Small Four Winds (小四喜) — 8 Faan

Small Four Winds is worth 8 faan — pungs (or kongs) of three wind types plus a pair of the fourth wind as your eyes.

What it is

Small Four Winds is the wind-tile counterpart of Small Three Dragons: of the four winds — East, South, West, North — three form pungs (or kongs) and the fourth is your pair. The one remaining meld can be any chow or pung.

How to form it

The hand is only worth chasing when you’re dealt six or more wind tiles. The strategy is simple: pung every wind you can and keep the last wind type as your eyes. Each wind has only four copies, so if one type gets punged by someone else or discarded out, the hand dies — count the discards.

Example hand — 8 Faan

Common scoring mistake

The 8 faan is the price of the whole hand — you don’t additionally count Seat Wind or Prevailing Wind faan per wind pung on top. And don’t confuse it with Great Four Winds: all four winds as pungs is Great (10 faan); three pungs plus a pair is Small.

Combines with

Small Four Winds is very often also a Half Flush (winds plus one suit): 8 + 3 = 11 faan, which reaches the cap at many tables. If even the last meld is honours and the hand has no suited tiles at all, you’re in All Honours territory.

Half Flush — 3 Faan All Honours — 10 Faan

Frequently asked questions

How many faan is Small Four Winds?

Small Four Winds is worth 8 faan in Hong Kong Mahjong: pungs or kongs of three of the four winds plus a pair of the fourth wind.

What is the difference between Small and Great Four Winds?

Small Four Winds has pungs of three winds plus a pair of the fourth (8 faan). Great Four Winds has pungs or kongs of all four winds (10 faan, a limit hand at many tables).

Can the wind pungs be claimed from discards?

Yes. Open and concealed pungs count equally toward Small Four Winds. A fully concealed hand adds 1 extra faan.

See how this hand fits into the complete scoring table:

Full faan scoring chart Play now