Beginner's Lesson 14
Rare Yaku
In this lesson, we will cover 4 rare yaku. These are usually called “luck-based” yaku because they have nothing to do with the composition of your hand and are rewarded if the tile on which you win fulfills certain conditions. All of these yaku are worth 1 han, regardless of if your hand is open or closed.
The first yaku is rinshan kaihou. Rinshan kaihou is earned if you win by tsumo on the rinshan tile after declaring a kan.
The second yaku is chankan. Chankan is earned if you win by ron when someone declares a shouminkan. To elaborate, you are allowed to declare ron on the tile that another player uses to make a shouminkan. Before they draw their rinshan tile, you would declare ron and earn the yaku for chankan. Because of the specificity of these conditions, chankan is the rarest of these 4 yaku.
The third yaku is haitei raoyue. Usually shortened to “haitei”, it is awarded if you win by tsumo on the last tile in the live wall.
The fourth yaku is houtei raoyui. Usually shortened to “houtei”, it is awarded if you win by ron on the last tile that is discarded after the live wall is exhausted.
Here is a video explaining these yaku by Light Grunty:
Because these yaku are mostly up to chance, you cannot plan on earning any of them. You should consider them a bonus if you happen to fulfill any of the above conditions. However, these yaku can allow you to win a hand with no other yaku, if you get lucky.
In the next lesson, we will cover yakuman and some more rare yaku.