Special Hands in Hong Kong Mahjong
Sep 25, 2026 · 4 min read
Beyond the common fan, Hong Kong Mahjong has several special hand shapes with very high value (usually treated as an instant limit hand).
Thirteen Orphans (Shap Sam Yiu)
Same as Kokushi Musou in Riichi -- 13 different terminal/honor types plus 1 duplicate as the pair.
All Honors (Tsuiisou)
The entire hand is honor tiles only (Winds and Dragons), with no numbered tiles at all.
Nine Gates (Chuuren Poutou)
One of the most iconic hands: 1112345678999 within the same suit, waiting on any tile from 1-9 in that suit to win -- one of the most elegant tenpai shapes in mahjong.
Four Kans (Suu Kantsu)
Successfully declaring 4 Kans at once in a single hand -- extremely rare since it requires 16 tiles from just 4 different types.
These special hands are also known in other rulesets under different names (e.g. as a yakuman in Riichi) -- the concept crosses rulesets even though the values differ.
Compare with the Riichi Mahjong yakuman version.
Read About Kokushi Musou →