Chinroutou

Conditions

• Every tile in the hand must be a terminal tile: 1 or 9 of any suit
• No honor tiles, no middle tiles (2-8) are allowed
• The hand can be open — calling pon on terminals is allowed
• The hand must consist entirely of triplets (or kans) plus a pair, since sequences cannot be formed with only 1s and 9s
• There are only six types of terminal tiles (1m, 9m, 1p, 9p, 1s, 9s) and you need five different types (four triplets + one pair), so the hand is extremely constrained

Strategy Tips

• With only six types of terminal tiles available, chinroutou is one of the most constrained yakuman. You need triplets from five of the six types plus a pair from the sixth, meaning nearly every terminal tile in the game must cooperate.
• If your starting hand is heavy on terminals and honors, consider whether honroutou (all terminals and honors, worth toitoi + honroutou for a combined mangan-level hand) might be more achievable. Chinroutou is the pure terminal version and is vastly harder.
• Watch the discard piles and open melds carefully. If other players are using terminals for their own hands (such as chanta or junchan sequences), the remaining terminals may not be enough to complete chinroutou.