Waits & Tenpai
Shanten
Also called: 向聽, distance to tenpai
How many tile-swaps away from tenpai your hand is.
Shanten counts the number of tile exchanges needed to reach tenpai. A hand at 0-shanten is tenpai (one tile from winning). A 1-shanten hand needs one good exchange to reach tenpai. Shanten counts go up from there — most starting hands are 4-6 shanten. Mahjong calculators (including this one) track shanten in real time as you build your hand.
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