Remember this hand?
The caption speaks for itself. Its a stupidly good hand.
And this is how it ended up. As one blog puts it – you have a better chance of getting hit by lightning twice than getting this hand.
But, did you guys know that beside the yakuman said in the manga, if possible rules or ruleset are played – this hand could become a stacked yakuman?
Yakuman # 1 – Kazoe Yakuman (Counted Yakuman)
So let’s start with the one that everyone knows.
1 han – Rinshan Kaihou
5 han – Chinitsu
2 han – Toitoi
2 han – San Ankou
2 han – San Kantsu
1 han – Red dora
For a total of 13 han – A Counted Yakuman.
Now let’s go to the less common ones.
Yakuman # 2 – Suu Renkou
Suu Renkou is a yakuman obtained if you have four pons/kong in the same suit with four consecutive numbers. This yakuman can be obtained even when the hand is exposed.
Now, lets take a look…
Do we have 4 pons/ kan ? 1-1-1-1 / 2-2-2-2/ 3-3-3-3 / 4-4-4
Is the number consecutive? 1-2-3-4
Does it belong to the same suit? Yup.
Best of all unlike suu ankou, this yakuman can be exposed. So no worries about Saki calling daiminkan on Koromo’s 1-pin.
Now if we add the limit hands possible under Chinese Classical Mahjong.
Yakuman # 3 – Gathering Plum blossom from the Roof
According to ancient Chinese logic 5 dots looks like a plum blossom. So when a player won a rinshan kaihou by drawing the 5 dots from the dead wall its an automatic yakuman.
Three guesses in what tile Saki last drew when she won by rinshan kaihou and the last two don’t count.
Yakuman # 4 – Three-fold fortune/ Two-Fold Fortune
If a player declares a Kan, draws a tile from the Dead Wall and immediately declares another Kan, then draws another tile from the Dead Wall and immediately declares Mahjong, the hand is said to be a Three-fold fortune/ Two-fold Fortune hand and is scored accordingly, regardless of the tiles it contains.
Hey, how many consecutive kans did Saki called?
Three.
That means Saki qualified for this yakuman. TWICE.
One is this the last hand in the tournament. The other hand is the first 3 kan that she called which allowed her measly 2k hands to a 24k baiman, if Two fold fortune is allowed it will be 2k blooming into 96k points ( 2 times yakuman as a dealer).
Conclusion:
Thus, if all possible variation of limit hands are allowed and counted. Saki got:
1 x Kazoe Yakuman
1 x Suu Renkou
1 x Gathering Plum blossom from the Roof
1 x Two Fold Fortune
That means Saki got a theoretical 4 x Yakuman.
Beside this, if Saki drew the 1-pin herself – her hand will qualify for suu ankou since it is no longer exposed making this hand a possible 5 x yakuman. Lol. Mahjong is fun. But, you guys know that.
Final Note:
Regarding the Classical Chinese Mahjong Ruleset there is also a limit hand called Plucking the Moon from the Bottom of the Sea which is winning a haitei on the one-pin. Lol.
I pity who will be fighting Saki and Koromo if they are using the Classical Chinese Mahjong Ruleset. They’re normal 1-han finishing move can become a full blown yakuman.
I think they don't have Suu Renkou in the Saki-verse rules.
That's the first time I hear some of the detailed rules of the Chinese mahjong. The haitei and rinshan kaihou related yakuman hands would be nasty with Saki and Koromo at the table, but there's undeniable aesthetic value to the the haitei draw being a 1-pin, so I kind of understand how people would make that into a yakuman. The 5-pin / plum connection is new to me, though xD.
I think its because if you look at the plum orchid from above it looks like the five dots. ^^
Anyway, looking at other variation of mahjong is fun. Hopefully, the Saki-verse will expand and cover the other rulesets and not just riichi mahjong. After all, unless riichi mahjong is the universal standard, the other rulesets must still exist and played in other countries. And there seems to be some preparation in the background for it judging from Kubo and Fujita's behavior.
There's also a third Classical Chinese yakuman based on combining an incidental yaku with a certain tile. That is the ryansou chankan (二索槍槓), robbing a kan of 2-sou. Guess what tile Saki kanned when Yumi got her chankan off her?
Lol.
Thanks for the info. Really,you gotta love the Nagano prefecture finals. Hidden nuggets of info everywhere. ^^
oh my i really learn mahjong 3 days ago well because of saki even though i already watched Saki many years ago, the rules on the manga pages too confusing to my taste to the point i didn't bother to learn, even though watching/reading the series made me long for it, but after i read sites about comment on tournament around 5 days ago (because Saki national sides), i felt it will be a waste that i lost a big part of the show just because know next to nothing a bout mahjong, so why not join in the fray lol, and now reading your article about the value of those hand Saki did in Nagano final, OMG i'm speakless, really really glad i learn it
Oh btw about international tournament most probably it will use richi mahjong, because as we had read from the manga the reason Rinkai Chinese sergeant move to Japan cause she lost Asian Tournament because the rules use in Tournament is different than in China, she also hint that she is un- defeat in Chinese mahjong,
So it will be very great if we got Saki VS Her VS Koromo playing chinese mahjong even if it only a training:)
Ps:sorry i forgot her name, myong fa maybe
Yeah, its a pity that the International tournament used riichi rules. Though, judging from Shinohayu, there are other tournaments which has weird rules so there are different variations available.
