Qing Yi Se 清一色

What It Is

Qing Yi Se (清一色, “pure one colour”, also said full colour) is a complete hand made from a single numbered suit and nothing else. No winds, no dragons, no tiles from the other two suits. The sets can be Chi, Pongs or Kongs in any mix, claimed or concealed.

Bonus tiles don’t spoil it. Flowers, seasons and animals sit to one side and add their own tai as usual. Let one honour tile into the hand, though, and it drops to a half flush.

What It Pays

At a Singapore table a full flush is worth 4 tai on its own, which leaves very little room before the usual 5 tai. Almost anything else tips it over: a matching flower, Men Qing Zi Mo, or a Pong Pong Hu shape. Four Chi and a plain Eye with no bonus tiles is Ping Hu as well, and the two together go well past the limit.

So once you’re in a full flush, the question is rarely “will it pay?” and more often “can I finish it before someone else wins?”

How To Build It

You need a strong start. Nine or ten tiles of one suit after the deal is a real chance; six or seven usually isn’t, because every off-suit tile has to go and there are only so many turns.

Throw honours and the other suits early, while they’re still fairly safe. Claim freely: a Chi from your left or a Pong from anyone keeps the hand moving, and a full flush doesn’t need to stay hidden.

One suit gives you lots of overlapping shapes, like 3-4-5-6 or 5-5-6-7, so waits in a flush are often wide. Count the tiles you can see before choosing a wait, since the other players will be holding your suit back.

The Bao Risk

Here is the rule that makes a full flush famous. If a player shows three sets face up in one suit, and your discard of that suit lets them win a full flush, that is Bao (包): you pay the whole bill, everyone’s share as well as your own. Letting them claim a fourth set of that suit counts too, if they then win the flush by Zi Mo.

With two sets showing it’s still risky, but not Bao. At three, throw another suit, a wind or a dragon instead: none of them can finish a full flush. There’s more on this in Safer Discards.

At Other Tables

Hong Kong calls it Ching Yat Sik and pays 7 faan, enough to win comfortably on its own. There’s no Bao for a full flush there, though the shooter pays the whole bill anyway.

Malaysian 3 Kaki plays with one numbered suit, Tong, so its full flush is simply a hand with no honours, worth 3 fan. In Riichi, Chinitsu pays 6 han (5 open), one of the biggest ordinary yaku.