Curriculum · 22 / 50
Wait shapes
Ryanmen, kanchan, penchan, shanpon and tanki describe the final tile you need; their width and fu affect efficiency and scoring.
The principle
A ryanmen comes from two consecutive tiles open on both sides, such as 45 waiting on 3 or 6. It accepts up to eight tiles. Kanchan waits for the middle, such as 24 on 3, while penchan waits at an edge, such as 12 on 3; each accepts at most four tiles and adds 2 fu on a win.
Rule and example
Shanpon uses two pairs and wins when either becomes a triplet; it accepts at most four tiles and adds no wait fu. Tanki waits for the final pair, accepts at most three copies and adds 2 fu. The triplet completed through shanpon is then scored differently on ron and tsumo.
What changes
The count of still-unseen copies falls when tiles are already in the hand, rivers or open melds. An unseen copy is not necessarily in the live wall. Furiten covers the entire wait: if any winning tile appears in your own river, no ron is legal on the other tiles in that wait.
Rules references
- Tenhou rulesReference profile used for game mechanics and scoring.
- WRC Rules 2025International rules compared whenever their options differ from Tenhou.