Full Flush

What Is Full Flush

Full Flush is a premier 24-fan hand in Chinese Mahjong, requiring all 14 tiles to come from one suit and no honors. Its high point value stems from the difficulty of restricting yourself to a single suit, especially if opponents notice and attempt to block you. Whether you go for quick meld calls or strive for a concealed approach, the payoff can be enormous. Keep an eye on tile availability, manage your discards wisely, and be ready to adapt if your target suit becomes too scarce in the discard pool. When all the pieces fall into place, a completed Full Flush can deliver a commanding and satisfying victory.

The Tile Pattern of Full Flush

In Chinese Mahjong, Full Flush means that all 14 tiles in your winning hand come from exactly one suit—either Craks, Bams, or Dots—and you use no honor tiles (winds or dragons). Within that single suit, you can form any combination of chows, pungs/kongs, and a pair, as long as your entire hand remains strictly in one suit.

Examples:

• Chow of 1–2–3 Bams,
• Chow of 4–5–6 Bams,
• Pung of 7 Bams,
• Pung of 9 Bams,
• Pair of 8 Bams.

No Craks, Dots, or honor tiles would be present in the final layout.

Fan Value of Full Flush

Under Chinese Mahjong rules, Full Flush is awarded 24 fan. This is quite high, reflecting how challenging it is to restrict your entire hand to one suit:

• You lose potential synergy from mixing suits or calling easy discards in other suits.
• Opponents often notice “one-suit” discards and may withhold key tiles to slow your progress.

Nevertheless, the payoff of 24 fan can be game-changing, often outweighing many smaller patterns.

Strategies and Considerations of Full Flush

Assess Suit Distribution: If your opening hand is heavily skewed toward one suit (e.g., you have 8 or 9 tiles from Bamboos), consider pushing for “Full Flush.”

Discard Other Suits Quickly: This helps you draw more tiles in the target suit and also signals to opponents that you might be focusing on it—although the latter can be a drawback if they start to block you.

Calling Discards: You can claim tiles from opponents to form chows/pungs in your chosen suit. This often accelerates the completion of a Full Flush. However, each call reveals your intentions.

Fully Concealed Approach: If you can remain concealed and self-draw all tiles, you might gain additional bonuses for a fully concealed hand or for a self-drawn win—but it can be slower, and you risk someone else winning first.

Signaling: Discarding all tiles outside your chosen suit quickly alerts observant opponents to your potential Full Flush. They may hoard key ranks or avoid discarding them if it’s too dangerous.

Tile Counting: Monitor discards to see if critical tiles for your suit are already melded or heavily discarded. If too many are gone, switching to a different pattern might become necessary.

Combining with Other Patterns:

• Seven Pairs: If you form seven distinct pairs all in one suit, you have effectively combined “Full Flush” with “Seven Pairs.” The final scoring might be handled differently depending on local rules (some rule sets take the highest single pattern, others might add certain bonuses).
• Pure Straight or Pure Shifted Chows: Achieving a special chow-based pattern entirely in one suit can earn additional fan in some circumstances.
• All Pungs: If your Full Flush is also composed entirely of pungs, you might get an additional pattern bonus. Again, stacking depends on local scoring interpretations.

Flexible Tactics: Carefully weigh the benefits of calling melds early for speed versus staying concealed for potential extra fan. The pace of the game and your tile draws should guide your choices.