Chinese Official Mahjong · 8 pt
Chicken Hand in Chinese Official Mahjong (MCR): Conditions, Why You Can't Self-Draw It, Examples
In Chinese Official Mahjong, Chicken Hand (无番和) is worth 8 points: if you win and cannot count a single fan (flowers aside), the hand scores Chicken Hand — exactly the 8-point minimum. It is not "nothing"; the rules deliberately award 8 points to a hand with no fan.
On this page
The conditions
Chicken Hand means none of the other 80 fan applies (flowers don't count). So all the usual small fan must be avoided:
- Not concealed: Concealed Hand is 2 points, so you need a claimed chow or pung; kongs score too (Melded Kong 1, Concealed Kong 2)
- Not self-drawn: Self-Drawn is 1 point; you can only win on a discard
- Not All Chows: four chows with a suited pair is All Chows (2), so you need a pung, or an honor pair
- Not All Simples, No Honors or One Voided Suit: you need a terminal or honor, an honor somewhere, and all three suits
- More than one waiting tile: with a single wait, Edge Wait, Closed Wait and Single Wait are 1 point each; you need a two-sided or two-pair wait
- No scoring pungs: dragon, seat-wind, prevalent-wind, terminal and wind pungs all score
- No chow combinations such as Pure Double Chow, Mixed Double Chow, Short Straight or Two Terminal Chows; no All Types, Tile Hog or Last Tile either
You can't self-draw a Chicken Hand
The classic trap: the same Chicken Hand cannot be won by self-draw. Self-Drawn is itself 1 point, so the moment you self-draw, the hand has a fan, is no longer a Chicken Hand, and is left with only 1 point — below 8.
Won on a discard
| Chicken Hand | 8 |
| Total | 8 pt |
|---|
Reaches the 8-point minimum — a legal win.
Self-drawn
| Self-Drawn | 1 |
| Total | 1 pt |
|---|
Below 8 points — not allowed to win.
Flowers are different: they don't count toward the minimum and don't give the hand a fan, so a Chicken Hand with flowers is still a Chicken Hand, with the flowers added on top.
Won on a discard · 3 flower(s)
| Chicken Hand | 8 |
| Flower Tiles ×3 | 3 |
| Total | 11 pt |
|---|
Reaches the 8-point minimum — a legal win.
Why Chicken Hands happen
Most Chicken Hands are plans that didn't come off: you were building All Chows and had to pung; you were one chow short of a Mixed Straight. As long as the count is exactly zero, you can still win as a Chicken Hand — better than being stuck one or two points short.
It is harder than it looks, though: you need claimed sets, all three suits, an honor or terminal, and no combination fan at all. In 4,000 computer games on this site there were 3,849 wins and only 5 were Chicken Hands (0.13%).
Using it at the table
- Short of 8? Check whether you are at zero: a hand with two or three points can't win, but the same tiles with one fan fewer (don't make that chow, take the two-sided wait) can win as a Chicken Hand.
- Only on a discard: when you are waiting for a Chicken Hand and draw your winning tile, you can't declare self-draw — discard it or wait for someone else to throw it.
- Flowers are a bonus: they don't break the Chicken Hand and add points.
To try it, play MCR online — the score breakdown tells you whether a hand is a Chicken Hand.
FAQ
How many points is a Chicken Hand?
8 points in Chinese Official Mahjong — exactly the 8-point minimum.
Can I self-draw a Chicken Hand?
No. Self-Drawn is 1 point, so a self-drawn hand is no longer a Chicken Hand and only has 1 point, which is not enough.
Do flowers break a Chicken Hand?
No. Flowers don't count toward the minimum and don't affect Chicken Hand; their points are simply added.
Can a concealed hand be a Chicken Hand?
No. A concealed hand won on a discard has Concealed Hand (2); self-drawn it is Fully Concealed Hand (4). Neither is zero.
Related fan
All Chows 2 pt
Four chows and a suited pair for 2 points: looser than in Taiwanese or Riichi mahjong, but it always needs Mixed Straight, Pure Straight or Concealed Hand to reach 8.
Flower Tiles 1 pt
One point per flower; they don't count toward the 8-point minimum and don't break a Chicken Hand. A win on a flower replacement is not Out with Replacement Tile.
Mixed Straight 8 pt
1-2-3, 4-5-6, 7-8-9 across three suits — exactly 8 points. The most common route to a legal win: how to build it and what it stacks with.
Try it at the table
Chinese Official Mahjong — Play Chinese Official Mahjong (Mahjong Competition Rules, MCR) free in your browser against three computer opponents. 8-point minimum, all 81 fan scored automatically with the official non-repeat rules. No sign-up, works on phone and desktop.