And truthfully, I'm not really surprised that the International tournament used riichi. I always felt that the riichi ruleset has the best ratio between luck and skill – a 50% skill/ 50% luck. Something like Classic Chinese mahjong is like 90% luck; 10% skill.
Oh. If you just found this site. I seem to have borked the links. And some of the pages is missing. I fixed it now. ^^
it might end up being impossible but I hope the writer(s) behind saki will eventually expand the coverage of the sakiverse and give us a mahjong world cup or better yet give a future arc with the pro mahjong league! I loved hajime no ippo for that and as a fan of this series I'm willing to bet that there epic match ups just waiting to be shown to us!
There has been some foreshadowing of a world cup tournament. Fujita is expressly gathering players for it. In fact, Rinkai is made of star players around the globe.
… the problem is it will probably take us a decade to get there lol.
Hmm. Which 5 would you put together for a World Cup team? Let's say restricted to those teams Kiyosumi has gotten friendly with and that Fujita-pro would know of, so excludes Side A. Most likely is pulled primarily from the 4 teams at the training camp, but possibly some of the other teams in Side B. Miyamori girls would probably also be excluded, since their coach's connection to Akado means they'd probably be linked with the Side A picks.
And beyond raw power, what sequence of players would balance each other out? Maybe with allowance for any logical future power growth (eg: hints that Nodoka might be seeing beyond the disbelief boundary; Yuuki's improvement (can she ever stretch into the south wind?); whatever it is that Saki sees in Kyouko; etc).
Figure Saki and Koromo are easy picks. Possibly Nodoka, if you can put her in a round that suits her skills. Hisa? Mihoko? Yumi? Kyouko? Touka (cold)?
A world class competition selection should logically select from all players in Japan so Side-A should also be considered unless that tournament has some funky rules. lol.
Though, I do get what you're saying. How about a hypothetical All-Stars from Nagano? Hisa did speculate two tournaments for which Fujita might be scouting, one for World Cup and the other for Nationals. ^^
Now on the team itself. Yeah. I'll make sure Saki and Koromo are in the team. The problem with the two though is which one will be the captain.
Koromo's moon buff meant the later the game the stronger she is. But, then again, I don't know what phase of the moon it will be on the day of the fight. So, I guess it would be better for Saki to be the captain. I'm of the opinion that if you have Saki on your team, its really best to put her on Captain every single time. Her point manipulation shines there the best.
Then, I'll probably place Koromo in either the Vice-captain (for the night buff) or Vanguard (Koromo is an excellent point getter even without the full moon. Also to have someone neutralize other school aces in that position.) Now for the three other members, I'll pick Hisa, Mihoko and Yumi.
If Koromo is the vanguard.
I'll put Mihoko on sergeant. Hisa on the middle. And Yumi as the Vice-Captain.
If Koromo is the Vice-Captain.
I'll put Mihoko on Vanguard, Hisa on the Sergeant. And Yumi on the Lieutenant.
This combination is what I believe is the most stable. On the other hand, if its possible to substitute or replace team players then Nagano will have an excellent pool to choose from. Many of they're players have great advantage (and disadvantage) against several players.
Just out of curiosity what would happen if Saki was dealer and dealt a hand of four pons and one red dora then on the first turn drew a tile she needed to make a kan continued to make a kan out of all of the pons and got a rishan of another red dora and then when the kan dora was opened all of the kans turned into dora how much would it be worth?
Not a hand anyone but Saki will ever get though
Under Saki tournament rules, that hand would the upper limit – a dealer's yakuman for 48 000 points total.
Rules that allow double yakuman hands are also relatively common – under those rules, the hand is a dealer's double yakuman for a total of 96 000 points.
Under aotenjou rules (sky-is-the-limit rules, or just no-upper-limit rules), that would be a 22-dora, tsumo, san-ankou at the very least, so 25 han. Assuming the hand is 70-fu (the cheapest possibility, depends what the exact kan tiles were) we get:
(1200*2^24)*3 = 60 397 977 600 total points.
Notably, with the 4 red dora used in Saki, the biggest possible hand is a 44-dora hand, which is what you described plus calling a riichi and getting all the ura-dora too. I'll leave the maths to you.
Oh yeah, forgot to count the rinshan itself, so you have to double it once more for a total of 120 795 955 200 points. Sorry.