Honba is a counter displayed with the round wind, hand number and riichi deposits. It can remain above zero even when the East seat rotates after an exhaustive draw where East is noten.
Under Tenhou rules, honba rises after every East win, every exhaustive draw, and every abortive draw. Outside pao liability, each honba adds 300 points to ron, paid by the discarder, or 100 to each opponent’s tsumo payment. It resets after a non-dealer win. WRC 2025 uses the same amounts after East wins and exhaustive draws but has no abortive draws.
Honba are easy to overlook but decide close games: a long streak of dealer repeats can stack several counters, so a modest ron or tsumo late in a hanchan can be worth far more than its raw han and fu suggest. When you hold tenpai in a repeat-heavy round, the extra 300 per honba raises both the reward for winning and the cost of dealing in, which should sharpen your defensive reads.