Machi

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Machi 「待ち」 is the Japanese term for "tenpai wait patterns". Given any mahjong hand at any instance, players are waiting for specific tiles either to develop their hands or complete it. Wait patterns arise during hand development, when mahjong tiles in possession in the hand are in need of other tiles in order to complete mentsu (tile groups) or the entire hand. Wait patterns during tenpai are of particular interest, simply because that is one of the main goals of hand development.

Overview

Many different patterns arise during the course of hand development. Particularly at tenpai, the specific patterns themselves take on names. Tenpai is a critical state of the hand; as after all, this is the point where the hand seeks to win. Therefore, they are of particular interest during tenpai. Some patterns are so complex, such that it helps knowing the wait patterns, especially when different types may work in conjunction. By knowing the different wait patterns, players may be able to determine waiting tiles quickly and more efficiently. This is especially true when dealing with chinitsu and even honitsu hands, where determining waiting tiles may become more complicated and intertwined.

Mentsu

Mentsu are the tile groupings used to develop and compose the hand. To form a complete hand, players must possess 4 melds and a pair. Though, there are three exceptions to the pattern, namely: chiitoitsu, kokushi musou, and nagashi mangan.

Hand development

Basic wait patterns

Ryanmen

Waiting for:

Penchan

Waiting for:

Shanpon

Waiting for:

Kanchan

Waiting for:

Tanki

Waiting for:

Nobetan

Waiting for:

Named combinations

Ryanmenten

Waiting for:

Sanmentan

Waiting for:

Entotsu

Waiting for:

Chuuren poutou kyuumen machi

Waiting for: Any of the same suit tiles, 1 through 9.

Junsei Kokushi musou 13 machi

Waiting for: Any of the 13 tiles shown here.

Complex patterns

These combinations involve patterns that do not have specific names. Instead, they use combined forms of the other patterns. Furthermore, they mostly consist of consecutive, or closely consecutive, numbered tiles. Recognition of these patterns can produce some significantly powerful waits, which may be immune to suji and have large numbers of waiting tiles.

Special

Two special cases involve tile availability, rather than the hand patterns themselves.

Jigoku

Jigoku 「地獄」 is a special pattern, which can utilize any wait pattern listed here or among the complex patterns. Although, this condition is more likely to occur among the simple patterns, especially that of the single tile waits of penchan, kanchan, and tanki. The only criteria for jigoku is the number of tiles available to win, and that number is one. This is made possible by the unavailability of another copy by virtue of the discards, one's own hand, or dora indicators. In English, this is commonly known as the hell wait.

Karaten

Karaten 「カラテン」, or empty tenpai, is a case where regardless of the wait pattern, no tile is available to declare a win. This is due to the visible tiles, noticed among the discards, dora indicators, and even the player's own hand. In some rules, a hand in this state is declared as "noten".

External links

Machi in Japanese Wikipedia
Forum list of various patterns
Wait survey quiz in Tenhou.net