All terminals and honors 混老頭 · honroutou
Every tile in the hand is a terminal or an honor — no 2 through 8 anywhere.
| Value | 2 han, open or closed |
|---|---|
| How often | rare |
You'll know within the first few turns. An opening hand thick with 1s, 9s, and honor tiles — exactly what opponents throw away early — is the invitation. That early supply is the whole plan: pon while the river is generous, because terminals and honors dry up quickly, and a honroutou that isn't mostly assembled by mid-hand rarely finishes.
Two roads lead there. The calling road ends in toitoi: honroutou plus toitoi is 4 han before yakuhai triplets and triplet fu pile on top. The quiet road stays closed and ends in chiitoitsu, seven pairs drawn only from terminals and honors at a fixed 25 fu. The calling road is where the big payouts live.
Two cautions. Your discards will be a river of middle tiles, which announces the hand to anyone watching, so expect opponents to hold their terminals and honors late. And know when to let go: once the calls stop coming, a half-built honroutou rarely recovers, and folding early usually beats pushing a hopeless hand. Think of it as the mirror image of tanyao — it lives on exactly the tiles tanyao forbids.
Key points
- Structurally forces toitoi or chiitoitsu, so it always arrives with a partner yaku
- With toitoi and yakuhai stacked, these hands reach haneman fast
- Drop the honors for chinroutou (yakuman); keep only honors for tsuuiisou (yakuman)
Related yaku
- All triplets 対々和 — A hand of four triplets (or kans) and a pair — no sequences at all.
- Seven pairs 七対子 — Seven different pairs. One of the standard exceptions to the four-sets-plus-a-pair pattern, alongside kokushi musou.
- All terminals 清老頭 — Every tile in the hand is a terminal — 1s and 9s only, no honors.
- All honors 字一色 — The whole hand is honor tiles — winds and dragons only.
- Terminal or honor in every set 混全帯幺九 — Every set — and the pair — contains at least one terminal (1 or 9) or honor tile.
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