This is stack-able with other yakuman like the above, and maybe even a Suu-An-Ko. As usual, open or close doesn't matter much. Reward is 1 yakuman limit.

5. Suu-An-Ko (四暗刻) (4 concealed triplets, Difficulty 4/10)

This requires you to have 4 concealed triplets and another pair of your liking. Since you are waiting with 3 concealed triplet, the yakuman must be self-drawn. If you ron it, on the worst case scenario you'll only win a mangan hand. (Toitoi + Sanankou reaches 4 hans already) Your hand must also be completely closed. (An open kan is not counted, while a closed kan still counts as a concealed triplet.) Gives you 1 yakuman limit.

4. Suu-An-Ko Tankin (四暗刻 単騎待ち) (4 concealed triplets waiting for a single tile, Difficulty 8/10)

Same as above, except that you have 4 concealed triplets already and a dummy tile ready to get its mate. Since 4 concealed triplets has already been fulfilled, you can ron another person's winning tile. As said above, your hand MUST be closed. Awards 2 yakuman limit instead of 1.

5. Kokushi-Musou (国士無双) (The Thirteen Orphans, Difficulty 6/10)

This can be complicated to explain. All you need is a single 1 and 9 of every suit, and 1 honor each (all of them), and lastly 1 of them can be a dummy pair. If you have all 13 of every different kind, this will become Kokushi-Musou Juu-san Men-machi (国士無双 十三面待ち) instead, where you can take any 1 of the tile and win. Awards 2 yakuman limit if it is as said before, otherwise it is 1 yakuman limit.

There is a very unique rule for this hand. If someone makes a closed kan of the tile that you are waiting to win, you CAN actually RON that kan tile, in contrast with late open kan required to ron using Chankan. Ronning the 4th tile from the closed kan is only possible if you have Kokushi-Musou.

6. Chuu-ren-poutou (九蓮宝燈) (The 9 Heavenly Gates, Difficulty 7/10)

In order to win this hand you must have a Chinitsu first. You must have 2 triplets of 1 and 9, and a sequence of 2 to 8. If you are waiting like this hand : 1,1,1,2,4,5,6,6,7,8,9,9,9 , then you need to wait for a 3 in order to get Chuu-ren-poutou. It is quite risky in reality, because you are also waiting for a 2, thus losing this yakuman. That is why in certain scenarios, fewer waits are better if you want to nail this yakuman. In this case, 1 yakuman limit is awarded. If your hand is like this however: 1,1,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,9,9 , then you can say bye bye to your opponents, because there are 9 possible outcomes if you get any of the numbers. (In this case it is called Junsei-Chuu-ren-poutou (純正九蓮宝燈) ) Award 2 yakuman limit. Both cases must be closed hand.

7. Chin-Rou-Tou (清老頭) (Pure Old Man, Difficulty 5/10)

To win that, you must have a pure terminal triplets of 1 and 9 of any suits. The hand can be open or closed. Awards 1 yakuman and can stack with Suu-An-Ko if you're lucky.

8. Dai-Sha-Rin (大車輪) (Sequence pair of same suit, Difficulty 9/10)

The hand must be a Chinitsu pin tiles only. You must be able to get pairs of 2 to 8. 1 yakuman limit, and your hand must be closed.

9. Ryuu-Ii-Sou (緑一色) (Pure Green Suit, Difficulty 7/10)

First, you must take note of what tiles you need to do this hand : 2,3,4,6,8 sous and green dragon. Green dragon tile isn't necessary, but if you want to do it then thats fine. Open or closed hand. 1 yakuman limit.

10. Suu-Kan-Zi (四槓子) (4 kans, Difficulty 10/10)

This is by far one of the hardest yakuman to earn, for a simple reason. If more than 4 kans appears, the game stops here. However, if done correctly, then this hand is basically yours. 1 yakuman limit. Any type of kans is acceptable, and it definitely doesn't have to be closed.

11. Tenhou (Heaven hand), Chihou (Earth hand), Renhou (Man hand)

These 3 are special cases when you have already tenpai right from the start. For Tenhou, you must be a dealer and draw the final winning tile. For Chihou, any subsequent players who draw the first and final winning tile gets it. For Renhou, you must be able to Ron the first discarded tile before your turn comes. In all cases, it depends on how lucky your starting tiles are.

In some rules, Renhou is NOT a yakuman, instead they can make it as a baiman hand (meaning 16000/24000 points win for non-dealer/dealer) since it is considered as opening your full hand.

Japanese Mahjong - How NOT to fall for a tenpai hand

With many experience from getting rons, here's some tips in avoiding "most" of the tenpai/riichi hands for your opponents.

