Three-color triplets 三色同刻 · sanshoku doukou
The same numbered triplet in all three suits.
| Value | 2 han, open or closed |
|---|---|
| How often | rare |
The signal is the same number stacking up across suits — say, a finished triplet of 5s in circles and pairs of 5s in the other two suits. Because the yaku keeps its full 2 han when opened, you can pon toward it freely. That makes it a calling yaku at heart, where its sequence cousin sanshoku doujun loses a han the moment you open.
Be honest about the arithmetic before you commit. Only twelve copies of any number exist, four per suit, and you need nine of them. Check the discards: every copy already in the river makes the chase harder, and if any suit can no longer reach three copies, the yaku is dead. The practical rule is to let the hand come to you — two finished triplets of the same number justify holding the third pair; one triplet and a wish do not.
It lives most comfortably inside toitoi hands, where every pon advances both yaku at once; keep the triplets concealed and sanankou can join the same hand. The classic mistake is tunnel vision: passing up a faster, cheaper win to wait on a ninth tile that may already be gone.
Key points
- Full 2 han open or closed, unlike its sequence cousin
- Needs nine specific tiles of one number — far rarer than sanshoku doujun
- Usually appears inside pon-heavy toitoi hands
Related yaku
- Three-color sequences 三色同順 — The same numbered sequence in all three suits: characters, circles, and bamboo.
- All triplets 対々和 — A hand of four triplets (or kans) and a pair — no sequences at all.
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