In this illustration the player having a 4 and 6 of character in his hand has "chowed" the 5 character which the player to his left discarded and after setting out his sequence, discards himself, leaving the usual 13 tiles in his hand.
F. To Pung:
A player may also appropriate another player's discard to fill a set of three of a kind or four of a kind by announcing "Pung." In order to do this, the player must have a pair, or three of a kind in his hand to match with the discard, thus completing three or four of a kind, which he places, as in the case of a "Chow," to the right of his hand, face up on the table. For example: A player having a pair or three fives of the character suit, may pung when another player discards a five character, expose his set and discard, the play going on in the regular direction from him.
It is not necessary for it to be the player's turn to draw in order to "Pung" as it is in the case of a "Chow." A player having a pair similar to a tile discarded, may announce "Pung" and appropriate the tile, regardless of who discarded it and of whose turn it is to draw. Also after a player "Pungs" and discards, the play goes on from him to the right. It can be seen that due to punging one or even two players are liable to lose their turn.
Illustration No. 12.
In this illustration, East played in regular turn and South drew the 9 character, which, having no use for, he discarded. East having a pair of nines character in his hand "Punged," completing the set and causing West and North Winds to lose their turns. East then exposed his set of nines next to the sequence of three he had previously chowed and exposed, discarded and play went on in the usual routine, North drawing and discarding.
There are a few rules applying to the "Chow" and "Pung." They are as follows:
1. All tiles must be "punged" or "chowed" as they are discarded; for a tile discarded by a player and allowed to remain in discard until the next player discards, becomes "dead" and cannot be touched during the rest of the game.