Taiwanese Mahjong · 16 tai

Human Hand (Ren Hu) in Taiwanese Mahjong: Tai, Examples and Odds

In Taiwanese mahjong, the Human Hand (人胡, ren hu) is worth 16 tai: a non-dealer's 16 dealt tiles are already ready, and the dealer's very first discard is exactly the tile they need.

The rules for the Human Hand

• A non-dealer wins on the dealer's first discard; later discards don't count
• You haven't drawn yet: your 16 dealt tiles (after flower replacements) are already ready
• Nobody has konged before that discard (a dealer's concealed kong ends the first round)
• It's a win on a discard, so only the dealer pays

How the Human Hand is scored

The Human Hand replaces concealed hand 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.
• Earthly Hand: a non-dealer self-draws on their first draw, 16 tai. The Human Hand wins the dealer's tile and the Earthly Hand is a self-draw, so a hand can only have one of them.
• Concealed hand, single wait: replaced by the Human Hand, not added.
• Concealed pungs: pungs in your dealt hand are concealed — but if the winning tile completes a pung, that pung isn't.
• Two players want the tile: by default this site lets only the player after the dealer win; switch the settings to multiple winners and both score the Human Hand.

Human Hand odds

The Human Hand needs two things: your 16 dealt tiles are already ready, and the dealer's first discard is your tile. The first part can be measured from random deals: in 1,000,000 random 16-tile opening hands, the chance of already being ready was 0.0024%, roughly one hand in 41,700.

The second part depends on what the dealer throws: the dealer discards a tile they don't want, not a random one, so we don't estimate this step. What's certain is that the Human Hand is rarer still than "ready on the deal".

What to watch for

• Check whether you're ready on the deal: as a non-dealer, look at your 16 tiles and see whether you're already waiting, and on what.
• Take the dealer's first discard if it wins: later it's no longer a Human Hand — and passing on a win puts you in "pass-win" lock, unable to win on discards until your next draw.
• Two players at once: by default this site lets the player after the dealer win first.

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

The Human Hand in other mahjong styles

• Hong Kong mahjong: the Human Hand is a limit hand (Hong Kong mahjong fan list)
• Our Japanese mahjong sister site follows Mahjong Soul rules, which have no Renhou; Tenhou and Chiihou are yakuman (Japanese mahjong yaku list)

FAQ

How many tai is the Human Hand?

On this site the Human Hand is worth 16 tai. Concealed hand and single wait aren't added; everything else stacks. Only the dealer pays, with dealer tai included.

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

The Human Hand is a non-dealer winning on the dealer's first discard; the Earthly Hand is a non-dealer self-drawing on their first draw. Some tables use the names the other way round — agree before you play.

Does winning on the dealer's second discard count?

No. Only the dealer's very first discard makes a Human Hand.

How likely is it to be ready on the deal?

A random 16-tile deal is already ready 0.0024% of the time, about once in 41,700 hands.

Related hands

Earthly Hand 16 tai A non-dealer self-draws on their first draw, 16 tai: any chow, pung or kong in the first round cancels it, and the odds are close to a Heavenly Hand's. 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.