Chinese Mahjong Winning Hands

The easiest way to understand Chinese Mahjong is to read every hand as a structure: groups, one pair and any ruleset-specific requirements.

Practice winning hands Open Chinese Mahjong and compare your hand with the four-sets-and-a-pair shape.

Four sets and a pair

A common beginner model is four completed sets plus one pair.

A set can be a chow, pung or kong, while the pair is two identical tiles.

A hand can be structurally complete but still fail a local rule, such as minimum fan or missing-suit requirements.

That is why the game explains whether you are short of fan or still holding all three suits in Sichuan mode.

Sort your tiles by suit, then look for two-sided waits, pairs that can become pungs and isolated tiles that slow the hand down.

When you discard, keep the shape that gives the most possible winning tiles.

It is the most useful beginner shape, but regional rules may add scoring or suit requirements.

A ready hand is one tile away from winning.