Taiwanese Mahjong · 16 tai

All Honors (Zi Yi Se) in Taiwanese Mahjong: Tai, Examples and Odds

In Taiwanese mahjong, All Honors (字一色, zi yi se) is worth 16 tai: when you win, all 17 tiles are honors (East, South, West, North, Red, Green and White Dragons) — not a single character, dot or bamboo. Honors can't be chowed, so all five sets are always pungs.

The rules for All Honors

• Every tile in your hand and in your claimed sets is an honor tile
• Honors can only be punged or konged, never chowed, so all five sets are pungs or kongs
• All Pungs is not added: All Honors already includes it
• It's in the same one-suit family as Half One Suit and Pure One Suit; only All Honors counts
• Flowers don't affect it; they score separately as seat flowers or flower sets

Why All Honors always brings dragons or four winds

There are only 7 honor tiles: four winds and three dragons. Five pungs plus a pair use 6 of them, so exactly one kind is missing:

• A dragon is missing: all four winds are used — four wind pungs is Big Four Winds, three wind pungs with a wind pair is Little Four Winds.
• A wind is missing: all three dragons are used — three dragon pungs is Big Three Dragons, two pungs plus a dragon pair is Little Three Dragons.

So All Honors always adds Little or Big Three Dragons or Little or Big Four Winds, and the lowest this site scores it is 20 tai (before flowers and dealer).

These are minimums: a wind pung that happens to be the round or seat wind adds more (except with Big Four Winds), and self-draw, concealed pungs, flowers and dealer tai are added on top.

How All Honors is scored

The tai below are computed live by the same scoring code the game uses (East round, East seat; dealer and dealer-streak tai are added on top).

How it relates to other hands

• Half One Suit, Pure One Suit: the one-suit family. One suit plus honors is Half One Suit for 4 tai; all honors is All Honors, without Half One Suit on top.
• All Pungs: All Honors is always five pungs, but All Pungs isn't added.
• Big Three Dragons, Little Three Dragons, Big Four Winds, Little Four Winds: one of them always comes along, see above.
• Concealed pungs: self-drawn honor pungs still score Three, Four or Five Concealed Pungs.

All Honors odds

There are 28 honor tiles (7 kinds, 4 each), and All Honors needs 17 of them. Honor tiles in a 16-tile opening hand:

Four computers playing normally for 12,000 hands produced 11,677 wins, and All Honors appeared 0 times. It's far too rare in the simulation to give a reliable rate.

When to think about All Honors

• Lots of honors, several of them pairs: the more honor pairs the better; only after two or three honor pungs is it a real chance.
• You've already punged two dragons or three winds: you're going for dragons or winds anyway and have few suited tiles left — All Honors can follow naturally.
• Others will defend: several exposed honor pungs make everyone hold their honors, so the last set or two often has to be self-drawn.
• When to give up: once two copies of an honor you need are discarded, you can't pung it any more; switch to Half One Suit or the dragon or wind hands, which still score well.

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

All Honors in other mahjong styles

• Japanese mahjong: "Tsuuiisou" is a yakuman (Japanese mahjong yaku list)
• Hong Kong mahjong: All Honors is a limit hand (Hong Kong mahjong fan list)
• Chinese Official (Guobiao): All Honors is 64 fan (Guobiao fan list)

FAQ

How many tai is All Honors?

In Taiwanese mahjong All Honors is worth 16 tai, and it always brings Little or Big Three Dragons or Little or Big Four Winds, so in practice it's at least 20 tai.

Can you chow in All Honors?

No. Honors can't be chowed, only punged or konged, so all five sets are pungs.

Is All Pungs added to All Honors?

No. All Honors already includes All Pungs, so this site doesn't add All Pungs tai.

Do All Honors and Half One Suit both score?

No. Half One Suit, Pure One Suit and All Honors are one family; only the highest, All Honors, counts.

Related hands

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. Big Three Dragons 8 tai Pungs of all three dragons — an 8-tai big hand. Examples, scoring combos, and what your opening hand needs. Half One Suit 4 tai One suit plus honors — a 4-tai hand. Examples, Half One Suit vs Pure One Suit, and how concentrated your start must be.