Taiwanese Mahjong · 1 tai

Robbing a Kong (Qiang Gang) in Taiwanese Mahjong: Tai, Rules and Odds

In Taiwanese mahjong, Robbing a Kong (搶槓, qiang gang) is worth 1 tai: another player has already punged a tile and draws the fourth, then adds it to make a kong. If that tile is your winning tile, you can take it and win. The player who added it pays alone, and their set goes back to a pung — the kong never happens.

The rules for Robbing a Kong

• Only an added kong (punged earlier, then the fourth tile added) can be robbed
• Concealed kongs can't be robbed: all four tiles were drawn by that player, and none is offered to the table
• An exposed kong on a discard isn't a rob: that tile was discarded, so you can simply win on it (a win beats a kong) — it's an ordinary win on a discard
• You win on the kong player's tile, so it is a win on a discard, not a self-draw

Who pays

Robbing a kong counts as the kong player dealing in: the player who added the kong pays alone, for your hand plus 1 tai for the rob. Their pung stays; only the fourth tile is taken.

How Robbing a Kong is scored

Robbing a Kong is a win on a discard, so it stacks with concealed hand, single wait, Ping Hu and other hand tai. 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

• Win After a Kong: if nobody robs the added kong, the kong player draws a replacement from the back, and winning on it is Win After a Kong. Robbing takes that chance away.
• Last Discard Win: nobody can kong once the wall is empty, so the two never happen together.
• Single wait: with three of the tile in someone's pung, only the fourth — the one being added — is left. If that's your only winning tile (edge, middle or pair wait), you also score single wait for 1 tai.

Robbing a Kong odds

It takes someone adding a kong on exactly your winning tile, so it's rare. In 12,000 hands of four normal-level computers on this site, only 24 of 11,677 wins were robbed kongs, 0.21%; in the same games, Win After a Kong (flowers included) was 2.1%.

Think before you add a kong

• The added tile is out in the open: everyone sees your pung, and they'll notice who wants the fourth.
• Late in the hand, with others ready: an added kong only swaps one tile, but being robbed means paying the whole hand alone. When in doubt, don't add it.
• The other way round, when you're ready: if someone has punged your winning tile, you can only win by robbing their kong — a hard wait. Change your wait if you get the chance.

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

Robbing a Kong in other mahjong styles

• Japanese mahjong: "Chankan", 1 han (Japanese mahjong yaku list)
• Hong Kong mahjong: "Robbing a kong", 1 fan (Hong Kong mahjong fan list)
• Sichuan mahjong: "Robbing a kong", 1 fan (Sichuan mahjong fan list)
• Chinese Official (Guobiao): "Robbing the Kong", 8 fan (Guobiao fan list)

FAQ

How many tai is Robbing a Kong?

In Taiwanese mahjong Robbing a Kong is worth 1 tai, on top of concealed hand, single wait, Ping Hu and whatever else your hand scores.

Can you rob a concealed kong?

No. Only an added kong (a pung upgraded to a kong) can be robbed; a concealed kong's four tiles were all drawn by that player.

Is robbing a kong a self-draw or a win on a discard?

A win on a discard. You win on the kong player's tile, and that player pays alone.

Someone discards a tile and another player wants to kong it — if I win on it, is that robbing?

No. It's a discarded tile, and a win beats a kong, so you just win on the discard as usual — no Robbing a Kong tai.

Related hands

Win After a Kong 1 tai Self-draw your win on the replacement tile after a kong or a flower for 1 tai: do flowers count, and how it stacks with self-draw. Last Discard Win 1 tai Win on the very last discard of the hand for 1 tai: how it differs from Last Tile Self-Draw, and the rules for the last tile.