Taiwanese Mahjong · 8 tai

Seven Rob One (Qi Qiang Yi) in Taiwanese Mahjong: Tai and Odds

In Taiwanese mahjong, Seven Rob One (七搶一, qi qiang yi) is worth 8 tai: you already have seven flowers revealed, another player draws the eighth, and that flower goes straight to you — you win on the spot. Your tiles don't matter and you don't need to be ready; the player who drew the flower pays alone.

The rules for Seven Rob One

• You already hold seven flowers
• Someone else draws the eighth flower (drawing it yourself is Eight Flowers)
• Your tiles don't matter: no ready hand or winning shape needed
• The moment that flower is revealed you take it, and the hand ends

Who pays

Seven Rob One counts as the player who drew the eighth flower dealing in: they pay alone, the other two pay nothing. That's the difference from Eight Flowers, which counts as a self-draw paid by all three.

How Seven Rob One is scored

Seven Rob One ignores your tiles, so hand tai (concealed hand, single wait and so on) don't count; flower tai do. The robbed flower counts as yours, so all eight are there: both own seat flowers and both flower sets. The tai below are computed live by the same scoring code the game uses (dealer and dealer-streak tai are added on top).

Once you hold seven flowers

With seven flowers, the eighth is yours whenever it's drawn: if you draw it, it's Eight Flowers; if anyone else does, it's Seven Rob One — same tai. Only who pays differs. So after seven flowers, just keep playing normally; there's nothing to change for the flowers.

The eighth flower may also never show up: it can sit in the stacks that are never drawn, or someone may win the hand first.

How it relates to other hands

• Eight Flowers: you draw the eighth flower yourself, 8 tai, paid by all three.
• Flower Set: seven flowers always include one complete set of four. If you win a normal hand while waiting for the eighth, the Flower Set's 2 tai and your own flowers still count.

Seven Rob One odds

In 12,000 hands of four normal-level computers on this site, Seven Rob One is too rare to measure directly. We used the same "flower model" as for Eight Flowers: shuffle, deal, replace flowers and draw in turn exactly as the game does, but with no claims and no wins, over 2,000,000 walls.

• Drawing all the way to an exhaustive draw (upper bound): Seven Rob One 0.01%, about once in 9,480 hands; Eight Flowers 0.0048%.
• Weighted by how long real hands in the computer play last (estimate): Seven Rob One about 0.0023%, once in about 43,100 hands; Eight Flowers about 0.0011%.

Once someone has seven flowers, the eighth is more likely to land with one of the other three players than with them, so Seven Rob One is somewhat more common than Eight Flowers. These are model estimates, not measurements, but they make the point: a few in a lifetime is a lot.

Seven Rob One in other mahjong styles

• Hong Kong mahjong also has Seven Rob One as a limit hand, scored straight at the limit (10 fan by default on our Hong Kong site) (Hong Kong mahjong fan list)

To try your luck, open a table of online Taiwanese mahjong — flower replacement and tai are handled for you.

FAQ

How many tai is Seven Rob One?

In Taiwanese mahjong Seven Rob One is worth 8 tai. This site adds two own seat flowers and two flower sets, 14 tai in total, plus dealer tai.

Who pays for Seven Rob One?

The player who drew the eighth flower, alone.

Do you need a ready hand for Seven Rob One?

No. As long as you hold seven flowers, you win the moment someone else draws the eighth.

Is drawing the eighth flower yourself Seven Rob One?

No, that's Eight Flowers: same tai, but it counts as a self-draw and all three pay.

Related hands

Eight Flowers 8 tai All eight flowers in your hand win on the spot for 8 tai: flower tai on top, who pays, and just how rare it is. Flower Set 2 tai All four seasons or all four plants for 2 tai: how it stacks with your own flower, and why there's at most one.