Robbing the Kong (抢杠胡)
Robbing the Kong — winning by claiming a tile another player added to upgrade their pon into a kong.
How Robbing the Kong (抢杠胡) works
Robbing the Kong is a win that takes the tile an opponent is using to upgrade an exposed pung into a kong, treating that tile as a discard that completes your hand.
When a player adds the fourth tile to an existing exposed triplet to form a kong, any opponent waiting on exactly that tile may claim it to win. The robbed tile is scored as though it had been discarded to you, and the kong is cancelled. It applies to the promotion of an exposed pung rather than to a fully concealed kong.
- •It generally applies to upgrading an exposed pung to a kong, not to a concealed kong formed entirely in hand.
- •The player whose kong is robbed is treated as the one who fed the winning tile.
- •Since the win uses an opponent's tile, it is a discard-type win rather than a self-draw.
Robbing the Kong (抢杠胡) — FAQ
Can you rob a concealed kong?
Under common Sichuan rules robbing applies to the promotion of an exposed pung; a concealed kong is usually safe from robbing.
What happens to the kong after it is robbed?
The kong is not completed; the upgrading tile goes to the winner and the round ends with that win.