Taiwanese Mahjong · 16 tai

Earthly Hand (Di Hu) in Taiwanese Mahjong: Tai, Examples and Odds

In Taiwanese mahjong, the Earthly Hand (地胡, di hu) is worth 16 tai: a non-dealer (any of the three players who aren't dealer) self-draws the win on their very first draw, and nobody has chowed, punged or konged in the first round before that.

The rules for the Earthly Hand

• Non-dealers only; the dealer winning on the deal is the Heavenly Hand
• The win must be self-drawn on your first draw; a tile drawn to replace a flower still counts as that draw
• Before your draw, nobody in the first round has chowed, punged or konged (concealed kongs included); any call cancels it
• Winning on the dealer's first discard isn't the Earthly Hand but the Human Hand

How the Earthly Hand is scored

The Earthly Hand replaces self-drawn, concealed hand, concealed self-draw and single wait — those aren't added. Pure One Suit, All Pungs, concealed pungs, dragons, flowers and the rest still stack. The tai below are computed live by the same scoring code the game uses (dealer and dealer-streak tai are added on top).

Common combinations:

How it relates to other hands

• Heavenly Hand: the dealer wins with the 17 dealt tiles, 24 tai.
• Human Hand: a non-dealer wins on the dealer's first discard, 16 tai. The Earthly Hand is a self-draw and the Human Hand a discard win, so a hand can only have one of them.
• Concealed self-draw, self-drawn, concealed hand, single wait: replaced by the Earthly Hand, not added.
• Who pays: it's a self-draw, so all three opponents pay; the dealer's share includes the dealer tai.

Earthly Hand odds

A non-dealer's 16 dealt tiles plus their first draw are also 17 random tiles from the wall, so the chance that "these 17 tiles are a winning hand" is the same as for the Heavenly Hand: computed exactly, about once in 1,190,000.

The real Earthly Hand is a little rarer: any chow, pung or kong in the first round before your draw cancels it, and you might already have won on the dealer's first discard (that's the Human Hand). So each non-dealer's chance per hand is about the same as a Heavenly Hand, slightly lower. How much lower depends on how often the first round is interrupted, which we didn't simulate separately, so we give no exact figure.

What to watch for

• Check your first draw: if your dealt hand is already ready, look carefully when you draw for the first time.
• Don't rush to call in the first round: a chow or pung cancels the Earthly Hand not just for you, but for all three other players too.
• Win the dealer's first discard if you can: that's the Human Hand for 16 tai — no need to wait for your own draw.

To try it, open a table of online Taiwanese mahjong — the computers play with you and count the tai for you.

The Earthly Hand in other mahjong styles

• Japanese mahjong: "Chiihou", a non-dealer's self-draw on the first uninterrupted turn, is a yakuman (Japanese mahjong yaku list)
• Hong Kong mahjong: the Earthly Hand is a limit hand (Hong Kong mahjong fan list)
• Sichuan mahjong: the Earthly Hand scores the cap (Sichuan mahjong fan list)

FAQ

How many tai is the Earthly Hand?

On this site the Earthly Hand is worth 16 tai. Self-drawn, concealed hand, concealed self-draw and single wait aren't added; everything else stacks.

What's the difference between the Heavenly, Earthly and Human hands?

Heavenly: the dealer wins with the dealt tiles. Earthly: a non-dealer self-draws on their first draw. Human: a non-dealer wins on the dealer's first discard.

Someone punged in the first round — can I still get the Earthly Hand?

No. Any chow, pung or kong (concealed kongs too) before your first draw cancels it.

My first draw was a flower — does winning on the replacement count?

Yes. The replacement tile still counts as your first draw, and this site also adds Win on a Replacement Tile for 1 tai.

Related hands

Heavenly Hand 24 tai The dealer wins on the deal, 24 tai: no self-draw or concealed tai on top, and the exact odds are about one in a million. Human Hand 16 tai A non-dealer wins on the dealer's first discard, 16 tai: you must be ready on the deal, and only the dealer pays.