Pinfu Tsumo 20 Fu, Chiitoitsu 25 Fu, Open Pinfu Shape 30 Fu | The Fu Exceptions in One Place
The basic rule of fu counting is “start from 20 base fu, add, then round up”, but three cases break it: 20 fu for pinfu tsumo, 25 fu for chiitoitsu, and 30 fu for open hands that earn no fu. This guide explains why each gets that number of fu, the conditions for pinfu and hands that fail them, a quick table of common scores, and where house rules treat these cases differently.
The three hands that are exceptions
| Hand | Fu | Difference from normal counting |
|---|---|---|
| Pinfu by tsumo | 20 fu | The 2 tsumo fu are not added |
| Pinfu by ron | 30 fu | Not an exception (base 20 + closed ron bonus 10) |
| Chiitoitsu | 25 fu | No base fu; fixed at 25 and not rounded |
| Ron with an open hand that earns no fu (open pinfu shape) | 30 fu | Raised to 30 instead of staying at 20 |
| Tsumo with an open hand that earns no fu | 30 fu | Not an exception (20 + tsumo 2 = 22, rounded up) |
Of the entries in this table, only three give a fu count that normal counting would never produce: 20 fu for pinfu tsumo, 25 fu for chiitoitsu and 30 fu for ron with an open hand. Remember these three and everything else can be counted with “add, then round up”.
Why pinfu tsumo is 20 fu
Pinfu is a yaku whose condition is that the hand earns no fu. It is made only of sequences, and neither the pair nor the wait earns fu, so only the 20 base fu remain. The 2 tsumo fu are fu for how you won, but adding them would mean the hand was no longer “a hand without fu”, so the rule is that pinfu does not get tsumo fu.
Pinfu by ron gets the 10-fu closed ron bonus, so it is 30 fu. Under the usual rules the closed ron bonus is fu for how you won and is added regardless of the pinfu conditions.
| Example (non-dealer, no dora) | Fu and han | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Riichi, pinfu, ron | 30 fu 2 han | 2,000 |
| Riichi, pinfu, tanyao, ron | 30 fu 3 han | 3,900 |
| Riichi, tsumo, pinfu | 20 fu 3 han | 700/1,300 |
| Riichi, tsumo, pinfu, tanyao | 20 fu 4 han | 1,300/2,600 |
The four conditions for pinfu, and hands that are not pinfu
- The hand is closed (no chi, pon or open kan; a closed kan counts as a triplet, so the hand is not pinfu)
- All four sets are sequences
- The pair is not yakuhai (a dragon, the round wind or your seat wind)
- The wait is a two-sided (ryanmen) wait (closed, edge, single and shanpon waits are not pinfu)
The wait condition is the confusing one. Take a hand with the shape 4566 that wins on a 6: read as 456 + 66 it won on a two-sided wait, but read as 456 + a single wait on 6 it won on a single wait. Here the two-sided reading with pinfu scores more, so the hand is scored as pinfu. Other examples where one hand scores differently depending on how it is read are covered in reading waits and the highest-score rule.
A pair of a non-value wind (neither the round wind nor your seat wind) is 0 fu, so it meets the pinfu condition. A pair of a double wind or of dragons earns fu, so the hand is not pinfu.
Why chiitoitsu is 25 fu
Chiitoitsu is not a four-sets-and-a-pair hand, so there are no set fu or wait fu to count. The fu were therefore fixed in one go at 25. Some rules once scored chiitoitsu as 50 fu 1 han, and 25 fu 2 han gives exactly the same score (400 basic points). The odd figure of 25 comes from treating it as a 2-han yaku while keeping the score of the old method.
25 fu is never rounded. Whether tsumo or ron, and however many dora it has, it stays 25 fu. Each extra han doubles the score: 4 han is 6,400 for a non-dealer ron, and 5 han is mangan.
| Chiitoitsu (25 fu) | Non-dealer ron | Non-dealer tsumo | Dealer ron | Dealer tsumo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 han (chiitoitsu only) | 1,600 | — | 2,400 | — |
| 3 han (riichi, or tsumo) | 3,200 | 800/1,600 | 4,800 | 1,600 all |
| 4 han | 6,400 | 1,600/3,200 | 9,600 | 3,200 all |
| 5 han | 8,000 (mangan) | 2,000/4,000 | 12,000 | 4,000 all |
A chiitoitsu won by tsumo always gets menzen tsumo as well, so it is always at least 3 han. That is why “25 fu 2 han tsumo” never actually happens. Most rules do not allow two identical pairs (four of the same tile) to count as two pairs.
An open hand that earns no fu is 30 fu
If you call chi, have only sequences, and neither the pair nor the wait earns fu, a ron win counts only the 20 base fu. This shape is called the open pinfu shape (kui-pinfu), and even on ron it is scored as 30 fu rather than 20. A 20-fu ron is not in the score table, and the rule keeps such a hand from being cheaper than pinfu ron (30 fu).
- Example: 234m called by chi, 456p 678s 34s 66m, ron on 5s (open tanyao allowed) → 30 fu 1 han (tanyao), non-dealer ron 1,000
- Same hand by tsumo on 5s → 20 + tsumo 2 = 22 fu, rounded up to 30 fu, 300/500
For the normal counting steps outside these exceptions, see how to count fu in mahjong, which includes worked examples.
FAQ
- How many fu is pinfu by ron?
- 30 fu: the 20 base fu plus the 10-fu bonus for winning by ron with a closed hand. Pinfu is 20 fu only when won by tsumo.
- Why is chiitoitsu 25 fu?
- Chiitoitsu is not a four-sets-and-a-pair hand, so set and wait fu cannot be counted. It is said to have started as a fixed 25 fu 2 han so that it scored the same as the old “50 fu 1 han”. The 25 fu is used as it is, without rounding.
- How much is chiitoitsu by tsumo?
- Chiitoitsu plus menzen tsumo makes 25 fu 3 han: 800/1,600 for a non-dealer and 1,600 all for the dealer. With riichi as well it is 25 fu 4 han, 1,600/3,200 for a non-dealer.
- How many fu is an open hand that looks like pinfu?
- An open hand that earns no fu (the open pinfu shape) is scored as 30 fu even on ron. On tsumo, 22 fu also rounds up to 30. But pinfu itself is a closed-only yaku, so the hand needs another yaku.
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