All green

Short answer: Ryuuiisou (all green) is a yakuman, open or closed, for a hand made only of green tiles: bamboo 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8, plus the green dragon.

Every tile is green: bamboo 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 and the green dragon only.

Value Yakuman
How often very rare
Mahjong hand: 2 of bamboo, 3 of bamboo, 4 of bamboo — 2 of bamboo, 3 of bamboo, 4 of bamboo — 6 of bamboo, 6 of bamboo, 6 of bamboo — 8 of bamboo, 8 of bamboo, 8 of bamboo — green dragon, green dragon
Only green tiles: 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 of bamboo and the green dragon.

You rarely plan ryuuiisou from the deal. It usually reveals itself a few turns in, when a bamboo-heavy hand headed for a half flush turns out to be using only the green tiles: bamboo 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8, plus the green dragon, hatsu . Since 2-3-4 is the one sequence those numbers allow, every other set must be a triplet, so the hand leans on 234 runs and pons of 6s, 8s, and the dragon.

It counts open or closed, so call freely once you commit. The chase is also cheaper than it looks, because a failed attempt usually still lands as honitsu or a full flush. The classic mistake is treating every bamboo tile as green: 1, 5, 7, and 9 of bamboo all carry red in their design and disqualify the hand. One more check before you chase a version with no dragon at all — some tables require the green dragon, so confirm the table's rule first.

Key points

Worked example

Mahjong hand: green dragon, green dragon, green dragon — 2 of bamboo, 3 of bamboo, 4 of bamboo — 2 of bamboo, 3 of bamboo, 4 of bamboo — 4 of bamboo, 4 of bamboo — 8 of bamboo, 8 of bamboo, winning tile: 8 of bamboo
An open all-green hand: a called triplet of Green dragons, two 234s runs, a 44s pair, and an 88s pair. All four 4s are already in the hand, so the green winning tile is the 8s.

You pon the Green dragons early and keep only green tiles after that. At tenpai the hand holds 234s twice, a pair of 4s and a pair of 8s. Win on the 8s and every tile is green: ryuuiisou, a yakuman — 32,000 for a non-dealer even though the hand is open. Because the green dragon is in it, the hand qualifies under both versions of the rule.

Now the trap: this hand also completes on a 1s, reading as 123s, 234s, and 444s. The 1s is not green, so that win is not ryuuiisou — it drops to an open honitsu plus the dragon yakuhai. Before you call ron, check the tile, not just the shape.

Common mistakes

Rule variations

Some rules require the green dragon; others allow all-bamboo green hands. Check the table's ruleset.

Related yaku

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