Naki: Difference between revisions

'''Naki''' {{kana|鳴き}} are legal claims on immediately discarded tiles. The instant a discarded tile is declined for a claim, then it goes out of play and remains in the discard pile until the next hand. Discarded tiles gives players another source of tiles for hand completion, other than the regular wall.  Upon claiming a discard, the player's hand is then considered to be '''open'''. As a consequence, the player loses the option to call [[riichi]], and the hand is not eligible for the yaku, [[mentsumo]] among other closed only yaku. Yet, some yaku allow the use of open hands, but they [[#Kuisagari|decrease in value by 1-han]], when opened.

Yet, players may benefit from open tile calling from increasing the speed of hand development, convenience, or the irrelevance of losing hand value by opening.  Players must also consider the number of tiles available.  Overall, tile calling is a discretionary move.  Especially with hands valued of [[scoring|mangan or greater]], opening the hand may be a better option than keeping it closed.

The last discard cannot be claimed for any open calls, even if needed to attain [[tenpai]]. The call on the last discard is limited for winning hands, by which [[houtei raoyui]] is awarded.

==Mentsu and overview==

{{main|Mentsu}}

As a general rule, tile calls apply to the tile immediately discarded. Naturally, players are not required to claim discarded tile; but they may do so under the condition of possessing 2 out of 3 tiles for a meld in the hand. Every discarded tile not claimed by discard remain in the discard piles, until the [[Japanese_mahjong#End_of_a_hand|end of the hand]].

In addition, [[kuikae]] is an additional rule to tile calls. Players may have melds within the hand; and a discarded tile may allow a tile claim. If a player wishe to create an open meld using parts of an existing meld, then a player is not allowed to discard the remainder of the meld, until one full turn later.

* Discard claims must be made immediately after discard, and before the next player's turn. Otherwise, a discarded tile remains in the discard pile and may not be claimed.

===Chii===

{{#mjt:1'23p}}

'''Chii''' {{kana|チー}} is applied for opening sequential melds, to form ''minjun''.  To claim and complete '''sequences''', the player to the right of the discarder may claim the tile and call ''chii''. This means, any player calling ''chii'' may only claim tiles from the player to the left.  Therefore, the tile turned sideways is always indicated on the left.

Toitsu, or pairs, may be upgraded to minkou, or open triplets.  Unlike "chii", the call for '''pon''' {{kana|ポン}} may be called from any player on the board. As long as a player possess two identical tiles and a third is discarded, the player may call for that discarded tile regardless.  Because any player may call, sometimes a player's turn may be skipped.

'''Kan''' {{kana|カン}} may work like pon, except this call has some added procedures and additional situations. Likewise, the tile arrangements works similarly to pon.  However, there is the addition of the other two kan types: ankan and shouminkan.  For ankan, the hand remains closed, despite the use of a tile call. Instead, such a call is used to invoke the rules specific to kan; and certainly, kan does have some specific rules applied.  Mostly, these relate to the [[dead wall]] and the revealing of additional [[dora]].

In addition, two yaku, ([[rinshan]] and [[chankan]]), are particularly associated with kan.

'''Agari''' {{kana|アガリ}} is the generic call for a winning tile.

The different tiles calls take precedence.

It is impossible for kan and pon to be called simultaneously. However, either can simultaneously occur with chii.  Due to precedence, the player, who calls kan or pon, gains the right to a discarded tile over a chii call. Overall, the call for ron or agari supercedes all tile discard calls.

==Kuisagari==

'''Kuisagari''' {{kana|喰い下がり}} is a property of some yaku to lose value when called open, yet the yaku remains valid when open.  By calling on a discard and opening the hand, a player sacrifices the value of 1-han per yaku for the privilege.  Sometimes, the devalue may be viewed as disadvantageous; but the sacrifice for losing han value may be gained in the form of faster hand development.  If certain tiles may be previously discarded, a player may need to make the open call, or else risk not be able to finish the hand at all.  With the use of [[dora]], the value loss from an open call is regained anyways.

Various 1-han valued yaku may be affected by kuisagari. However, they are only denoted as "closed only", in order to remain valid. If they were to function as open hands, their value would be reduced to 0-han; and thus, it is pointless to count them as such.

Finally, some yaku are not affected by kuisagari.  Their value is only affected in terms of [[fu]].  Even when open, they retain their original han value.  These are [[yakuhai]], [[toitoi]], [[sanankou]], [[sanshoku doukou]], [[shousangen]], [[sankantsu]], and any [[yakuman]], that allow open play.

{{main|List of yaku}}

The following yaku are affected by kuisagari:

== Other tile calls ==

{| class="wikitable" width=30%

| Kan ||align=center| カン || Forming a quad

| Kita ||align=center| キタ || Picking a North [[dora]]

| Riichi ||align=center| リーチ || Ready hand declaration

| Tsumo ||align=center| ツモ || Win by self-draw

These tile calls do not apply to discards. Just like the discard calls, these calls are announcements.  However, they do not apply to discards.

In some rules of three-player mahjong, North tiles may be picked and functions as a [[dora]].

'''Riichi''' {{kana|リーチ}} is a player's declaration for a [[tenpai|ready hand]].

'''Tsumo''' {{kana|ツモ}} is the declaration for winning by self-draw.  This may apply to any hand, open or closed.  Yet, with a closed hand, then it also counts as for the yaku, [[mentsumo]].  Even when furiten, it is acceptable to win the hand.

With regards to mahjong hands, the common question looks to determine the best practices of opening or closing a hand.  For starters, players should know the [[yaku]] and their han values.  Essentially, this begs the question: "Is it worth opening the hand, or is it better to remain closed?" Naturally, there are advantages and disadvantages to either approach. For both cases, the speed at which a hand attains [[tenpai]] rests on this decision.

For various [[yakuman]] hands, it is certainly advantageous to make calls on specific tiles.  The sheer difficulty of yakuman hands overall make it necessary to make use of tile calls to even come near completion, much less score one.