1. Riichi - Bail out or risk it?

When someone declares a riichi, any tiles discarded before the riichi is a furiten, and you know fairly well that the person cannot ron that furiten tile unless he/she self-draw win. Take a look at the previous discarded tile including the riichi tile, and if you want to bail it out, so be it. It is better to keep risky tiles and have a no-ten hand rather than discarding risky tiles at random. Don't forget to keep track of his subsequent discards especially if you are unsure of what to discard. ESPECIALLY when it comes to dora tile.

2. Repeating immediate discards.

If you have a feeling that someone is repeatedly discarding tiles at first sight, there is a chance that he/she is already tenpai. It is really hard to tell compared to a riichi hand, more so if someone decides NOT to declare riichi. It is hard, but as long as you look at the discard tiles you should still do fine.

3. Discards from others =/= safe tile

Lets take the first case, when someone declares riichi. Other people's discard before the riichi happens DOES NOT MEAN that it is safe to discard. For example, someone discarded the tile you want for a chi (sequence), but failed either by not declaring it, playing 3-person mahjong, or not your left-side player. Then, you declare riichi and still waiting for that tile. If the same person or another person has a preception that the tile by other player/self is discarded, it should be relatively safe. Sadly enough, this is exactly where they will get victimised. Thus, look carefully on other people's discards including yours. The previous discarded tile MAY be the one the riichi person is looking for.

Japanese Mahjong - Key to high hand

Here are the keys to win your hands:

1. As simple as possible.

Try not to be too dreamy to try and get a very good hand. Sometimes a simple hand may go dangerous. As shown below what can a simple hand may potentially do:

As you can see, this is a result of Reach + 1-shot + Self-draw + No-points hand + No terminal/honor + 1 Dora (Notice the red 5-man?), which results in a Haneman hand. It still all depends on luck.

2. A case of 2 triplets and 2 pairs at start.

There is a good chance that you can create a 4 concealed triplet (and that is if you self draw it), or even better - 4 concealed triplet waiting for a final pair. (Which means 4 concealed triplet + 1 dummy tile waiting to win!)

3. A case of specific suit dominant (More than 7 ideally)

You can try to create a Mix or Pure suit if you can. There is even chances of the 9 heavenly gates or sequential pair of the same suit simples! If you keep getting the wrong cards though, always make a back-up.

4. A case of 3 dragon tiles coming in. (2 pairs of them is great)

This is a fair chance to try the great 3 dragons! Try not to discard them first unless someone else has made a pon on 1 of them.

5. Dora is your friend.

No, I don't mean Dora the young girl adventurer. What I mean is that you should try to use the dora indicators to your good advantage. Dora adds points to your hand, and can potentially make your hand into a non-special yakuman hand! (At least 13 points required) But don't let this come to your head, because you must have something else to win before claiming your doras!

6. When to declare pon/chi

If your hand consists of all simple tiles, you can opt for a cheap No-terminal/honor hand by keep getting the chi or pon from your side. Otherwise don't even try it. Even if you are waiting for a winning tile, if you mess it up by chi or pon the terminal or wrong wind tiles, you cannot win since it worth nothing to win. Only when you have the correct wind tile (As in what wind you are in and what wind round it is), or when you have a dragon triplet, only then can you do whatever you like to win the hand. Remember : Calling pon/chi/kan will simplify your hand, but will make your hand worthless if you're not careful.

7. Calling riichi

Sometimes your hand may still be worthless when all are closed. Riichi is a key to gain at least a point in it, even better if you 1-shot it. However, when calling for a special yakuman hand, some players choose not to do so in order to give others a rather nasty surprise. Still, I recommend you to do a riichi unless you are sure you can win some points without the riichi, or you are waiting for a special yakuman win. Be warned : Once you declare riichi you cannot change your hand. You will keep discarding every tile until you get the right one. That means you are giving yourself away to getting a risky ron, or you cannot change into a much better hand. (Example changing the identical sequence to a 4-concealed triplet yakuman chance.)

8. More chance or bad single wait?

You need to consider of whether you want to have more chances to wait to win, or rather wait for a bad single wait. In a case of Saki Episode 11, Hisa Takei is one of the really good players who is very famous for making bad waits and win such devastating hands! Still, it all makes a matter of whether breaking it with dora single wait or 5-way chance. Whatever you want to do, it all depends on the dora or the discards once again. If you like to set a dora trap, bad wait is better. If you like to have more chances, then go ahead. The choice is all yours.

Japanese Mahjong - The Basic

Recently I have started playing an online Japanese mahjong game called JanRyuMon. It is a really nice and graphically detailed game to play.

