Taiwanese Mahjong · 1 tai

Round Wind (Quan Feng) in Taiwanese Mahjong: Tai, Examples and Odds

In Taiwanese mahjong, a Round Wind pung (圈風, quan feng) is worth 1 tai: when you win, your hand or your exposed sets include a pung (three identical tiles, or a kong) of the current round's wind. In the East round that's East, in the South round it's South — no matter which seat you sit in.

The rules for Round Wind

• A pung or kong: claimed, self-drawn, exposed or concealed kongs all count
• A pair doesn't count: a wind used as the pair scores nothing
• Which wind depends on the round: all four players share the same round wind
• The rest of the hand is free — chows and pungs allowed, no need to stay concealed

How to tell the round wind

A full game usually runs four rounds: East round → South round → West round → North round. Within a round the deal must pass all four players before the next round starts, so a round is at least four hands — more with dealer repeats.

The wind of the current round is the round wind. Each player also has their own seat wind (the dealer is East, the dealer's right is South, across is West, left is North). The two are scored separately; see Seat Wind.

How Round Wind is scored

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

• Seat Wind: a pung of your own seat's wind, 1 tai, scored separately; if one pung is both, both are added.
• Dragon Pung: a pung of Red, Green or White, 1 tai each, stacks with the round wind.
• Little Four Winds: three wind pungs plus a wind pair, 8 tai. On this site, round-wind and seat-wind pungs inside Little Four Winds still score their own tai.
• Big Four Winds: pungs of all four winds, 16 tai, already includes round and seat wind — not added again.
• Half One Suit, All Pungs: winds can only be punged, never chowed, so hands going for Half One Suit or All Pungs often keep a round-wind pair.

Round Wind odds

We had four normal-level computers play 12,000 hands on this site's table (round wind and dealer rotating). Of the 11,677 wins:

• 8.3% included a round wind pung — 966 wins.
• Those wins averaged 2.4 tai for the whole hand, against 1.6 tai for all wins.
• 8.0% of wins had a seat wind pung — about the same, since both need just one wind pung.

Playing round-wind tiles

• A pair of the round wind: pung it when it comes — it's a free tai and doesn't slow you down.
• A single round-wind tile: someone else may be holding a pair, so discard it early if you don't need it; held to the end, it's more likely to be punged or to deal in.
• Two of that wind already discarded: the pung is gone except for drawing the last copy yourself — not worth keeping.
• Round wind = your seat wind: one pung is 2 tai, worth holding a little longer.

To practise when to keep and when to throw, open a table of online Taiwanese mahjong — the computers play with you and count the tai for you.

Round wind in other mahjong styles

• Japanese mahjong calls it the "round wind" (bakaze), a yakuhai worth 1 han (Japanese mahjong yaku list)
• Hong Kong mahjong: round wind, 1 fan (Hong Kong mahjong fan list)
• Chinese Official (Guobiao): "Prevalent Wind", 2 fan (Guobiao mahjong fan list)

FAQ

How many tai is a round wind pung?

In Taiwanese mahjong a round wind pung is worth 1 tai. If it is also your seat wind, add the seat wind's 1 tai, 2 tai for the one pung.

Does a pair of the round wind score?

No. Round wind and seat wind both need a pung (three tiles) or a kong; a wind used as the pair scores nothing.

What's the difference between round wind and seat wind?

The round wind is the wind of the current round and is the same for everyone; the seat wind depends on where you sit relative to the dealer — dealer East, right South, across West, left North.

Does a round-wind pung completed on a discard count?

Yes. Any pung counts — claimed, or completed by the winning discard. It just isn't a concealed pung.

Related hands

Seat Wind 1 tai A pung of your own seat's wind is 1 tai: how to find your seat wind, how it changes with the deal, and how it stacks with the round wind. Little Four Winds 8 tai Three wind pungs with the fourth wind as the pair — an 8-tai big hand. Examples, how round and seat wind count, and how it differs from Big Four Winds. Big Four Winds 16 tai Pungs of all four winds — a 16-tai big hand. Examples, what's already included, and how it differs from Little Four Winds.