Doman Mahjong Points to Remember

The ancient Doman game of mahjong joins the entertainment on offer at the Gold Saucer. Face off against your fellow adventurers or practice against automata, and hone your strategies to triumph in this contest of wits!

Points to Remember

Q:Sometimes I have what looks like a winning hand, but I can't use it. Why is this?
A:There are two main reasons why a player may not have a winning hand despite possessing four melds and a pair. The first is that it does not constitute a yaku, and the second is due to a rule known as "furiten."

When a tile in your discard pile could be used to complete your hand, you are in a state called furiten. You cannot call ron while in furiten, and can only win with a tile you draw yourself.
Even if a tile discarded by an opponent is not the same as the one in your discard pile that has put you in furiten, you cannot claim your opponent's tiles by calling ron.

When there is only one type of tile that can complete a winning hand, it is fairly easy to spot furiten. However, when there are several tiles that could complete a player's hand, they may be in furiten without noticing.

In Doman mahjong, players are automatically blocked from calling ron while in furiten, but it is worth bearing in mind when building your hand.
Q:None of my discarded tiles could be used to complete my hand, so what's stopping me from winning?
A:There is also a state known as temporary furiten.
This can occur when you choose not to claim an opponent's discarded tile. If you are waiting for a particular tile to complete a meld that would form a winning hand, you will enter temporary furiten if an opponent discards that tile and you choose not to claim it. As a result, you will be unable to call ron on any discarded tiles that would complete the same meld for the rest of the turn.

For instance, imagine the following situation:
You have the 4 and 5 number tiles, and calling ron on a 3 or 6 would complete the meld. However, claiming a 6 would result in a yaku and allow you to win the hand, whereas a 3 would not result in a yaku, and would not allow you to win the hand.

If an opponent discards a 3 and you choose not to claim it, you will be placed in temporary furiten for the rest of the turn. If another opponent discards a 6 within that turn, you will not be able to call ron. Once that turn has ended, you will no longer be in temporary furiten and will be able to claim a discarded 6.
Q:I'm not in temporary furiten, so why can't I win the hand?
A:If you have declared riichi and fulfill the conditions of temporary furiten, it does not expire after one turn and instead continues until the end of the hand. You will be unable to call ron for the remainder of the hand, but can still call tsumo on a tile you have drawn.
Q:Why can't I form a kan?
A:After declaring riichi, if you draw a tile that would be the fourth tile of a kan, you may be unable to add it to a triplet. This is because declaring riichi prevents you from forming kan that would change the type of hand.
In this example, 3, 5, or 6 could all be used to complete the hand (these tiles are known as "waits"). If you were to draw a 4 and use it to form a kan of 4s, this would mean the only wait remaining is 5, therefore changing the type of hand.

This is handled automatically in Doman mahjong, but it is worth bearing in mind.
Q:There are sometimes certain tiles I cannot discard after calling chi, pon, or kan. Why is this?
A:You cannot discard a tile that is identical to one claimed from another player.
For example, you have 3, 4, and 5 and call chi to claim an identical 3. In this case, you are not allowed to discard the 3 you already held.

You are also not permitted to call chi, pon, or kan for the purpose of changing a meld into a different meld.
For example, you have a hand in tenpai as shown in the diagram above. In this case, either a 9 or west wind tile will complete a winning hand. If the 2, 3, 4 meld is changed to a 1, 2, 3, it will form the Mixed Triple Chi yaku, so the player would be wise to try adding a 1 to their hand. However, if they call chi to claim a 1 from an opponent, they will not be allowed to discard the 4, since that would be calling chi for the purpose of changing the meld.

In Doman mahjong, this is handled automatically. If the situation described above were to occur, the player would not be able to select the 4 when choosing which tile to discard.