Beginner's Lesson 19
Scoring for 20 and 40 Fu
In this lesson, we will cover the scoring tables for 20 and 40 fu. Let’s start with 40 fu:
Notice that the 4 han values are mangan. If 4 han 30 fu is almost mangan, then it should make sense that 4 han 40 fu would be more than mangan, and therefore rounded down to mangan.
Hands worth 40 fu are common. Closed hands won by ron that do not qualify for pinfu are worth at least 40 fu. Closed ron adds 10 fu, and if the hand does not qualify for pinfu, it must gain fu somewhere else, meaning that the hand is at least 32 fu. Toitoi hands are commonly worth 40 fu. Hands with an open kan of terminal or honor tiles or a closed kan of simple tiles are worth at least 40 fu. Open hands or closed hands won by tsumo can also be worth 40 fu if they have at least 1 triplet and some other ways of gaining fu (another triplet, final wait worth 2 fu, yakuhai pair).
Next is the scoring table for 20 fu:
What’s that? Not only are there no ron values, but there are no values for 1 han! If you recall, the only type of hand that can be worth 20 fu is a pinfu hand won by tsumo. Because pinfu must be closed, it would also gain the yaku for menzen tsumo. Therefore, any hand worth 20 fu must be won by tsumo and worth at least 2 han.
In any case, these tsumo values match up with those in the 40 fu scoring table. As you might expect, a hand worth 1 han 40 fu is the same as a hand worth 2 han 20 fu.
Following that same pattern, here is the scoring table for 80 fu:
It should come as no surprise that these values are the same as those from the 40 fu scoring table, just shifted to the left. Again, hands worth 4 or less han cannot be more than mangan, so hands worth 3 han 80 fu and 4 han 80 fu are rounded down to mangan.
Hands worth 80 fu are very rare. A hand worth 80 fu would have to have at least 1 kan and 1 other triplet, but would likely consist of multiple kans and triplets. You may never even see a hand worth 80 fu, but as long as you have the scoring table for 40 fu memorized, you will be prepared if you do.
In the next lesson, we will cover hands worth 25 and 50 fu, and by extension, 100 fu.