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Guide

How mahjong scoring works in Chinese, Riichi and American mahjong

Winning a hand is the easy part to learn. Working out what it is worth, and who pays, is where new players get lost, because each of the three big mahjong families scores a completely different way. This guide gives the working version of each: enough to settle a hand at the table without a calculator.

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The idea behind all three

In every variant the winner is paid and nobody else scores. The amount depends on patterns in the winning hand, and on how the hand was won: a hand completed on a self-drawn tile is paid by everyone, a hand completed on a discard is paid mainly or entirely by the player who threw the tile. That is why discarding carelessly late in a hand is the most expensive mistake in mahjong.

Chinese (Hong Kong) scoring: fan

Hong Kong mahjong counts fan, points earned by patterns, then converts fan to a payment with a doubling table. Most tables set a minimum of three fan to win, which is what stops the game being won on the first cheap pung.

  • Common hand (all chows, with a non-scoring pair): 1 fan. The easiest hand to make.
  • All pungs: 3 fan.
  • Half flush (one suit plus honors): 3 fan. Full flush (one suit only): 7 fan.
  • Pung of dragons: 1 fan each. Pung of your seat wind or the prevailing wind: 1 fan each.
  • Self-drawn winning tile: 1 fan. No flowers at all: 1 fan. A flower or season matching your seat: 1 fan each.
  • Limit hands, paid at the table maximum: thirteen orphans, all honors, nine gates, four concealed pungs, big four winds, and a handful of others.

From fan to payment

A common Hong Kong table: 3 fan pays 8, 4 fan 16, 5 fan 24, 6 fan 32, 7 fan 48, 8 fan 64, 9 fan 96, 10 fan 128, with 10 or 13 fan as the limit. That is the “half doubling” table most clubs use; some double fully at every step. On a self-draw each of the three losers pays the amount; on a discard the discarder pays it alone, or in many clubs pays double while the others pay single. Agree which before the first hand.

Riichi scoring: han and fu

Japanese mahjong needs at least one yaku, a scoring pattern, before a hand can win at all. Each yaku is worth one or more han, dora tiles add a han each, and the hand’s shape is also counted in fu, small points for the kinds of sets and the pair. Han and fu together set the payment.

  • Common 1-han yaku: riichi (declaring a ready closed hand), menzen tsumo (closed self-draw), tanyao (no terminals or honors), yakuhai (a set of dragons, seat wind or round wind), pinfu (all sequences, valueless pair, two-sided wait), iipeikou (two identical sequences, closed).
  • 2 han: chiitoitsu (seven pairs), sanshoku (the same sequence in all three suits, 1 han if open), ittsu (1-9 straight in one suit, 1 if open), toitoi (all triplets), sanankou (three concealed triplets).
  • 3 han: honitsu (half flush, 2 if open), junchan (terminals in every set and the pair, 2 if open).
  • 6 han: chinitsu (full flush, 5 if open).
  • Yakuman, the limit: kokushi musou (thirteen orphans), suuankou (four concealed triplets), daisangen (big three dragons), and others.
  • Fu: 20 base, plus 10 for a closed hand won on a discard, 2 for self-draw, 2 to 32 for each triplet or quad depending on whether it is open, closed, simple or terminal/honor, 2 for a pair of dragons or your winds, 2 for a single or closed wait. Round up to the nearest 10. Pinfu is fixed at 30 (20 on tsumo) and seven pairs at 25.

From han and fu to points

Base points are fu × 2 to the power of (han + 2). A non-dealer winning on a discard receives four times the base; a dealer receives six times. On a self-draw the amount is split: the dealer pays twice the base and the others pay once (to a non-dealer winner), or each pays twice (to a dealer). Everything is rounded up to the nearest 100.

In practice nobody multiplies at the table. From 5 han the hand is a mangan, 8,000 points (12,000 to the dealer); 6 to 7 han is haneman, 12,000; 8 to 10 is baiman, 16,000; 11 to 12 is sanbaiman, 24,000; yakuman is 32,000. A 4-han 40-fu hand or a 3-han 70-fu hand also rounds up to mangan. Below that, players memorise the small table: 1 han 30 fu is 1,000; 2 han 30 fu is 2,000; 3 han 30 fu is 3,900; 4 han 30 fu is 7,700. Riichi sticks on the table go to the winner, and each hand of no winner adds a 300-point bonus per player to the next.

American (NMJL) scoring: the card

American mahjong does not score patterns; it scores hands. Each hand on the National Mah Jongg League card carries a printed value, usually 25, 30, 35, 40, 50 or 75 cents, which in practice means that many points or chips. The card also marks whether the hand must be concealed, which raises its value.

  • Win on a discard: the discarder pays double the card value, the other two pay the value.
  • Win by self-pick (drawing your own winning tile): everyone pays double.
  • Jokerless hand (no jokers used in a hand that could have used them): the payment is doubled again. Singles-and-pairs hands, which cannot use jokers, do not earn this bonus.
  • A player who throws the winning tile to a hand with every exposure already showing, when the discard was clearly dangerous, may be made to pay for everyone at some tables; check the house rule.

Keeping score at the table

  • Chinese: chips or a running tally on paper. Many home games use chips worth 1, 2, 5 and 10 points.
  • Riichi: point sticks. A set has 10,000, 5,000, 1,000 and 100-point sticks and each player starts with 25,000; the 1,000 sticks also mark riichi bets.
  • American: coins or chips in the card’s denominations, with each player starting at the same stake.
  • All three: decide before the first hand on the minimum, the payment table and whether the dealer stays dealer after a win. Most arguments about scoring are really arguments about rules nobody agreed.

Frequently asked questions

What is the minimum to win in Hong Kong mahjong?

Most clubs require three fan. Some play with no minimum for beginners, and some set it at one; agree it before playing.

What is a mangan in Riichi?

The first scoring limit: 8,000 points to a non-dealer and 12,000 to the dealer. A hand reaches it at 5 han, or at 4 han with 40 fu or more, or 3 han with 70 fu or more.

Who pays in American mahjong?

On a discard win, the discarder pays double the card value and the other two players pay the value. On a self-pick, all three pay double. A jokerless hand doubles the payment again.

Do dora count as yaku?

No. Dora add han to a hand that already has at least one yaku, but a hand with dora and no yaku cannot win.

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