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Pinfu: the hand with no extra fu

Pinfu is a 1-han closed yaku with four sequences, a valueless pair, and a ryanmen wait that awards no extra fu.

The conditions for pinfu

Pinfu (平和) describes a closed hand whose structure creates no extra fu. It must contain four sequences, a valueless pair, and a ryanmen wait. A single triplet, kan, or open group removes the yaku.

A valueless pair and wait

The pair cannot be a dragon, the round wind, or your seat wind. A wind that matches none of those roles is an ordinary pair. The wait also matters: kanchan, penchan, and tanki add fu, so they prevent pinfu even when the completed hand appears to contain only sequences.

How many fu is pinfu?

Pinfu tsumo is the familiar 20-fu exception. On a closed ron, the 10 fu for winning closed normally produces 30 fu after rounding. Pinfu often combines with tanyao, riichi, menzen tsumo, or sanshoku, turning a modest shape into a useful score.

A reliable pinfu checklist

Read a possible pinfu hand in a fixed order: four sequences, a valueless pair, then a ryanmen wait. This prevents a quick mistake based only on the groups already visible. The final tile can change the entire interpretation.

Rules references

  • Tenhou rulesReference profile used for game mechanics and scoring.
  • WRC Rules 2025International rules compared whenever their options differ from Tenhou.

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