Mahjong Scoring Cheat Sheet

[Kristeen Cheek]

Faanare obtained by matching the winning hand and the cause of winning with a specific set of criteria, with different criteria scoring different values. Some of these criteria may be subsets of other criteria (for example, having a meld of one dragon versus having a meld of all of them), and in these cases, only the criteria with the tighter requirements are scored. The faan obtained may be translated into scores for each player using some (typically exponential) function. When gambling with mahjong, these scores are typically directly translated into sums of money. Some criteria may also be in terms of both points and score.

At the beginning of each game, each player is given a fixed score, usually in the form of scoring chips. In many cases, only the winner scores, with the winner's gain being deducted from the three losers' scores (that is, the losers pay the winner). In many cases, the change in score is modified by how the winner wins. These rules are called modifiers. Some common modifiers are:

There is no universally followed rule for what happens when a player runs out of score (i.e. their score goes below zero). In some circles, the match is immediately aborted, with the player furthest ahead in score declared the winner, while in others, a player out of scoring chips continues to play without risk of further losses.

Mahjong is sometimes played in a gambling setting. Poker chips are used for keeping score only. Since Mahjong is a zero-sum game, when one player loses all his chips, his chips are distributed among the other winners. In this case, the loser pays cash to buy back the chips from the winners and the game continues. Before the game starts, all players must agree upon how much one set of chips (100 unit) is worth. Some gamblers do away with chips and pay cash after each round depending on local laws regarding legality of gambling.

These hands are not standard hands, but can be used to win nonetheless. Because they diverge from the criteria for a normal winning hand, it is inherently risky to attempt these hands: effectively all pieces need to be self-drawn since melds are not useful to these hands

The largest group of criteria for scoring faan concern the contents of the winning hand. Typically, a hand that is more improbable will score higher than one that is more common, but this may not be the case. In variations with scoring minimums, it is generally accepted that, barring improbable high-scoring hands (such as the Heavenly Hand described below, even if the winning hand is otherwise scoreless), at least one point must be from this set of criteria. It is not uncommon for players to define minimum faan requirements for declaring a winning hand (typically 1 or 2), and at times a maximum fan cap or ceiling (for example at 7 or 8 faan). Also note that generally speaking in Hong Kong mahjong, 13 faan is considered the absolute limit for faan.

This table is based on play where 3 faan is the minimum needed in order to win with a legal hand. If a player has 3 faan then his hand is worth one base point. A winning hand with 9 faan is worth 4 base points. Losing players must give the winning player the value of these base points. Individual players must double the number of base-points owed for the following:

Hong Kong Mahjong is essentially a payment system of doubling and redoubling where winning from the wall adds great value to the final payment and where the dealer is highly rewarded or penalized if they win or lose.

This table is similar to simplified but allows payments for hands of less than 3 faan. If a player has 3 faan then his hand is worth eight base points. A winning hand with 9 faan is worth 32 base points. Losing players must give the winning player the value of these base points. Individual players must double the number of base-points owed for the following:

This table is based on play where 3 faan is the minimum needed in order to win with a legal hand. If a player has 3 faan then his hand is worth eight base points. A winning hand with 9 faan is worth 128 base points. Losing players must give the winning player the value of these base points. Individual players must double the number of base-points owed for the following:

Hong Kong Mahjong is essentially a payment system of doubling and redoubling where winning from the wall adds great value to the final payment and where the dealer is highly rewarded or penalized if he or she wins or loses.

Riichi mahjong is a Japanese variant of the ancient Chinese game of mahjong. It is a tabletop game that is played by four players, with each player having a hand which they must try and complete to win points from the other players. It shares similarities with Rummikub, and card games such as gin rummy and poker.

Riichi mahjong does not use the flower or season tiles found in Chinese sets, nor the joker tiles used in American Mah Jongg. As an optional rule, riichi mahjong can also be played with one five from each suit being replaced with a red five tile.

