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Ukeire (acceptance)
Ukeire is the set of tiles that advance your hand toward tenpai; learn to count these outs to keep the discard with the widest acceptance.
The principle
Ukeire (受け入れ, "acceptance") is the full set of tiles that lower your shanten by one, moving the hand closer to tenpai and then to a win. At tenpai, ukeire equals your winning tiles. Before tenpai, it includes any draw that improves the structure enough, for example by forming or completing a group, taatsu or pair.
Rule and example
Counting ukeire means adding two things: the number of accepted tile types and, by convention, how many copies of each remain unseen, four at the start minus those visible in your hand, in the kawa, in called melds and on revealed dora indicators. A ryanmen such as 3m4m accepts 2m and 5m, eight theoretical copies; a kanchan 4m6m waits only on 5m, four. An unseen copy is not guaranteed to be in the live wall.
What changes
In play, when shanten, value and risk are comparable, the discard with wider ukeire tends to reach tenpai sooner. This is the heart of nanikiru, which tile to cut: compare each candidate’s ukeire without turning it into an absolute rule.
Mistake to avoid
One caveat, though: raw ukeire measures speed, not value. The widest-ukeire discard can cost you a yaku, a dora, or safety. The right habit is to start from ukeire as your speed baseline, then weigh it against score, yaku, and danger.
Rules references
- Tenhou rulesReference profile used for game mechanics and scoring.
- WRC Rules 2025International rules compared whenever their options differ from Tenhou.