Rule variations

Claiming rules – Allow over-claiming

Over-claiming refers to an act of claiming a discarded tile for a Pung (or Kong, if jokers are enabled) after one of the other players has claimed the same tile for a Chow. This can be done unintentionally, but normally over-claiming is a strategic device: the discard is claimed only to prohibit the player who claimed the tile for a Chow to improve his hand.

Some rules consider over-claiming unfair and forbid it altogether while other rules allow it without restrictions or by applying a time limit for to allow a safe declaration.

By default Four Winds ignores the concept of over-claiming: in non-multiplayer games other players' declarations are shown only after the specified discard delay has passed, so it is not technically possible to over-claim; in multi-player games other players' declarations may be shown immediately (provided that the the Hide competition option is not active), but over-claiming is not possible, since the declarations are evaluated only after the specified discard delay has passed. In both game modes, the discarded tile is simply given to the player whose claim is the highest.

However, if you enable over-claiming, Four Winds handles claims as follows:

a) Non-multiplayer games

If the human player claims a tile for a Chow after the specified time for safety threshold (e.g., 3000 msec.) has passed, and no other declarations have yet been made, computer players are not allowed to over-claim the human player (unless they use the discarded tile to go out). If they want to use the discard for a Pung (or Kong), they make the declaration immediately as a tile is discarded ("early" declarations are not considered over-claims). If the threshold is the same as the discard delay, computer players can always over-claim the human player's (and each other's) declarations.
As for computer players' Chow declarations, only the limitmaker and beginner make early Chow declarations (ones that can be over-claimed). The expert player makes early Chow declarations only occasionally; the defensive player always makes "safe" (late) Chow declarations. The human player can over-claim a computer player's Chow declaration if it is made before the specified time limit (safety threshold) has passed. If the threshold value is the same as the discard delay, Chow declarations can always be over-claimed by the human, unless he has clicked the game board (this is the default configuration for acceleration, but can be changed) to indicate that he does not want the discarded tile. So, if you have a possibility to declare a Pung or Kong and wish to postpone the declaration to see whether a computer player claims the discard for a Chow, you should not accelerate the game.
If the human player wants to make a "safe" Pung declaration, he must claim the tile within the time limit specified by safety threshold. This is not considered an over-claim and always supercedes computer players' Chow declarations, no matter when they have been declared (early or late).

b) Multiplayer games

Computer players behave exactly the same as above.
Human players' Chow, Pung and Kong declarations are always shown immediately, disregarding the current setting of the Hide competition option.
If a human player accelerates the game to indicate that he does not want the discarded tile, he cannot later change his mind and over-claim the tile.
If the value of safety threshold is the same as the discard delay, human players can over-claim any Chow declaration, no matter when it is done (before or after the time specified by safety threshold has passed).
If the value of safety threshold is shorter than the discard delay, a Chow declaration can be over-claimed only if it is made before the time limit has passed. Notice though that if a human player declares Pung (or Kong) before the specified time limit has passed, the declaration always supercedes the Chow declaration, even if the Chow is declared after the time limit (since the Pung declaration is "early", this situation does not involve an act of over-claiming).
Note that the time limit specified by the safety threshold is measured only for local declarations: you cannot see whether other human players' declarations are early or late since it is likely that the information about the declaration arrives only after the time limit is passed on your computer. So, if you have a chance to over-claim, you should always try to claim the tile, even if other human players' Chow declarations seem to be "late". The same applies to other human players' Pung and Kong declarations: they may be "early", even if they are shown after the time limit has passed on your computer. So don't be surprised if an apparently late "Pung" declaration supercedes your "safe" Chow declaration.

To specify the over-claiming rules:

Choose Preferences on the File menu.
From the Rule Presets list, choose a customized rule preset.
Choose Claiming under the Rules section of the category tree.
To enable over-claiming, check the Allow over-claiming box.
As the setting is enabled, Four Winds automatically uses the discard delay as the value for Safety threshold.
- The default value means that over-claiming is always allowed, no matter whether a Chow is declared early (before the specified time has passed), or late (after the specified time has passed). Similarly, Pung (and Kong) declarations are always considered as non-over-claiming declarations and will supercede any Chow declarations.
- If you specify a shorter value, declaring a late Chow is considered a safe Chow and cannot be over-claimed. In this case Pung declarations must be made within the specified time limit to be considered as non-over-claiming (otherwise they will supercede only early Chow declarations).