What is Ryuukyoku? Mahjong Exhaustive Draw Explained
When the live wall drains before anyone wins, the hand enters ryuukyoku. Whether scores change depends on who is tenpai and whether the dealer keeps the seat.
What is ryuukyoku?
Ryuukyoku (流局, literally draining game) is the state when the live wall is drawn down to its last 14 tiles (the dead wall) and nobody has declared a win. There is no winner, but the table still settles a tenpai payment, decides whether the dealer continues, and rolls a honba counter forward.
How does the tenpai payment work?
Every player reveals whether they are tenpai. If 1-3 players are tenpai, the noten players split a 3000-point transfer to the tenpai players: 1 vs 3 splits as 1000 from each noten, 2 vs 2 as 1500 each, 3 vs 1 as 1000 to each tenpai. If all four or zero players are tenpai, no points change hands.
Does the dealer keep the seat at ryuukyoku?
If the dealer is tenpai, the dealership stays (renchan, 連荘) and the honba counter increments. If the dealer is noten, the dealership rotates to the next player, and the honba still increments under most rulesets.
What about abortive draws?
A few special situations end the hand early before the wall runs out: suukaikan (four kans declared by different players), suufon renda (four players each discarding the same wind on the first uninterrupted turn), and kyuushu kyuuhai (a player choosing to abort on their first draw when their hand contains nine or more distinct terminal-or-honor tiles). These all skip the tenpai settlement.
What happens to riichi sticks and honba at ryuukyoku?
Riichi sticks already placed stay on the table as carryover — the next player to win any hand collects all of them. The honba counter also carries over, adding 300 points (typically) per counter to the next winning hand on top of normal scoring.