Mahjiku › Questions › What is a chicken hand (雞糊) in Hong Kong mahjong, and does it pay?
For the table game: four players, real tiles, Hong Kong style — not the solitaire puzzle.
A chicken hand (雞糊, gai wu) is a complete winning hand that names nothing: mixed runs and pungs, no pattern, no honour bonus. Whether it pays is the table's minimum talking. On Mahjiku's default sheet it counts only the 1-faan base and cannot be declared under the 3-faan minimum; on a chicken-hand table, whose minimum is 0, it wins and pays the bottom of the curve.
This is one: a pung, three runs in three different suits, and a pair. It is complete, and it is nothing else.
| Sheet | Minimum | What the engine counts | Can it be declared? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mahjiku's default sheet | 3 | Base 1 = 1 | No — below the minimum |
| Half Spicy 半辣上 | 3 | No Flowers 1 = 1 | No — below the minimum |
| Chicken Hand 雞糊 | 0 | Chicken Hand 0 + No Flowers 1 = 1 | Yes |
Won off a discard, with sets claimed from the table. The Half Spicy 半辣上 sheet counts no base point at all, which is why its line is different.
The Chicken Hand 雞糊 sheet sets the minimum to 0, so any complete hand wins, and pays the bottom rows of the 半辣上 half spicy curve. That sheet also plays two attested Cantonese payment rules: 半銃 "half shot" on a discard, where the thrower pays double and the other two pay a share each, and 自摸加倍, where every payer hands over 2× on a self-draw.
A minimum keeps cheap hands off the board and makes players build something. A chicken-hand table does the opposite on purpose: hands end fast, beginners win early, and the curve keeps those wins small. Neither is the rule — it is the first thing to agree before you start. The hand itself has its own page: Chicken Hand.
Last updated: 2026-10-08 · editorially reviewed 2026-10-08. Every number on this page is computed from Mahjiku's rule sheets when the page is built.
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