Agari houki

Agari houki 「アガリ放棄」, or a dead hand, is a penalty which prevents the player from winning, making tile calls, or declaring riichi for the rest of the hand. The game otherwise continues as normal. This penalty is given for minor rule violations; major violations are given the harsher penalty of chombo.

• Declaring a tile call, ron/tsumo, or riichi with a dead hand will result in chombo.
• For the purposes of exhaustive draws, a dead hand is always considered as not tenpai, because it cannot win.
• If the player called riichi before the hand was declared dead, the dead hand penalty applies as normal, and the 1000 points may not be reclaimed. The player must still reveal their hand at exhaustive draw, to prove the hand is tenpai, but the hand is considered "noten" for the purposes of tenpai payments. No chombo is given (unless the hand is actually noten).

Situations

Wrong amount of tiles

At any point of the game, if a player has more or less than 13 tiles (add one after each kan) before drawing the next tile, the hand is considered dead.

Drawing before kamicha discards

Players must not draw their next tile before their kamicha discards a tile. Drawing before your kamicha discards will result in a dead hand.

Drawing the wrong tile

Accidentally drawing from the wrong part of the wall (including the dead wall) will result in a dead hand if the player has already known what that tile is. But if the player places it back before knowing what it is and then draws the right tile, no penalty is given.

Kuikae

Main article: Kuikae

When kuikae is forbidden, players may not call a tile, then discard the exact same tile, or a tile that would complete their own chii. If kuikae is forbidden, then violating this rule will result in a dead hand.

Improper tile calls

Players may end up calling on discarded tiles without having the appropriate tiles to complete a tile group. For example, a player may call "pon" on a tile without the prerequisite pair, or declare a win on an invalid tile. If the hand was revealed with an improper win, it is declared a chombo. But if the hand was not revealed, then it may be declared a dead hand instead.

• If a player won by tsumo but calls "ron" instead (or its reverse), correction is allowed without penalty.
• If a player wanted to call "chii", but calls "pon" instead (or other combinations among "chii", "pon" or "kan"), it cannot be corrected and will result in a dead hand.

Online platforms

When playing online, players do not need to worry about breaking rules - the game software does not allow illegal plays to occur. No known online platform allows a dead hand case to occur. Therefore, these cases can only occur with real tile play.