Take the 2-minute tour ×  This book states that "a player who is
furiten, is not allowed to win on a discard." What does furiten
mean, and how does it affect the game?  share|improve this
question add comment  2 Answers  up vote 5 down vote accepted
Furiten is when you are unable to win on a tile due to certain
circumstances. There are about 3 different circumstances.  One
type of furiten is when you previously discarded a tile that you
needed to complete your hand. Let's say if you go for a hand
without honors, 1s or 9s(a hand called 'tanyao', worth 1 han),
and you have a double wait of 3 or 5 circles to win. If you have
previously thrown 3 circles, even if it was taken by someone
when they did a chi/pong/kong, you are unable to take the tile
if someone else discards it. You are, however able to take it
from the wall yourself and win with it.  The second type is when
you ignore a tile needed to complete your winning hand. Similiar
to the previous situation, but this time you are waiting for a 1
or 4 circles