You’ve built your hand, you’re in tenpai (one tile away), and finally—you draw or call your winning tile. Time to claim victory! This chapter covers how to win and the rules that govern declaring wins.

The Two Ways to Win

Tsumo (ツモ): Self-Draw Win

Tsumo means winning by drawing your winning tile yourself from the wall.

Example:

Your hand:
You’re waiting for:
On your turn, you draw:
You declare “Tsumo!” and reveal your hand

Benefits of tsumo:

All opponents pay you: The dealer pays more, but everyone contributes
Menzen tsumo yaku: If your hand was closed, you get +1 han (worth ~1,300-2,000 points)
No furiten issues: You can’t be in furiten on your own draw (covered below)

How to declare:

Call “Tsumo!” out loud (or click the button on digital platforms)
Reveal your entire hand
The game calculates your score based on han and fu (next chapter)

Ron (ロン): Win on Discard

Ron means winning by calling an opponent’s discarded tile.

Example:

Your hand:
You’re waiting for:
Opponent discards:
You declare “Ron!” and reveal your hand

Benefits of ron:

Only the discarder pays: The player who discarded your winning tile pays the full value (direct hit)
Faster: You don’t wait for your turn to draw
Riichi pressure: Declaring riichi makes opponents fear your ron, leading to safer discards

How to declare:

Call “Ron!” immediately when the tile is discarded
Reveal your entire hand
The discarder pays the full amount

Important: Ron takes priority over all other calls (pon, chi, kan). If multiple players call ron on the same tile, it’s a multi-ron (double or triple ron, depending on house rules).

Agari: The Act of Winning

Agari (上がり, あがり) is the general term for winning—whether by tsumo or ron. When you achieve agari:

The hand immediately ends
Your hand is revealed and validated (checking for yaku and proper structure)
Points are calculated
Points are transferred
A new hand begins (or the round/game ends)

The Furiten Rule: When You Can’t Ron

Here’s one of mahjong’s most important (and initially confusing) rules: furiten (振聴, フリテン).

What is Furiten?

You are in furiten if any of your winning tiles appears in your own discard pool. When in furiten, you cannot declare ron (you can only win by tsumo).

Example of Furiten

Your hand:

You’re in tenpai, waiting for:

(to complete the pair)

Earlier in the hand, you discarded:

You are now in furiten. Even if an opponent discards 2s, you cannot call ron. You must win by drawing 2s yourself (tsumo).

Why Furiten Exists

Furiten prevents “selective waiting”—a strategy where you’d ignore certain winning tiles early (by discarding them yourself) and later ron on them when it’s more advantageous. This would be unfair to opponents who saw you discard the tile safely earlier.

The rule ensures: If you discarded it, it’s not dangerous for you to call ron on.

Three Types of Furiten

1. Discard Furiten (捨て牌フリテン)

The most common type: you discarded one of your waiting tiles earlier in the hand.

Solution: Change your wait by discarding and drawing different tiles, or win by tsumo.

2. Temporary Furiten (同巡内フリテン)

If an opponent discards your winning tile and you don’t call ron (you pass on it), you enter temporary furiten until your next turn.

Example:

You’re waiting for 3m or 6m (ryanmen wait on 45m)
Opponent discards 3m
You don’t call ron (maybe you’re waiting for riichi ippatsu or a specific yaku)
Until your next discard, you cannot ron on any tile (3m or 6m)
After you discard, temporary furiten clears

Why this exists: Prevents waiting to see what else gets discarded before committing to a ron.

3. Riichi Furiten (立直フリテン)

If you declare riichi and then pass on a ron opportunity, you are permanently in furiten for the rest of the hand. You can only win by tsumo.

Why this is severe: Riichi is a commitment. You can’t change your hand, so passing on a winning tile means you’re stuck until you draw it yourself.

Furiten Strategy

For beginners:

Check your discard pool before declaring riichi—if you’ve already discarded a waiting tile, you’re in permanent furiten (riichi while in furiten is legal but usually unwise)
Call ron when you can—don’t pass on winning tiles unless you have a specific reason
Accept tsumo-only situations—sometimes you’ll be in furiten, and that’s okay; just wait for the draw

Advanced concept: Some players deliberately enter furiten (damaten - concealed tenpai without riichi) to avoid revealing their wait. This is mind-games territory—ignore it for now.

Winning Tile Validation

When you declare agari (tsumo or ron), the game checks:

1. Proper Structure

Does your hand have 4 melds + 1 pair? (Or 7 pairs for chiitoitsu, or 13 orphans for kokushi—special yaku we’ll cover later)

2. At Least One Yaku

Does your hand contain at least one valid yaku (scoring pattern)? You cannot win without yaku, even if you have the perfect structure.

Common beginner mistake: Building a perfect 4 melds + pair hand with no yaku, then realizing you can’t actually win. Always check for yaku!

3. Not in Furiten (for Ron)

If you’re calling ron, are you in furiten? If yes, the ron is invalid (called a “chombo” or mistake, sometimes penalized).

4. Not a Dead Wait

Are there still live tiles left to draw/call? If all four copies of your waiting tile are visible (in your hand, in revealed melds, or in the discard pools), you have a dead wait and cannot win.

Winning Across Game Rounds

Dealer Wins vs. Non-Dealer Wins

Dealer wins: Dealer scores 1.5× base points and remains dealer (dealer repeat, or “renchan”)
Non-dealer wins: Dealer rotates counter-clockwise to the next player

Ending the Game

A game (tonpuu or hanchan) ends when:

All scheduled rounds are complete (East 1-4 for tonpuu, East 1-4 + South 1-4 for hanchan)
A player’s score drops below 0 (bankruptcy, though some house rules allow negative scores)
All players agree to end (rare)

The player with the highest score at the end wins the game. Placement (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th) is recorded, and uma (placement bonuses) are applied in competitive settings.

Example: Tsumo vs. Ron Comparison

Your hand:

Waiting for:

(pair completion)

Scenario A - Tsumo:

You draw 4p yourself
Yaku: Menzen tsumo (1 han) + Pinfu (1 han) = 2 han
All three opponents pay you
Total: ~3,900 points (2 han, 30 fu)

Scenario B - Ron:

Opponent discards 4p
Yaku: Pinfu (1 han) only (no menzen tsumo since it’s ron)
Only the discarder pays you
Total: ~2,000 points (1 han, 30 fu) from one player

Wait—scenario A scored more and got paid by everyone? Yes! This is why staying closed and going for tsumo is often better than rushing into open hands.

Common Winning Mistakes (Beginner Edition)

1. Declaring Win Without Yaku

You have a perfect structure but no yaku. The game rejects your win. Always check for yaku before declaring.

2. Calling Ron While in Furiten

You discarded your waiting tile earlier. Calling ron is a mistake (chombo). Digital platforms prevent this, but physical mahjong penalizes it.

3. Forgetting Menzen Tsumo

You win by self-draw with a closed hand but forget to count menzen tsumo as +1 han. Digital platforms calculate this automatically.

4. Missing a Ron Opportunity

An opponent discards your winning tile and you don’t notice. You accidentally pass and enter temporary furiten. Pay attention to discards!

Next: Understanding Yaku

You now know how to win, but you need at least one yaku to make that win valid. In the next chapter, we’ll cover the most common and important yaku for beginners, so you can start recognizing scoring patterns in your hands.

Ready to learn yaku? Click “Next”!