After a set has been called, the tiles are placed face-up to the right of the player who called them. The called tile is rotated so that it is sideways, and is positioned to indicate which player discarded it, e.g. if the right tile is turned sideways then it indicates the player to the right discarded it. For example, the sequence meld below indicates that the player to the left discarded the 6 sou tile in a 567 set.

A winning hand consists of 14 tiles (excluding kans), which will almost always be four sets plus one pair. A crucial condition for the player is that the winning hand must contain a yaku. A yaku is something special about the hand which increases its value. This is a key difference to Chinese mahjong and serves to stop players from winning quickly with extremely cheap hands, meaning that higher scoring hands are more plausible, increasing the strategy and excitement in the game. For beginners, the easiest to remember and aim for are:

A player who has called riichi can only call ron on their first opportunity. They cannot wait for their winning tiles to be discarded by specific players if they have already been discarded by somebody else (see furiten below).

While the disadvantages of riichi can seem worse than the advantages, the additional yaku and reverse dora are generally far more valuable, and it is usually more beneficial for the player to call riichi than to not, unless they have a hand which would be worth a lot regardless, or another player may have a high-value hand which would be bad to deal into.

The final main difference between riichi mahjong and other variants is the presence of dora. The dora is indicated by a face-up tile in the dead wall, which will mark the next tile in the suit as the dora. For example, if the face up tile is 3 sou, then 4 sou is the dora tile. A 9 tile indicates the 1 tile of the same suit, so 9 pin would indicate 1 pin as the dora. Winds and Dragons cycle as follows:

Some variants of mahjong have red fives in play. One 5 sou, one 5 man and one 5 pin will be coloured entirely red, and these red fives are one dora. Again, they do not count as yaku, and only make a difference after the hand has won.

If a player wins after declaring riichi, then the tiles in the wall under any displayed dora indicators also become indicators themselves (called ura-dora), doubling the number of possible dora for the winning player. This is one of the main advantages of declaring riichi.

It is also worth noting that tiles which have been discarded and called by another player still count towards furiten discards. For this reason called tiles are typically rotated and placed to indicate the seating of the player that discarded them (left tile is rotated for player to the left, right tile to the right, middle tile for opposing player).

Scoring is a complicated aspect of the game, and unless playing with physical tiles, the computer will do it for you. Guides already exist on how to score in detail. As a rule of thumb, the following chart is good enough for beginners to estimate what a winning hand will be worth:

A fairly common but optional rule is that if no players are over 30,000 points by the end of South, then the game will continue into West round, and keeps going until any player gets above 30,000 points.

It is worth noting that the conditions for ending the game will depend on the exact rules being played to. For example EMA Tournament rules will allow players to continue with negative points, and the game ends at the end of South round regardless of the score situation.

Once the tiles are shuffled, each player forms a wall in front of them which is two tiles high, and seventeen tiles long, keeping the tiles face down. Once each player has built their wall, these are pushed together at the centre of the table to form a rough square.

Once the tiles have been dealt, the 14 tiles (27) to the left of the point at which the wall was broken form what is known as the dead wall. The top tile, 3 from the right hand side of this is then flipped over to become the dora indicator.

East then starts play by picking up his tile from the wall, at the point where he finished dealing the tiles (East can take this tile while dealing if he wishes). He then discards a tile, and play continues as described above until somebody wins, or all the tiles except for those in the dead wall have been dealt, at which point the game is drawn. Once the game has been won or drawn, all the tiles are shuffled and the wall and dealing proceeds as for the first round, with dealership having been passed on if required.

Aiming for this yaku is one of the most basic strategies in Doman mahjong.

If you enter tenpai without calling chi, pon, or kan, you will be given the option to declare riichi. Once you form a winning hand, you will achieve the Riichi yaku.

If a player declares riichi on their first discarded tile, they will be eligible for the Double Riichi yaku.

However, if any player calls chi, pon, or kan on the first turn, this yaku becomes invalid.

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