The comparison & result
This experiment compared accepting legal discard wins with refusing them while concealed in pursuit of a self-draw. A self-draw collects from all three opponents under this scoring sheet, but waiting also gives the table more turns.
The archived report recorded a 54% share of wins for the usual policy and 46% for the policy that refused those discard wins. The patient player made more self-draws but won fewer hands overall. The comparison tests a fixed habit; it does not settle every decision to pass a particular win.
At your table
- A winning tile appears — take it, whatever your hand was hoping for
- NOT an excuse to claim build tiles freely: this is about the win itself, not opening your hand early
Check your table’s scoring rules before applying the finding. Read the Taiwanese Classic reference.
How it was tested
Tested in the Hé Fēn Lab: 100,000 hands played by the same engine that scores your games — two seats refusing discard wins while concealed, two playing normally, swapping seats so the deal is fair.
The players were software policies, not human participants. This report describes the published experiment; it does not establish the best move for every possible hand or opponent.
Results without a published uncertainty interval should be read as point estimates. Similar results do not prove two choices are equivalent.
Read the Lab’s method and limitationsPublished by Hé Fēn Mahjong. Ask about this finding or suggest a correction.