Yaku (Japanese mahjong)

Common card · No. 229569

In Japanese mahjong, yaku (Japanese: 役) are patterns of tiles present in a winning hand that will award it han points. Yaku are one of two ways to add han to a winning hand, the other being dora. Any winning hand must satisfy at least one yaku. Multiple yaku may be combined to produce hands of greater value. A hand's point value is doubled with every han up to the mangan limit (2000 base points), after which scores no longer increase exponentially. A special class of yaku exist which immediately bring a hand to the maximum rank of yakuman. These yakuman patterns do not stack with lower yaku, but may stack with other yakuman under some rules (allowing a single hand to be ranked as a multiple of yakuman). The yakuman patterns are exceedingly rare in competitive play, some to the point of obscurity.

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