Finding Every Wait

A wait is every tile that would finish a ready hand. The basic shapes are two-sided, kalong (the middle), edge, single and two pairs, and a hand can combine them to wait on many tiles at once.

When you’re one tile from winning, your hand is ready. The skill is knowing every tile that finishes it, because missing one means letting a winning discard go by.

The Basic Shapes

Each of these is the unfinished part of a ready hand; the rest is already three sets and an Eye.

Two-Sided

Waiting on 3 or 6 Bamboo.

Two tiles in a row, away from the edge. Two kinds of tile finish it. This is the wait you want, and on a discard it’s the one Ping Hu needs.

Kalong (Middle)

Waiting on 5 Bamboo only.

A gap in the middle. One kind of tile.

Edge

Waiting on 3 Bamboo only.

1-2 can only take a 3, and 8-9 only a 7. One kind of tile.

Single (Dan Diao)

Four sets and a lone North: waiting on North for the Eye.

Four sets done, one lone tile waiting for its partner. Only three copies can finish it, but you can switch the lone tile whenever you draw something better, so it’s flexible.

Two Pairs

Waiting on 9 Dots or East: either pair becomes a Pong.

Two pairs: whichever tile arrives makes one a Pong and leaves the other as your Eye. Common in Pong Pong Hu.

Multi-Sided Waits

Longer runs of connected tiles can be read more than one way, and every reading adds a winning tile.

Waiting on 3 or 6 Bamboo.

Four in a row with three other sets: read it as 3-4-5 plus a lone 6, or a lone 3 plus 4-5-6. A 3 or a 6 finishes either way.

Waiting on 5 or 8 Bamboo.

A pair next to a run: 5-5 as the Eye with 6-7 waiting on 5 or 8, or 5-6-7 with a lone 5 waiting on another. Both readings point at the 5, and the first adds the 8.

Seven in a row: waiting on 2, 5 or 8 Bamboo.

Seven in a row with two other sets waits on three tiles. Each one becomes the Eye at one end or in the middle, with two runs around it.

How To Check Your Hand

When you’re close, run through the suit you’re waiting in, tile by tile from 1 to 9. For each, ask: if this arrived, could I split the hand into four sets and an Eye? It takes seconds and catches waits that aren’t obvious.

Then count. A wait on three kinds of tile with most of them showing can be worse than a kalong nobody has touched. Counting Tiles shows how.

A Win Still Needs Tai

At a Singapore table a shape alone isn’t a win: you need at least 1 tai. Some of your waits might finish the hand with no tai at all. The game’s Hint flags these when you go ready: a tile that completes the shape but earns nothing, or one that can only win if you draw it yourself, because a concealed hand earns 1 tai on Zi Mo.

If you can choose which way to go ready, prefer the wait where every winning tile counts.