Sanmenchan
Sanmenchan 「三面張」 is a term for a three-sided wait. While this term can refer to any three-sided wait, it is most often used to describe a "standard sanmenchan": a string of five consecutive number tiles, waiting on the middle tile or either edge of the run. By default, "sanmenchan" refers to the aforementioned standard form. Many different types of three-sided wait exist, though.
| Kanji | 三面張 |
|---|---|
| Fu | 0 fu |
| Tile types waiting | 3 sided wait |
| Tiles available | 11 tiles |
| Pattern example |
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| Tenhou.net example |
Open Furiten |
Named patterns
Standard Sanmen
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Waiting for: 
, , or 
This pattern consists of five consecutive tiles, that do not include 1 or 9. It functions as two ryanmen connected by one mutual waiting tile in the middle. It is the most common three-sided wait.
Accepting up to 11 tiles (the 12th tile is already in hand), it is a powerful wait. Note, though, that it always waits on a full suji interval - the wait is either 1-4-7, 2-5-8, or 3-6-9.
Entotsu
Waiting for: , , or
Entotsu incorporates the shanpon wait and a ryanmen. The pattern always includes a ryanmen wait, tied to a triplet of one of the waiting tiles. On top of that, any paired tile can be used with it. However, since 5 copies of the winning tiles are already in hand, it isn't as strong as the standard sanmenchan.
Ryantan
Waiting for: 
, , 
Ryantan (a contraction of ryanmen + tanki) is composed of a triplet of a number tile with one more tile adjacent, where no tile may be a 1 or 9. The single tile produces a tanki wait if the triplet is kept complete, and produces a ryanmen wait if the triplet into a pair and connected tile.
Sanmentan
Waiting for: , , or
Sanmentan (a contraction of three-sided tanki) consists of three tanki waits along suji lines. This pattern is created through seven consecutive tiles.
Others
A number of three sided waits remain unnamed. Instead, they are composed of named waits as combinations of each other.
External links
- Sanmenchan in Japanese Wikipedia