Every tile in the hand is a 1 or a 9 from one of the three suits. No winds, no dragons, and nothing from 2 to 8.
Those are the terminals: six kinds of tile, four copies of each, twenty-four in the whole set. This hand takes fourteen of them, more than half.
Always pungs and a pair
You cannot build a run from ones and nines, so the hand is always four pungs or kongs and a pair.
A run needs three numbers in a row, and the nearest a 1 can get is 1, 2, 3. So every set here is three or four of the same tile, and the shape of the hand is fixed before you start: five of the six kinds of terminal, four of them as sets and the fifth as the pair.
What it scores
It pays the limit in Hong Kong and riichi play, and 64 points in Chinese Official.
| Style | Value |
|---|---|
| Hong Kong | a limit hand |
| Chinese Official | 64 points |
| Japanese riichi | yakuman |
All three of our Hong Kong sources list it among the limit hands, scored at 10 faan in one and 64 points in another. Chinese Official scores it 64 of a possible 88, high but not the top tier. In riichi it is a yakuman whether the sets are concealed or claimed.
With winds or dragons, it is a different hand
Let a wind or a dragon into the same shape and it becomes All Terminals and Honors, one of the cheapest named hands there is.
That one change takes the hand from the limit to a pattern worth 1 faan in Hong Kong play and 2 han in riichi, and halves it in Chinese Official, from 64 points to 32. Letting the honors in takes you from six kinds of tile to thirteen.
So if your hand is heading for ones and nines, any wind or dragon in it decides which of the two you are building. All Terminals and Honors has the cheaper hand in full.
The name
Almost every list calls it All Terminals; one Hong Kong list calls it Orphans.
Wikipedia's article on Hong Kong scoring uses plain Orphans for this hand and Mixed Orphans for the one with honors. Every other source we read calls it All Terminals, and Japanese sources call it chinroutou. Neither Orphans nor Mixed Orphans has anything to do with Thirteen Orphans, which takes one of each terminal and one of each honor, then a duplicate.
Questions about All Terminals
What is All Terminals in mahjong?
A hand made only of the ones and nines of the three suits, with no winds or dragons. It pays the limit in Hong Kong and riichi play, and 64 of a possible 88 points in Chinese Official.
What is the difference between All Terminals and All Terminals and Honors?
All Terminals allows only ones and nines. All Terminals and Honors lets the winds and dragons in as well, and pays far less for it: 1 faan in Hong Kong play and 2 han in riichi, where All Terminals pays the limit.
Can All Terminals be made from claimed discards?
Yes. Our sources allow the sets to be exposed, which matters, because only twenty-four terminal tiles exist and this hand needs fourteen of them.
Where this comes from
Checked against Tom Sloper's Hong Kong FAQ and his yaku list, Wikipedia on Hong Kong scoring and Japanese yaku, Mahjong Time's Hong Kong, Chinese Official and riichi pages, and Yellow Mountain Imports. The full list is on our mahjong hands page, and Japanese Mahjong explains what a han is worth.