Fu
Fu 「符」 (pronounced as foo) is a component of scoring. It takes the hand composition into consideration in terms of tile groups, wait patterns and/or win method. In addition, every hand begins with a default start value of 20 fu. To determine the final number of fu, the sources of fu are added up along with the base number and then rounded up to the nearest 10. One exception falls on the chii toitsu yaku, which is always 25 fu, regardless of other factors.
Tile groups
For shuntsu (sequences), the fu count is 0. For koutsu (triplet) and kantsu (four-of-a-kind), the fu value depends on whether they are tanyaohai (simples) or jihai/routouhai (honor/terminals).
| English | Romaji | Simples | Honor/Terminal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open triplet | Minkou | 2 fu | 4 fu |
| Open kan | Minkan | 8 fu | 16 fu |
| Closed triplet | Ankou | 4 fu | 8 fu |
| Closed kan | Ankan | 16 fu | 32 fu |
Waits
The different basic wait patterns count for fu as well. Combination wait patterns are not listed, such as nobetan, sanmentan, and ryanmenten. Both nobetan and sanmentan counts for tanki; and ryanmenten counts for ryanmen. Other combination patterns factor fu the same as the basic patterns listed here. However, the fu counts only one time. For example, a combination of tanki and kanchan only generates 2 fu from one pattern but not for both.
As for shanpon, the fu generated with this pattern rests on the tile groupings themselves as indicated in the above table.
| English | Romaji | Fu value |
|---|---|---|
| Open wait | Ryanmen | 0 fu |
| Closed wait | Kanchan | 2 fu |
| Edge wait | Penchan | 2 fu |
| Pair wait | Tanki | 2 fu |
Yakuhai pair
If the hand's pair is of tiles that would score yakuhai in a koutsu, then this scores 2 fu.
Depending on the scoring rules used, if the pair is of the round wind and the seat wind, it may score 2 fu, or 4 fu.
Winning condition
- Winning with a closed hand by ron, the hand is awarded 10 fu. These 10 fu are called menzen-kafu and do not count against the player for achieving pinfu.
- A win by tsumo with an open or closed hand is worth 2 fu.
- An exception to the fu for tsumo is a closed hand that satisfies all other criteria for pinfu. Such a hand does not score 2 fu for tsumo and instead gains the han for pinfu.
- Depending on the scoring rules used, a hand won with a kan replacement tile may also be ineligible for the 2 fu for tsumo, instead scoring only the han for rinshan kaihou.
- An open hand won by ron without any fu from koutsu or the waiting pattern (i.e. 20 fu) is forced to 30 fu. This is often described as being worth 2 fu for an open pinfu.
1 han and 110 fu
A hand with 1 han and 110 fu is an exceptionally rare hand. Its requirements are particularly limited, because the hand must be composed of all, not just some, the conditions in the following example.
Example of a 1 han and 110 fu hand:
South player at South round:
Ron: (tsumo produces 3 additional han - mentsumo and sanankou)
- 1 han from yakuhai
- base fu: 20
- closed hand ron: 10
- composition of hand:
open triplet: 4
closed quad: 32- closed quad: 32
double wind pair: 4
Total 102, round up to 110
This is the greatest fu count for any hand, worth 1 han or even 2 han. With the mangan limit applied, counting this many fu for anything 3 han or higher is no longer relevant, unless the scoring system of aotenjou is used. With aotenjou, higher counts of fu remains relevant towards point calculation.
Open "pinfu"
Technically, pinfu cannot be a yaku while open. However, some open hands produce 0 fu based on composition alone.
Waiting on: or 
This is an open "yakuless" hand. When closed, it resembles that of pinfu. Counting the fu from this hand, it produces 0 fu other than the base 20 fu for every hand. A hand like this can still gain yaku worth 1-han from either chankan, haitei, or houtei. As far as hands go, this pattern generates an exception to the rule behind counting fu; and as a special case, it is granted 2 fu in order to be rounded up to 30 fu.
External links
- Fu in Japanese Wikipedia