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Dora – How mahjong is played.

What is the Dora?

The Dora is a special tile referred to as a "bonus tile." For every Dora in your hand, you gain one additional han. Han is the unit used to calculate the score in mahjong, and more han means higher scores.

How is the Dora Determined?

The Dora changes each round. It is determined by the "Dora indicator tile," which is located in the dead wall of the tile wall.

The Dora is the tile immediately following the Dora indicator in the tile sequence.

For example, if the Dora indicator is , then the Dora is . Similarly, if the indicator is , the Dora is .

For honor tiles, the sequence is as follows:

What is Ura-Dora?

The Ura-Dora is a hidden Dora revealed only after a winning hand is declared with Riichi. The Ura-Dora indicator is located directly beneath the regular Dora indicator.

The Ura-Dora cannot be known until after the win, so you won’t know if your hand contains Ura-Dora until the round ends.

What is Kan-Dora?

Kan-Dora is an additional Dora revealed when a Kan is declared. Each Kan allows a new Kan-Dora indicator to be revealed.

The drawing from Rinshan Hai and the location of the Kandora are illustrated below.

You draw a tile from the end of the Rinshan Hai and add it to your hand. The Kandora is drawn from the tile next to the regular Dora indicator. Moreover, you always need 14 tiles for the wall, so you must move one tile from the wall. Numbers 1 to 4 indicate the positions of the tiles used from the first to the fourth Kan. Note that the movement from the wall should be done from the bottom row.

There can also be Ura-Kan-Dora, meaning that the combination of Dora, Ura-Dora, Kan-Dora, and Ura-Kan-Dora can result in up to 10 Dora in a single round.

What is Red-Dora?

The Red Dora officially refers to tiles called Aka-hai (red tiles). As they are called Dora, their function is exactly the same as regular Dora tiles.

Whether or not to use red tiles depends on the rules of the game. When used, one tile each of "5 Man," "5 Sou," and "5 Pin" is replaced with a red dora tile.

Dora Does Not Count as a Yaku

While the Dora adds one han, it does not count as a yaku. This means you cannot win with Dora tiles alone unless your hand satisfies a valid yaku.

The Impact of Dora on the Game

As mentioned earlier, han is the foundation of score calculation. But how significant is one han? The table below gives an approximate idea:

This table shows how scores double up to 4 han and increase significantly at 6 and 8 han. If a triplet in your hand is Dora, it automatically adds 3 han. For instance, a hand worth 1,000 points can become an 8,000-point hand with the addition of 3 han. Dora tiles are game-changing, so never overlook them.

Conclusion

It’s common to discard a tile only to realize later it was a Dora. Make it a habit to check the Dora at the start of each round to avoid costly mistakes.