Lesson 11 of 12
Dead hands and mistakes
Animated lesson coming soon. The written lesson is below.
A hand is dead when it can no longer become any hand on the card: for example, when your exposures don't match any hand, or you hold the wrong number of tiles. A player with a dead hand keeps picking and discarding but can't call tiles or declare mahjong, and still pays the winner.
Step by step
- Exposures that don't fit. If the groups on your rack can't all be part of one hand on the card, your hand is dead once another player notices.
- Wrong tile count. Too many or too few tiles (from picking twice or forgetting to discard) makes the hand dead.
- What happens next. You keep playing your turns (pick and discard) but you can't call discards or declare mahjong, and you still pay if someone wins.
- Who declares it. Another player points it out, usually after checking the card. Be kind; it happens to everyone.
- How to avoid it. Before exposing, check that the group appears in a hand you're still aiming for. Count your tiles when in doubt: 13 at the end of your turn.
Common mistakes
- Exposing a group "just in case" before choosing a hand.
- Picking a tile before discarding after a call.
Words from this lesson
Questions people ask
What is a dead hand in mahjong?
A hand that can no longer match any hand on the card. That player continues picking and discarding but can't win.
Does a dead hand still pay?
Yes. If someone wins, the dead-hand player pays like everyone else.
Can a dead hand be undone?
No. Once it's dead it stays dead for that game.