If you want to play this, you must first know the basics.

You must know what tiles you are dealing with. As for the wanzu series, it is easy to tell if you know Chinese well. If not, then you might need to look at how it arranges first before knowing what to do.

Basic Rules

Game can be in a normal 4-person Ariari mahjong, Nashinashi mahjong, or a 3-person Mahjong game. You will start with 13 tiles, and the objective of this game is to complete the hand with 1 pair and a set of sequences/triplets. (The exception will be the 7 pairs (七対子) hand.)

Drawing pile - This is where players will draw the tile. It goes clockwise.

Back tile - Where the dora indicator will be. The last 14 tiles are not usable.

Discard pile - Tiles that players discarded. If someone declares a riichi, the tile is placed horizontally instead.

Dora - You may notice that at the back tile, 1 upper tile is open. This is an indication that the tile 1 step higher than the indicator is the dora. It is a key in getting high scores. A maximum of 5 dora indicators are allowed at a single period of time.

To better understand what that means, look below

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-1 (For all 3 types)

E-S-W-N-E (Wind)

White-Green-Red-White (Dragon)

Lets say a 2-pin is the dora indicator. That means 3-pin is now a dora.

A special case is for 5-pin, 5-sou and 5-man. 1 in 4 of them will be coloured in red, and it is automatically a dora tile on its own.

Declaring a pon - (Meaning you want the triplet) can be called from any players. It must be open.

Declaring a chi - can only be called from the person on your left. In 3-mahjong game, calling a chi is not allowed. (In this case, you want a 3-sequence)

Declaring a kan - When you have a concealed triplet and have drawn the 4th tile, you can declare a closed kan. Even if there is a closed kan already revealed, your hand is still considered as fully closed provided you didn't do any pon/chi. If someone discards the 4th tile of the concealed triplet, you can declare an open kan and it is considered as open hand. If you have an open triplet and draw a 4th tile, you can declare a late kan. Taking the 4th tile discard to make a kan on the open triplet is not allowed. In all cases, declaring a kan will open a new dora indicator. More than 4 of it and the game will start over again. When declaring a kan, you need to take a tile from the back.

A special rule occurs when you declare an open kan (Meaning you take the 4th tile from someone's discard),. If you get a Rinshan Kaihou (Winning the hand from the dead wall after declaring kan), the person who discarded it will have to pay you in full based on the score you won instead of everyone dividing their chips to pay you. The special rule is known as, "The one responsible pays" but it is optional.

Declaring riichi - Only when your hand is fully closed, you can declare a riichi if your hand is ready to win. This costs 1000 chips to declare. Once you declare riichi, you cannot change your hand anymore.

Declaring tsumo - A tsumo is defined when your hand is ready to win and you have drawn a winning hand. If your hand is strictly closed and win by a tsumo, you'll get 1 han.

Declaring ron - A ron is defined when your hand is ready and someone discards the card that you want. It is possible for a double ron, even a triple ron! Make sure your hand have at least 1 han in order to win.

Furiten - This happens when your hand is ready, but you're waiting for the tile that you yourself have discarded. In this case, you cannot ron that tile from other players but can still win if you self-draw it. This is a bad situation which you need to look at your discards. Once discarded, it is a furiten tile for you.

You are also in furiten if you declare riichi but fail to get it on 1st opportunity.

When the game has no winners - Most commonly happens when players run out of drawable tiles. Remember that the last 14 tiles are not touchable.

Another situation is when someone declares a Kyuushukyuhai right from the start, that means that he has at least 8 tiles with terminals (1 or 9) and honors. This indicates that his hand is so bad that he wants to have a new hand. The starting hand can evolve into a Kokushi-Musou, but that would be a very easy giveaway as you will be discarding simple tiles at the beginning unless you are expert in making damaten hand. The condition is that there are no calls yet until his first turn.

Another situation is when everyone discards the same wind tile on their first discard. This may not look significant, but I find that you can actually do that to stop someone who made a Double Riichi. :P (Not applicable to 3-way mahjong)

And lastly, if more than 4 kans are declared or when more than 1 player declared 4 kans, (one player is allowed to have 4 kans, since SuuKanZi is a yakuman.) the game automatically ends and starts over. (Besides, too many doras = non-special yakuman hand spree. =.=)

Other situations can occur when all 4 players declare riichi, then the game ends automatically, or when 3 people take the very same tile that they need to win all at once. These 2 conditions are optional though.

