Sichuan Mahjong · 1 fan

All Pungs (Dui Dui Hu) in Sichuan Mahjong: Fan, Examples and Odds

In Sichuan mahjong, All Pungs (對對胡, dui dui hu) is worth 1 fan — each payer pays 2 units: when you win, all four sets are pungs (three identical tiles, or a kong), plus a pair. Sichuan mahjong has no chows at all, so the more you pung, the closer you drift to All Pungs.

The rules for All Pungs

• All four sets are pungs or kongs: claimed, self-drawn, exposed or concealed kongs all count
• No runs left in your hand
• The pair can be any tile
• Like every Sichuan win, you can't hold your void suit, so All Pungs uses at most two suits

How All Pungs waits

Two pairs: waiting on either one

You hold two pairs; drawing or claiming either tile turns it into a pung and wins.

Single wait: waiting for the pair

All four pungs are done and one lone tile waits for its match. With four claimed sets and a single tile left, it's the golden hook, worth another 1 fan.

How All Pungs is scored

Fan add up, and each extra fan doubles the payment, up to the cap of 4 fan. The hands below are scored live by the same code the game uses (the self-draw bonus and kong payments come on top).

Common combinations:

How it relates to other hands

• Root (gen): every kind with all four copies in your hand (four in hand, or a kong) adds 1 fan. All Pungs hands often upgrade a pung to a kong, so roots come easily.
• All 2-5-8 pungs: every set and the pair are 2, 5 or 8 — another 2 fan.
• Golden hook: four sets claimed and a single wait, 1 fan; always All Pungs too.
• Pure one suit: four pungs all from one suit is "pure pungs", 3 fan in total.
• Seven pairs, dragon seven pairs: seven pairs is not All Pungs; they're scored separately.

All Pungs odds

How many pairs in the opening hand

A Sichuan opening hand has 13 tiles (14 for the dealer). A 13-tile hand has 3 or more pairs about 26% of the time, and 4 or more only 4.9%.

Source: 1,000,000 random 13-tile deals (before the three-tile exchange).

How often it happens in normal play

In 40,000 hands of normal computer play (playing to win fast), about 2.9 players win per hand, and All Pungs is 0.61% of all wins.

Is it worth forcing All Pungs?

We let computers play on this site's table: in every hand, the player with the most pairs after the three-tile exchange had to go for All Pungs and never win with anything else, while the other three played normally. Then we compared the average result with the same starts played normally.

Source: computer play on this site. In each of 40,000 hands the seat with the best start (after the exchange) forced All pungs (對對胡); the other three played normally (normal level). Result = that seat’s whole-hand units, cap 4 fan.

It comes down to how many pairs you start with (rows highlighted above are where forcing pays):

• With 4 or more pairs after the exchange, forcing works 51% of the time, for an average of +1.0 units; the same starts played normally average +0.7 — forcing is better.
• With only 3 pairs, forcing already does worse than normal play; with 2 or fewer, even more so.
• Finished hands averaged 1.8 fan (often picking up a root) after 10.5 draws.
• In blood battle the hand goes on after someone wins, so even if another player wins first you still have time to complete your pungs.

Which hands suit All Pungs

• Keep pairs in the exchange: pass three tiles from your weakest suit and hold on to your pairs and pungs.
• Four or more pairs to start: you're a few tiles away — pung whatever gets discarded.
• Void your shortest suit: void tiles must go first; the more pairs left in the other two suits, the better.
• Pairs whose tiles haven't been discarded: once two of a tile are out, that pair can't be punged.

When to give up: less than half the wall is left and you still need two or more sets. Watch out for the ready-hand check at an exhaustive draw: players who aren't ready pay those who are. Get ready first, or go back to normal play. To practise, open a table of online Sichuan mahjong — the computers play blood battle with you and count the fan for you.

All Pungs in other mahjong styles

"All pungs" exists in every style, but scores differently:

• Taiwanese mahjong: 4 tai (Taiwanese mahjong All Pungs)
• Japanese mahjong ("Toitoi"): 2 han (Japanese mahjong Toitoi)
• Hong Kong mahjong: 3 fan (Hong Kong mahjong All Pungs)
• Chinese Official (Guobiao): 6 fan (Guobiao All Pungs)

FAQ

How many fan is All Pungs?

In Sichuan mahjong All Pungs is worth 1 fan; each payer pays 2 units. It stacks with roots, all 2-5-8 pungs, golden hook and pure one suit, up to the 4-fan cap.

Is All Pungs the same as seven pairs?

No. All Pungs is four pungs plus a pair; seven pairs is seven pairs and scores 2 fan.

Do kongs count for All Pungs?

Yes. A kong scores as a pung — and adds a root as well.

How many fan are pure pungs?

Pure one suit 2 plus All Pungs 1: 3 fan, so each payer pays 8 units.

Is the golden hook always All Pungs?

Yes. Four claimed sets plus a single wait means all four sets are pungs, so you always get All Pungs plus the golden hook's 1 fan.

Related hands

Pure One Suit 2 fan Every tile from one suit — a 2-fan big hand. Examples, pure pungs / pure seven pairs, and how many tiles of one suit you need to go for it. Golden Hook 1 fan Four sets claimed, one tile left for a single wait: 2 fan with All Pungs. Examples, combos, and wait-switching tips. All 2-5-8 Pungs 2 fan All Pungs made only of 2s, 5s and 8s — 3 fan in total. Examples, stacking to the cap, and why it's so rare.