Chinese Official Mahjong · 88 pt

Four Kongs in Chinese Official Mahjong (MCR): Points, Examples and Odds

In Chinese Official Mahjong, Four Kongs (四杠) is worth 88 points: when you win, all four sets are kongs (four identical tiles) — melded kongs, promoted kongs and concealed kongs all count — and only the pair is left in your hand. With four kongs declared you are always waiting on a single tile for that pair.

The rules for Four Kongs

• All four sets are kongs: a melded kong (claiming the fourth tile with three in hand), a promoted kong (adding a drawn tile to a claimed pung) or a concealed kong (all four drawn yourself)
• Any tiles: suits, winds or dragons
• After four kongs one tile remains; you wait for its match to make the pair
• Every kong draws a replacement tile from the back of the wall, so Four Kongs can also be Out with Replacement Tile

What Four Kongs does not combine with

Under the non-repeat rule, Four Kongs already includes these fan, so they are not counted:

• Three Kongs (32 points), Two Melded Kongs, Two Concealed Kongs, Melded Kong, Concealed Kong: only Four Kongs is scored for the kongs
• All Pungs (6 points): four kongs are four pungs
• Single Wait (1 point): after four kongs a single wait is the only possibility

Fan that still stack: Four Concealed Pungs (all four concealed), Melded Hand (four melded kongs, won on a discard), Out with Replacement Tile, Dragon Pung, Prevalent and Seat Wind, Pung of Terminals or Honors, All Simples, Half Flush, Full Flush, Self-Drawn and so on.

How Four Kongs is scored

The hands below are scored live by the same code the game uses, including the fan left out under the non-repeat rule.

Common combinations:

How it relates to other fan

• Three Kongs: one kong fewer, 32 points — and the usual result of going for four.
• Two Melded Kongs, Two Concealed Kongs, Melded Kong, Concealed Kong: the small kong fan, all dropped once you have Four Kongs.
• All Pungs: kongs count as pungs, so Four Kongs is always an all-pungs hand, but All Pungs isn't scored.
• Out with Replacement Tile: win by self-drawing the replacement tile after the last kong for another 8 points.

Four Kongs odds

A kong first needs four of a kind. A 13-tile opening hand already holds a set of three identical tiles about 8.7% of the time, two such sets only about 0.18%:

Source: 1,000,000 random 13-tile deals (flowers already replaced).

In 4,000 hands of normal computer play on this site (3,849 wins), about 3.9% of wins had a melded kong and 1.1% a concealed kong; Four Kongs came up 0 times and even Three Kongs only 0. It's too rare in this sample to give a frequency.

When to head for Four Kongs

• You can't really plan Four Kongs; it usually happens on an All Pungs or Three Concealed Pungs route when the fourth tiles keep coming.
• Kongs show your hand: each kong tells everyone how few tiles you hold; with three kongs down you have four tiles left and opponents will defend hard.
• A promoted kong can be robbed — check whether the tile is dangerous before adding it.
• Three Kongs (32 points) is already far beyond 8 points; don't delay a win waiting for the fourth.

Want to try? Open a table of Chinese Official Mahjong online — the computers play with you and the scoring is done for you.

Four Kongs in other mahjong styles

• Japanese mahjong: Suukantsu, a yakuman (Japanese mahjong yaku list)
• Hong Kong mahjong calls it "Eighteen Arhats" (十八罗汉) (Hong Kong mahjong fan table)

FAQ

How many points is Four Kongs?

In Chinese Official Mahjong Four Kongs is worth 88 points, and it no longer counts Three Kongs, Two Melded Kongs, Two Concealed Kongs, Melded Kong, Concealed Kong, All Pungs or Single Wait.

Do concealed kongs count for Four Kongs?

Yes. Melded, promoted and concealed kongs all count; with four concealed kongs you add Four Concealed Pungs (64 points) as well.

Why isn't Single Wait counted with Four Kongs?

After four kongs only one tile is left in your hand, so a single wait for the pair is unavoidable — it's part of Four Kongs and isn't scored again.

Does Four Kongs also score All Pungs?

No. A kong is a four-tile pung, so Four Kongs always has four pungs, and under the non-repeat rule All Pungs is not counted.

Related fan

Three Kongs 32 pt Three kongs for 32 points: any kind of kong counts, what it doesn't combine with, stacking with All Pungs and Three Concealed Pungs, how rare it is. Two Melded Kongs 4 pt Two melded kongs for 4 points: replaces Melded Kong, one-of-each is scored separately, and you still need 4 more points. All Pungs 6 pt Four pungs and a pair for 6 points — short of the 8-point minimum. How to top it up and what it stacks with.