Tenpai/No-ten - Only when the players run out of drawing tiles. A tenpai is when your hand is ready to win, and vice versa. In a rare case, a Naga-nashi-mangan (In case where the player discards nothing but terminals/honors, all tiles must not be called.) can be declared, and that player will win a mangan hand automatically.

Buttobi (A.K.A Bankrupted) - If any players do not have enough chips to continue playing (as in, getting negative points), the game may automatically end depending on the rules.

How to Play

The dealer will throw the dice, deciding on separating the draw pile and the back pile. Then, each player (dealer first) will take on a set of 4 3 times, then take 1 last tile. (For the dealer's case, it will take another one after that) During your turn, you'll draw a tile and discard one. How to move on is referred to the rules of the game.

I'll look into more detail in the keys of winning a decent hand.

Persona 3 endgame and new decisions...

My final run-up of Personas that I used against the final boss :

1. Daisoujou

- Hamaon, Hama Boost, Samsara, Null Dark, Mediarama, Divine Grace, Invigorate 1

2. Seth

- Agidyne, Maragidyne, Ragnarok, Mamudoon, Null Ice, Repel Light, Fire Amp, Mind Charge

3. Kohryu

- Null Pierce, Null Strike, Mediarahan, Samarecarm, Thunder Reign, Spell Master, Invigorate 3, Makarakarn.

4. Gabriel

- Bufudyne, Spell Master, Repel Dark, Mabufudyne, Ice Amp, Niflheim, Diarahan.

5. Sandalphon

- Repel Dark, Mahamaon, Hama Boost, Akasha Arts, Masukunda, Masukukaja, Salvation, Spell Master.

Also, after some thoughts, I would like to try to MAX out all Social Links on the first playthrough. (As tested during the past month, it IS possible but I couldn't do it on time, since my Empress S.Link is left at Rank 2 by the time winter vacation begins.) Hmm.... maybe I should try Hard Mode for that? :P

Persona 4 - Final Status

The final status before facing the final boss of Persona 3 FES.

Social Links :

Fool - SEES (Rank MAX) (Reward : Susano-O)

Magician - Classmate A.K.A Kenji Tomochika (Rank MAX) (Reward : Surt)

Priestess - Fuuka Yamagishi (Not started) (Reward : Scathach)

Empress - Mitsuru Kirijo (Rank MAX) (Reward : Alilat)

Emperor - Student Council A.K.A Hidetoshi Odagari (Rank MAX) (Reward : Odin)

Hierophant - Old Couple A.K.A Bunkichi and Mitsuko (Rank MAX) (Reward : Kohryu)

Lovers - Yukari Takeba (Rank MAX) (Reward : Cybele)

Chariot - Swim/Track/Kendo Team A.K.A Kazushi Miyamoto (Rank MAX) (Reward : Thor)

Justice - Treasurer A.K.A Chihiro Fushimi (Not started) (Reward : Melchizedek)

Hermit - Online gamer (Rank 4) (Reward : Arahabaki)

Fortune - Art/Photography/Music Club A.K.A Keisuke Hiraga (Rank 8) (Reward : Norn)

Strength - Team Manager A.K.A Yuko Nishiwaki (Rank MAX) (Reward : Siegfried)

Hanged Man - Girl at the shrine A.K.A Maiko (Rank MAX) (Reward : Attis)

Death - Mysterious Boy (Rank MAX) (Reward : Thanatos)

Temperance - Transfer Student A.K.A Bebe (Not started) (Reward : Yurlungur)

Devil - Businessman A.K.A President Tanaka (Rank MAX) (Reward : Belzeebub)

Tower - Strange Monk A.K.A Mutatsu (Rank MAX) (Reward : Chi You)

Star - Rival Athlete A.K.A Mamoru Hayase (Rank MAX) (Reward : Helel)

Moon - The Gourmet King A.K.A Nozomi Suemitsu (Rank MAX) (Reward : Sandalphon)

Sun - The Dying Young Man A.K.A Akinari Kamiki (Rank 1) (Reward : Asura)

Judgement - The Nyx Annihilation Team (Rank MAX) (Reward : Messiah)

Aeon - Aigis (Rank 7) (Reward : Metatron)

Final Equipment for my go team:

MC Equipment : Deus Xiphos (ultimate weapon fused with Michael), Tome of the Void (Abaddon's heart item)

Akihiko Equipment : Dragon Fangs (Found this on a rare chest), Tome of the Void

Yukari Equipment : Yoichi's Bow, Lightning Gloves (Thor's heart item)

Aigis Equipment : Pandemonium, Omega Drive

Current Persona : Cybele, Kohryu, Daisoujou, Seth. (I may change my mind though, currently I still have not defeated Takaya.)