13 Orphans (Thirteen Orphans, 十三幺) — 13 Faan (Limit)
Thirteen Orphans is a 13-faan limit hand — it automatically pays the table maximum, with no faan counting needed.
In 162,390 online hands played on mahjonggame.hk since 10 August 2026, 17 were won with Thirteen Orphans — about once every 9,552 hands. How we count this
13 Orphans in other mahjong rules
What it is
Thirteen Orphans is the most famous special hand in mahjong: one each of the 1 and 9 of all three suits (six tiles), one each of all seven honours (four winds, three dragons), plus a duplicate of any one of those thirteen as the pair — fourteen tiles in total. It has no meld structure at all, one of the few hands that breaks the "four melds plus a pair" rule.
How to form it
Only consider it when you’re dealt ten or more distinct terminals and honours. All thirteen tile types have to be collected in hand — no chows, no pungs — so everything comes from your own draws plus the winning tile. Once you hold all thirteen types, you’re on the famous thirteen-sided wait: any terminal or honour completes the hand, the widest wait in mahjong.
Common scoring mistake
You cannot claim chows, pungs or kongs at any point — the hand has no melds to build. And there’s no faan arithmetic to do: Thirteen Orphans is a limit hand, so it pays the maximum automatically and never stacks with other patterns.
Combines with
Thirteen Orphans is itself a limit hand — it already pays the cap, so nothing stacks on top.
Frequently asked questions
How many faan is Thirteen Orphans?
Thirteen Orphans is a 13-faan limit hand — it pays the maximum automatically. At tables capped at 10 faan, it pays the 10-faan maximum.
Can you claim pungs or chows for Thirteen Orphans?
No. The hand has no meld structure, so it must stay concealed throughout — only the final winning tile may come from a discard.
What is the thirteen-sided wait?
Holding one each of all thirteen terminal and honour types means any of the thirteen completes your pair — a thirteen-tile wait, the widest in mahjong.
Related hands
See how this hand fits into the complete scoring table: