All Terminals and Honors

What Is All Terminals and Honors

All Terminals and Honors is a dramatic 32-fan hand in Chinese Mahjong that restricts your tiles to rank 1, rank 9, and honor tiles. With no allowance for ranks 2–8, you will almost certainly rely on pungs/kongs rather than chows. While this approach carries extra difficulty—opponents may quickly notice your discards and withhold critical tiles—the payoff can be enormous. By discarding middle ranks early, carefully melding pungs/kongs of 1/9/honors, and adapting if key tiles become unavailable, you can achieve a powerful victory that showcases the grandeur of high-level Mahjong scoring.

The Tile Pattern of All Terminals and Honors

All Terminals and Honors—requires that every tile in your winning hand be either:

• A terminal (1 or 9) in any suit (Craks, Bams, Dots), or
• An honor tile (Wind or Dragon).

Example:

• Pung of 1 Bams
• Pung of Red Dragons
• Pung of 9 Craks
• Pung of West Wind
• Pair of 1 Dots

Fan Value of All Terminals and Honors

Under Mahjong Chinese rules, All Terminals and Honors is awarded 32 fan. This high reward reflects: The difficulty of using only rank 1, rank 9, and honor tiles. The frequent reliance on pung/kong sets, which demand more copies of each tile (and can be easy for opponents to block).

Strategies and Considerations of All Terminals and Honors

Assess Your Tiles: If your opening hand contains multiple pairs or partial pungs of 1, 9, or honors, you may aim for “All Terminals and Honors.” Immediately discard ranks 2–8 to maximize your chances of drawing more 1s, 9s, and honors.

Pungs/Kongs: You almost certainly will rely on pungs/kongs of 1, 9, or honors, because chows (sequences) cannot be formed without middle ranks (2–8).

Calling Melds: You can pung or kong from any discard (except that to complete a concealed kong, you must draw all four copies yourself). Deciding when to call can be tricky—early calls reveal your focus on terminals/honors.

Predictable Discards: Consistently discarding 2–8 can alert savvy opponents that you’re building a “Terminals and Honors” hand. They may hold back 1s, 9s, or honors to prevent you from forming pungs. Watch how many copies of a desired tile appear in discards or melds. If too many vanish, pivot to a different pattern (though “All Terminals and Honors” is quite rigid once you commit).

Possible Overlaps

• Seat Wind / Prevalent Wind / Dragons: If you form pungs/kongs of your own seat wind, the round wind, or dragons, you gain small extra fan. The 32 fan base, though, is the key scoring boost.
• Full Flush or Half Flush: Not typically relevant, because you’re using honor tiles plus 1 and 9 in possibly multiple suits. “Flush” patterns require only one suit (with or without honors), which rarely coincides with “All Terminals and Honors” unless you omit suits entirely and focus only on honors plus a single suit’s 1 and 9—but that’s extremely specialized and overshadowed by your 32-fan reward.

Limited Tiles: Because you only use 1, 9, or honors, there’s a narrower pool of possible draws. If opponents realize your aim, they may avoid discarding those tiles or actively hold them.

Significant Payoff: Completing “All Terminals and Honors” can decisively shift the match’s outcome. Maintaining focus, counting the remaining copies of each tile, and timing your pung/kong declarations are vital to success.