Pong Pong Hu 碰碰胡

What It Is

Pong Pong Hu (碰碰胡, also said Peng Peng Hu or Dui Dui Hu) is a hand of four Pongs or Kongs and an Eye. Not one Chi. Any suits, any honours, claimed or concealed.

What It Pays

At a Singapore table it’s 2 tai on its own, and it stacks well. Pongs of dragons, your Own Wind or the Round Wind each add 1 tai, and a Pong Pong Hu in one suit with honours is a half flush as well: two plus two, four tai, before any bonus tiles.

Make all four Pongs in your own hand, claiming none, and draw the winning tile yourself, and it becomes Kam Kam Hu, a limit hand worth the limit, 5 tai. Win the same hand on a discard and it’s plain Pong Pong Hu.

Why It’s Quick

You can Pong a discard from any player, not just the one on your left, so pairs turn into sets fast. A hand dealt with three or four pairs is already halfway there.

The catch is the wait. Near the end you’re usually holding two pairs and waiting for either to become a Pong, which means two kinds of tile, and often few copies of them left. Count what’s visible: if two of a pair’s other copies are already face up, that pair is nearly dead.

How To Build It

Look for pairs, and for honours you hold two of. Throw the tiles that only work as runs, like isolated 3s to 7s, early.

Don’t claim every pair the moment you can. Each claim shows your hand to the table, and four claimed Pongs leave you a single tile in hand, waiting on one kind of tile. Two or three claims, then finish the rest in hand, is a common balance.

Watch out for one sneaky Chi. Claim a run anywhere and the hand isn’t Pong Pong Hu any more.

At Other Tables

Hong Kong calls it Dui Dui Wu, worth 3 faan. In Riichi, Toitoi is 2 han, open or closed. At Malaysian 3 Kaki, All Pong is 2 fan.