Kong Decisions

Declare a Kong when its tai, its payment and the replacement draw help more than keeping the tiles as a Pong. Take care adding a fourth tile to an exposed Pong, because another player can rob it to win.

Four of a kind looks like an easy decision. Usually it is, but a Kong has costs and risks that a Pong doesn’t, and sometimes the better play is to hold.

Three Ways To Kong

Four 8 Dots count as one set.

Concealed: you hold all four in your hand. In this game you declare it straight after a draw.
Claimed: you hold three and claim the fourth from anyone’s discard.
Added: you add a fourth tile to a Pong you’ve already put face up. At this table, only with the tile you’ve just drawn: keep it past that turn and it can never join the Pong.

Each way, the Kong counts as one set, and you draw a replacement tile from the other end of the wall so your hand stays the right size.

What A Kong Gives You

In this game a Kong pays at once, win or lose: each other player pays you for a claimed or added Kong, and a concealed Kong pays double. Those payments stand even if nobody wins the hand.

You also get the replacement draw, an extra tile that can win. Win on it and it’s Gang Shang, worth 1 tai. Draw a second Kong on that replacement and win on the next one, and it’s Gang Shang Gang, a limit hand. And a Kong of a dragon, your Own Wind or the Round Wind scores the same tai as a Pong.

A concealed Kong is laid face up here as standard, but still counts as concealed: it doesn’t spoil Men Qing or Kam Kam Hu. House Rules can change that, so check your table.

Robbing The Kong

An added Kong shows the fourth tile before it joins the Pong. If that tile wins another player’s hand, they can take it: Qiang Gang, robbing the Kong, worth 1 tai to them. You pay as if you’d thrown it, and your Kong pays nothing.

So before adding, ask who might want that tile. Early in the hand it’s rarely a problem. Late, with a player showing three sets, that tile is effectively a discard. If it’s one they could be waiting on, keep the Pong as it is.

A concealed Kong is safer. As standard, only a hand waiting on Thirteen Wonders can rob one.

When To Hold Instead

When the fourth tile works harder in a run. Holding three 5s and drawing the fourth, with a 4 and a 6 nearby, you might keep three as a set and use the last 5 in a 4-5-6.
When claiming opens your hand. A claimed Kong is a claim like any other: it loses the concealed Zi Mo tai, and shows the table your tiles.
Late in the wall. Claiming a fresh discard for a Kong close to the end makes its discarder pay the whole Kong payment, and a Kong on the last playable draw gets no replacement: the hand ends.

Otherwise, Kong. The payment, the extra draw and the set are usually worth it.

A Note On Other Tables

Kong rules are some of the most varied in mahjong: whether a concealed Kong is shown, who may rob it, what it pays and when you may declare one. Tables vary, so agree before the first tile. The house rules guide lists the choices this game offers.