Chicken Hand (雞胡)

What is Chicken Hand?

Chicken Hand (雞胡), pronounced gai wu, is a 0-faan Hong Kong Mahjong winning hand consisting of any valid four-meld-plus-pair structure that contains no scoring patterns. The name literally translates to “chicken win” — a derogatory term for the lowest-value win. It is the floor of HK Mahjong scoring.

How to score Chicken Hand

A Chicken Hand has the structurally complete 14-tile shape required to win — four melds (any combination of chows, pungs, or kongs) plus one pair — but earns no faan from any pattern. It contains no winning suit purity, no honor pungs that score (only neutral winds), no special structures, and no flowers.

The hand qualifies as a “win” in pure rule terms but pays the minimum.

Example hand

Faan value: 0

Chicken Hand is worth 0 faan, paying 1 base unit. Because most Hong Kong Mahjong tables apply a minimum-faan threshold (typically 3 faan), a pure Chicken Hand cannot legally declare a win at those tables — the player must wait for at least one scoring pattern to reach the minimum.

Common combinations

Chicken Hand only becomes winnable when paired with additive faan bonuses:

• Chicken Hand + Self-Pick (自摸) — 0 + 1 = 1 faan. Below most table minimums, but valid on 1-faan tables.
• Chicken Hand + Concealed Hand (門前清) — 0 + 1 = 1 faan.
• Chicken Hand + Self-Pick + Concealed Hand — 0 + 1 + 1 = 2 faan. Still below the 3-faan standard minimum.
• Chicken Hand + Round Wind / Seat Wind (圈風 / 門風) — 0 + 1 (or +2) faan, when a wind pung matches the round and/or the player’s seat.

A Chicken Hand structurally cannot coexist with All Triplets, All Sequences, Mixed Flush, Full Flush, or any honor-pung pattern — the moment the hand acquires any of those, it stops being a Chicken Hand and becomes that pattern instead.

Why it matters

Chicken Hand is the educational anchor for the entire faan system: every other pattern is defined by what makes it more than a Chicken Hand. Understanding what 0 faan looks like clarifies why each scoring pattern earns the value it does.