Yakuhai

Yakuhai
Type	Yaku
Kanji	役牌
English	Value tiles
Value	1 han per counted meld
Speed	Very fast
Difficulty	Very easy

Yakuhai is a group of yaku that focus on jihai, or honor tiles.

Along with tanyao, these yaku are one of the easiest and most frequently occurring yaku in the game.

Tile patterns

Upon attaining yakuhai, the rest of the hand may be formed as any composition: open, closed, and whatever meld that helps complete the hand.

Rules

Yakupai	Kanji	Yakupai	Kanji
East seat	自風東	East round	場風東
South seat	自風南	South round	場風南
West seat	自風西	West round	場風西
North seat	自風北	Green dragon	役牌發
Red dragon	役牌中	White dragon	役牌白

In the case of sangenpai (dragon tiles), any player may collect a set of either tile and attain the yaku for that tile.

With regards to kazehai (wind tiles), there are two yaku: one for forming a set of the seat winds, and one for a set of the round winds.

Players are assigned a particular "wind seat", relative to the dealer position, who is always seated East. For the seat wind yaku, players must collect their own set of wind tiles.

Furthermore, the game has an assigned round wind. Marked by the dealer indicator, the round wind is the same for all players. Collecting a set of this wind satisfies the round wind yaku. The first round is East, followed by South. Occasionally, the game moves into West round as well, where the West wind counts as the round wind.

If a wind is neither seat nor round wind, it is considered an off wind or guest wind. A set of such a wind is not worth any yaku.

Collecting all three sangenpai sets or all four wind sets leads to the yakuman daisangen or daisuushii.

Usage

Along with tanyao, yakuhai are among the easiest yaku to learn and use. It is the simple collection of particular wind tiles or any group of dragon tiles. Typically, yakuhai are open hands, as possession of the appropriately paired tiles makes it easy to complete by calling on the discarded third tile, or sometimes fourth.

Value

Each yakuhai koutsu (triplet) is a separate yaku worth 1 han. However, the value can be dramatically increased if the particular yakuhai koutsu is indicated as the dora. As dora, a hand is already guaranteed 4 han.

If a player's seat wind matches the round wind, a koutsu of this wind counts as 2 han instead, because it satisfies two different 1-han yaku. Typically, this involves the east and south winds, as games normally involve the east round (tonkyoku) and south round (nankyoku) rounds. Of course, this may apply to the west round (shaakyoku).