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CHAPTER VI.

HOW TO GO OUT

East, who has 14 tiles, starts the game by discarding one of his tiles. This he does by placing the discarded tile in front of his pile, facing the surface up.

Next, South picks up one tile from the end of the pile, unless he can make a Pon or a Chi (these are explained later) from the tile discarded by East. West and North pick up and discard in like manner and the play continues successively until one of the players Out, or the pile is exhausted, leaving such portion as is decided by regulation.

A hand has 14 tiles when Going Out - 4 sets of threes and a pair (2 of a kind). The pair, or 2 of a kind, is called a Pillow, or Head. The threes not gathered at random. They may be either 3 of a kind, called a Pon, or a sequence (run) of 3, called a Chi.

Pillow

There are two methods of making a Pon or a Chi.

1. When a player has two of the same kind of tiles and one of the other three players discards one of the same, he can piak up the discarded tile by saying, "Pon" He then melds the three tiles by placing them, surface up, to the right of his hand.

2. When a player makes a Pon or a Chi by drawing from the pile, he does not need to meld them but keeps them concealed in his hand.

In case of Pon, one can take from any other player's discard, but in making a Chi, one can take only from the left hand player’s discard to complete a sequence. This difference must be remembered. The Chi, subsidized from the left hand, must be melded. When Going Out, however, one can complete a Pon, a Chi, or a Pillow by taking a discard from any other player.

Pon

Chi

The Pon is mightier than the Chi. For example, East can make a Pon of 5-Won when South discards a 5-Won even though West might want it to make a Chi.

After East has made a Pon by taking the 5-Won discarded by South, he discards, then South again plays, not West. When East makes a Pon in this way, West and North are excluded from their natural turn and West can play only after South has discarded.

Going Out is the mightiest of all. If East discards a tile that North can use to Go Out by making either a Pon, or a Chi, or a Piilow, he can pick up the discarded tile, even though South might want to use the tile to make a Chi and West might want it to make a Pon.

Hand Ready to Go out