All Simples

What Is All Simples

All Simples in Chinese Mahjong is a 2-fan pattern that requires no 1’s, no 9’s, and no honor tiles in your final 14-tile hand. By focusing on the mid-range tiles (2–8) in the suits, you gain a quick route to melds and chows, potentially combining with patterns like All Chows, No Honors, or Concealed Hand for increased fan totals. Keep an eye out for conflicting draws of terminals or honors, as pivoting to a more lucrative pattern might sometimes be preferable. With efficient chow-making and synergy awareness, an All Simples hand can be both swift and profitable.

The Tile Pattern of All Simples

No 1’s, No 9’s, No Honors: Every tile must be between 2–8 inclusive in Dots, Bams, or Craks.

Meld and Pair Composition: The hand structure of 4 melds (chows/pungs/kongs) plus 1 pair remains the same as usual in Mahjong; the difference is simply that none of these sets may include 1/9/honor tiles.

Example: A possible All Simples hand (each bullet is one meld, plus the final pair):

• 2-3-4 of Craks
• 5-6-7 of Craks
• 2-2-2 of Bams (a pung)
• 6-7-8 of Dots
• Pair of 3-3 of Bams

As long as no terminal or honor appears, you qualify for All Simples.

Fan Value of All Simples

Under standard Chinese Mahjong rules, All Simples is worth 2 fan. You can combine this pattern with others (for instance, Concealed Hand, All Chows, Self-Drawn, etc.) provided that you continue to meet each pattern’s conditions.

Strategies and Considerations of All Simples

Early Discards of Terminals/Honors: To maintain eligibility for All Simples, promptly discard any 1’s, 9’s, or honors you draw, unless you pivot away from All Simples for a higher-value pattern (e.g., if you pick up multiple copies of a dragon to form a Dragon Pung).

Faster Chow Formation: Sequences (chows) in the 2–8 range are easier to form because you have more connecting tiles (e.g., 4 can connect with 3–5, 2–3–4, 4–5–6, etc.). This can speed up your hand relative to a terminal-heavy approach.

Synergy with Other Patterns

• All Chows: If you avoid pungs of 2–8 tiles, you might also achieve All Chows for an additional 2 fan.
• No Honors: By definition, All Simples automatically satisfies No Honors (+1 fan), because you cannot have any winds or dragons.
• One-Void Suit: If you happen to skip an entire suit as well, that adds another +1 fan.

Predictability: If you are discarding 1’s, 9’s, and honors early on, opponents might guess you are going for All Simples (or at least not using terminals/honors). This can help them shape their defensive strategy if they suspect your hand is building quickly.

Overcommitting: If you draw multiple 1’s/9’s or honors that could form a pung, consider whether switching to a pung-based or honor-based pattern (e.g., Dragon Pung, Seat Wind Pung) might yield a higher total fan. All Simples is solid but might not always be best if you stumble into bigger opportunities.

Suit Balancing: You can spread your chows across 2–8 in multiple suits. If a particular suit’s mid-range tiles get heavily discarded or taken, adapt to focus on the suit(s) where 2–8 tiles remain more available.

Cautions

• No Potential for Terminal-Based Patterns: Obviously, you exclude any pattern requiring terminals or honors (like Pung of Terminals/Honors, Mixed One-Suit with honors, etc.).
• Melding vs. Concealment: Rapidly melding chows of 2–8 tiles is easy but reveals your suits and might reduce synergy with Concealed Hand.