Yakuman

Yakuman is the class of limit hands in Japanese Riichi, the highest scoring tier reserved for rare, prestigious patterns. Rather than being counted in han, a yakuman is awarded a fixed maximum payout equivalent to or exceeding a 13-han hand, paying 32,000 points for a non-dealer and 48,000 for a dealer in standard rules. Because the score is capped at the table limit, extra dora or additional han on a yakuman hand do not raise its value.

Classic yakuman patterns each have strict requirements. Kokushi musou (thirteen orphans) needs one of every terminal and honor plus a pair of one of them. Suuankou is four concealed triplets, daisangen is triplets of all three dragons, and chinroutou is a hand entirely of terminals. Tenhou and chiihou are the dealer's and non-dealer's blessing hands, won on the very first uninterrupted draw. Each is so hard to assemble that completing one is a highlight of any session.

Some rules recognize a double yakuman for the most extreme forms, such as the thirteen-sided wait kokushi, suuankou tanki (a four-concealed-triplet hand won on its pair wait), or daisuushii (big four winds), paying twice the base yakuman. Multiple yakuman in a single hand can also stack where house rules allow, for example daisangen plus tsuuiisou.

A separate notion, the counted yakuman, occurs when a normal hand simply accumulates 13 or more han from yaku and dora; many rules pay it as a yakuman, though some treat it as a lower cap. Yakuman is exclusive to Riichi; MCR, Hong Kong, and Taiwanese mahjong have their own top-tier limit hands but do not use this term. For example, holding 19m19p19s plus one of each wind and dragon, waiting on any single missing terminal or honor, is the celebrated thirteen-sided kokushi wait.