All Terminals and Honours

What is All Terminals and Honors in Japanese Mahjong

All Terminals and Honors is a two-han yaku in Japanese Riichi Mahjong. It requires that every set and the pair in your hand contain only terminals (1 or 9) or honor tiles (winds or dragons). Typically made up of triplets or quads, it can be melded openly and often pairs naturally with All Triplets and Yakuhai for substantial scoring. While it may be somewhat slower to complete due to the limited number of terminal and honor tiles, the potential payoff makes All Terminals and Honors an appealing choice for a high-value hand.

How to Achieve All Terminals and Honors？

All Tiles Are Terminals or Honors: Terminals are 1 or 9 in any suit (Pin, Sou, or Man). Honors are winds (East, South, West, North) or dragons (White, Green, Red).

Standard Hand Structure

• A winning hand in Riichi Mahjong must form four sets (triplets, quads, or sequences) plus one pair.
• In All Terminals and Honors, each of these sets and the pair must exclusively consist of 1, 9, or honors.

Note: Because there are no sequences possible using only 1 and 9 in the same suit, sets will almost always be triplets or quads in All Terminals and Honors.

Two-Han Value: All Terminals and Honors is inherently worth two han, whether your hand is open or closed.

What is the Strategy and Risk of All Terminals and Honors?

Minimal or No Sequences: Since 1 and 9 tiles cannot form valid runs in a single suit (e.g., 1-2-3 or 7-8-9), All Terminals and Honors rely heavily on triplets. If you do happen to have a sequence, it’s not actually valid for All Terminals and Honors because the middle tiles would be 2–8, which disqualifies the hand.

Melding Tiles: You can form open pungs (triplets) if you choose. Because All Terminals and Honors does not require a fully concealed hand, you can call tiles to speed up your completion. However, be aware that each open call can also give opponents information about your hand.

High-Scoring Potential: Even though All Terminals and Honors alone is two han, combining it with All Triplets and multiple Yakuhai can yield a large score, potentially reaching mangan or higher without additional dora.

Defense Against All Terminals and Honors: When a player starts collecting 1’s, 9’s, and honors aggressively, it may signal they’re going for All Terminals and Honors (or another terminal/honor-based hand). Other players often become more cautious with discarding honor tiles or 1’s and 9’s if they suspect a high-value hand might emerge.

Combining with Other Yaku

• All Triplets: If all four sets in your All Terminals and Honors are triplets/quads, you can also claim All Triplets (two han), stacking with All Terminals and Honors for a total of four han.
• Yakuhai: Any triplet of a round wind, your seat wind, or a dragon tile grants an additional one han each. All Terminals and Honors often overlaps with Yakuhai because it naturally includes honor tiles.
• Seven Pairs: This is generally incompatible with All Terminals and Honors if you use standard logic, since each pair would need to be 1, 9, or an honor—while not impossible in theory, seven distinct pairs of terminals/honors is very rare and not typically recognized under All Terminals and Honors’s structure.