Make four pungs or kongs and a pair without claiming a single discard into any of the sets.
A pung you complete by claiming another player's discard counts as exposed, so all four have to come from the wall. A kong counts too, as long as you drew all four of its tiles yourself. The tiles can be anything: what makes the hand is how it was built, not what is in it.
The tile you win on
Win on a discard that completes a pung, and that pung counts as exposed, even though it is the last tile of the hand.
Hold three concealed pungs and two pairs, as above, and you are waiting for either pair to become the fourth pung. Draw that tile from the wall and you have the hand. Win on a discard instead and you are left with three concealed pungs, a 2 han pattern in riichi, instead of a yakuman.
The other way to finish is a wait on the pair: four concealed pungs already made and a single tile waiting for its partner. Most of our sources let that tile come from anyone, because it completes the pair rather than a pung.
What it scores
It is a limit hand in Hong Kong play, 64 points in Chinese Official, and a yakuman in riichi.
| Style | Value |
|---|---|
| Hong Kong | a limit hand |
| Chinese Official | 64 points |
| Japanese riichi | yakuman |
Two of our three Hong Kong sources list it as a limit hand, scored at 10 faan in one and 64 points in the other; the third leaves it out. Chinese Official scores it 64 of a possible 88. In riichi it is a yakuman, concealed by definition.
Its other names
The hand goes by several names, and the Hong Kong ones are the least obvious.
Wikipedia's Japanese list calls it Four Concealed Triplets, the same hand with the other word for a pung. Mahjong Time's Hong Kong list calls it Hidden Treasure, and Wikipedia's article on Hong Kong scoring calls it Self Triplets. Japanese sources call it suuankou.
Where the sources disagree
Two rules about the last tile differ between sources.
- Whether the pair may come from a discard. Our riichi sources allow it, and so does Wikipedia's Hong Kong list. Mahjong Time's Hong Kong list requires the whole hand, last tile included, to be drawn from the wall.
- Whether the wait on the pair doubles it. Two of our riichi sources pay a double yakuman when the last tile completes the pair. The third, Mahjong Time's riichi rules, lists the hand as a single yakuman and mentions no double.
Questions about Four Concealed Pungs
What is Four Concealed Pungs in mahjong?
A hand of four pungs or kongs and a pair, where none of the four sets was made by claiming a discard. It is a limit hand in Hong Kong play, 64 points in Chinese Official, and a yakuman in riichi.
Can you win Four Concealed Pungs on a discard?
Only if the discard completes your pair. A discard that completes a pung makes that pung count as exposed, even as the winning tile, so the hand is no longer four concealed pungs. Mahjong Time's Hong Kong list goes further and requires the winning tile to be drawn from the wall.
Does a concealed kong count as one of the four?
Yes. A kong made from four tiles you drew yourself still counts as concealed, so it can be one of the four sets.
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, Chinese-language Wikipedia's list of Chinese Official patterns, and the 2006 Chinese Official rulebook. The full list is on our mahjong hands page, and Japanese Mahjong explains what a han is worth.