Half Flush

What Is Half Flush

Half Flush in Chinese Mahjong is a 6-fan pattern where your final, 14-tile hand contains tiles from exactly one suit (all Bams, Craks, or Dots) plus any honors (winds/dragons). This approach can yield a strong score, especially if you leverage wind or dragon pungs for additional fan. However, committing to one suit plus honors can be predictable and potentially slower if opponents deny you the necessary tiles. By carefully evaluating your opening draws, managing discards, and possibly melding for speed, you can harness the sizable 6-fan payout of a well-executed Half Flush hand.

The Tile Pattern of Half Flush

One Suit: All suited tiles come from just one suit: e.g., all Bams (2–8 of Bam, or 1 and 9, etc.).

Any Honor Tiles: You can include any combination of wind and dragon tiles—these do not break the single-suit restriction.

Standard Hand Structure: Despite the restriction on suits, you still need 4 melds (chows, pungs, or kongs) plus 1 pair to form a legal Mahjong hand.

Example:

• Meld 1: 1-2-3 of Bams
• Meld 2: Pung of East Wind (East-East-East)
• Meld 3: 7-8-9 of Bams
• Meld 4: Pung of Green Dragon (Green-Green-Green)
• Pair: 5 of Bams (5-5)

All suited tiles are Bams, and the honors are East + Green Dragons—no other suits appear, so this qualifies as Half Flush.

Fan Value of Half Flush

In Chinese Mahjong scoring, Half Flush is worth 6 fan. This significant reward reflects the challenge of restricting yourself to only one suit (albeit with the ability to use honors).

Strategies and Considerations of Half Flush

High Base Score: At 6 fan, Half Flush is quite lucrative, especially if you also incorporate other scoring elements like pungs of dragons/winds or additional wait bonuses.

Easier to Include Honors: Unlike a Full Flush, you can utilize honors for pungs/kongs (which might yield extra fans if you form a Dragon Pung or Seat Wind Pung). Including honors can sometimes make tile collection easier if those honors appear frequently in discards.

Potential Meld Speed: You can call (meld) discards for both your chosen suit and any honors. This can accelerate completion compared to a strictly concealed approach.

Risk of Missing Tiles

• Restricting yourself to one suit plus honors can be slower if the tiles you need are heavily discarded or used by opponents.
• If other players notice you are focusing on a single suit, they may withhold or avoid discarding those crucial tiles.

Predictability: Once you expose a few melds in the same suit plus some honor sets, opponents quickly realize you’re going for Half Flush. They may adjust their discards to block your key tiles.

Balance with Other Patterns: You cannot simultaneously form patterns that explicitly require multiple suits (e.g., Mixed Double Chow that demands the same numbered chow in two different suits). You must commit to one suit plus honors.

Early Suit Decision: Look at your opening hand: if you have a strong concentration of one suit plus a few honors, start discarding tiles from other suits to streamline your direction toward Half Flush.

Using Honors Wisely: Honor pungs or kongs (especially wind or dragon sets matching your seat wind or the round wind/dragons) can add extra fan to your Half Flush. For instance, a Dragon Pung is +2 fan on top of the 6 fan for Half Flush.

Be Flexible: If you initially aim for Half Flush but see your needed tiles appear in other players’ melds or discards, consider switching to a simpler strategy if you can’t gather enough tiles in your chosen suit/honors.

Concealed vs. Melded: You can keep your hand concealed if you want more secrecy (and possibly claim a Concealed Hand or Fully Concealed Hand bonus), but melding discards is often faster. Decide based on your tile flow and how close your opponents might be to winning.