Start with these ideas

  • Only numbered 1s and 9s are allowed; no winds, dragons or ranks 2–8.
  • HKMA lists a 10-faan limit; our complete example settles at 8 without ordinary additions.

Reference values below follow the Hong Kong Mahjong Association (HKMA) rules. Worked calculator examples use our browser game’s house rules; check the differences before comparing results.

Build four terminal sets and a pair

Use only 1 and 9 of the three numbered suits. With no middle numbers, Chows are impossible; the standard hand needs four Pungs or Kongs and a pair. Open sets are allowed.

The example uses 1 and 9 Characters Pungs, 1 and 9 Dots Pungs, and a 1 Bamboo pair. It does not need all six terminal types.

Set
Set
Set
Set
Pair

Reference and house limit values

The cited HKMA rules list Pure Terminals at the 10-faan limit. Our game uses an 8-faan limit and does not add All Pungs, Concealed Hand, self-draw or flowers to that result.

Check the complete faan table

Pure Terminals is not Thirteen Orphans

Thirteen Orphans requires all six terminal types and all seven honour types, plus one duplicate. Pure Terminals excludes honours and uses repeated tiles as sets. Mixed Terminals, by contrast, requires both suited terminals and honours.

Replace the pair with Red Dragons

Keep the four Pungs but replace the two 1 Bamboo tiles with two Red Dragons. The house hand becomes Mixed Terminals 4 + Concealed Hand 1 = 5. The complete structure remains, but Pure Terminals is lost.

Load this exact example Practise the winning minimum

Sources

A hand to try

Set
Set
Set
Set
Pair

Win: discard · Seat: East · Round: East · Minimum: 3. Declared melds and special draw context are loaded with the hand.

With the saved win method, seat wind and round wind, this example is expected to score 8 final faan under sc_hk13_v1_2. The calculator also shows every contributing pattern and whether the hand reaches the selected minimum.

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Check your understanding

Which statement matches our house rules?

Choose a statement to see the explanation.

A few things to know

Can a terminal Chow qualify for Pure Terminals?

No. Every tile must be a suited 1 or 9. A sequence that starts or ends with a terminal still contains disallowed middle ranks.

CHECK THE RULES

See what this hand scores under our house rules

Reference values below follow the Hong Kong Mahjong Association (HKMA) rules. Worked calculator examples use our browser game’s house rules; check the differences before comparing results.

Try this in the calculator Compare table rules Mobile app →