Becoming "Ready" and Waiting on "Waits"

When a player becomes "Ready," he needs just one more tile to finish his 14-tile hand. First, let's take a look at these 13 tiles:

Almost a completed hand, right? One Head, 3 Runs and... An incomplete Run. With a or a the Run will be completed as either or , thus creating a properly configured 14-tile hand.

This is the state of being Ready, or needing one more tile to finish the hand. (See the "Types of Waits" section below for other examples of set hands.) The tiles needed, in this case the or the , make up the Wait. For convenience, different types of Waits have names. This Wait is called an "Open Wait," because either side of the Run is open to completion.

The Basic Waits

These Waits are the building blocks for combination waits and must be memorized. All of the following hands are Ready, but they are set on different types of waits. 1. Open Wait Runs that are open to completion on either side:

Wait: or

Wait: or

Wait: or

2. Edge Wait Runs that are open to completion on only one side:

Wait:

Wait:

Wait:

3. Closed Wait Runs that can only be completed by filling in the center:

Wait:

Wait:

Wait:

Strategy Note There is a big difference between an Open wait on the one hand and the Edge or Closed waits on the other. Since there are 4 of each tile in the game, there is a total of 8 tiles available to complete an Open Wait, but only 4 to complete an Edge or Closed Wait.

And the Waits go on...


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