Mahjong

Equipment
To play mahjong all you need are 3 dice and four of each of the following tiles, for a total of 136 tiles.
Bamboos

Bamboo suit tiles

In most sets 1-bamboo looks like a bird.

Characters

Character suit tiles

If you haven’t learned Chinese numerals yet, make sure to play with a set that has Arabic numerals too!
Dots

Dot suit tiles

Also known as circles, disks, spots…

Dragons

Green, Red, and White dragon tiles

These are the Green, Red, and White dragon tiles. If your set has English letters, the green dragon is labeled F, red
is C, and white is P or B. In Japanese sets, the White dragons are completely blank tiles. In American sets, the
Green and Red dragons may be depicted with a dragon graphic. The White dragon may also be a white tile with an
empty blue border.
Winds

East, South, West, and North wind tiles

If your set has English letters, they are labeled E, S, W, and N, respectively.
If your mahjong set comes with other tiles besides these (usually flowers, jokers, red tiles and/or blanks), then put
those extra tiles away. These tiles are used for variations of the game.
Flowers (also known as bonus tiles) are collection of both flower and season tiles. There isn't any standard or set
graphic for these tiles and may vary from set to set what is show here. Most commonly, however flowers are just
depicted. Other themes may include occupations (fisherman, woodcutter, farmer, and master), means of
transportation, or structures (bridge, gate, pavilion, and pagoda)1.

Flowers

These are flower tiles numbered one through four in Arabic numerals, representing: plumb, orchid, chrysanthemum,
and bamboo. It is commonly depicted with blue characters (or numbers).

Seasons

Same deal as flower tiles. There is one each bonus tile, representing: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. It is
commonly depicted with red characters (or numbers).

There are eight tiles total when playing with both sets (four flowers and four season tiles). Each number corresponds
to a player the same way each player is assigned a wind: 1 = East; 2 = South; 3 = West; 4 = North.
In Chinese forms of mahjong, they serve no purpose towards completing a hand; you cannot chow, pung,
or kong flowers. Instead they act as bonus points during the tabulation of your score. The flowers never count
towards the points necesary for a minimum hand. This means that, while though a flower may give you an extra faan
in Hong Kong mahjong, or an extra point in Korean mahjong, they do not contribute to having the minimum 3 faan
which is common in Hong Kong mahjong nor the 2 points necesary in Korean rules. They are strictly bonus points.

Flower tiles are an optional game play element.

In American mahjong flower tiles are used just like any suit or honor tile, in which they can be used as pairs or
triplets towards completion of your hand. Note that American mahjong does not follow the gameplay instruction
below.
The Objective
For every hand, your basic goal is to be the first player to get a hand composed of four sets and a pair. Each
set can be either a pung, chow, or kong.
A pung is a set of three identical tiles.

… …
These are pungs

A chow is a set of three tiles of the same suit and consecutive numbers.

… …
These are chows

Dragons and winds can't be used in a chow. A chow cannot loop from 9 back to 1.

… …
These are NOT chows

A kong is a set of four identical tiles.

…
These are kongs

Each set can either be concealed or melded/exposed. Concealed sets are made of tiles from your initial hand and
tiles you draw from the wall. Melded sets are formed by claiming discard from other players and are explained later
in the special moves section. Concealed sets are not shown to other players unless you win the hand. Melded sets
are immediately shown when they are formed.

As explained earlier, the goal is to get four sets and a pair. The first player to reach this goal wins the hand. Most of
the time, the winning hand will have exactly 14 tiles. If the hand includes kongs, it will have more than 14 tiles. The
following are all valid winning hands:

Example 1

chow chow chow pung pair

Example 2

kong pung pung chow pair

Example 3

chow pung chow pung pair

Building the Wall

Get three friends and sit randomly around a table, facing towards the center. Ideally you want to play on a square
table that's small enough that you can reach across easily.

Each player will be assigned a wind. A good analogy is to think of this as board game, but instead of being assigned
a colored token you are assigned a direction for your seat.

In casual play, randomly assign one player to have the East seat wind. The rest of the players assume seat winds
as specified by the image below: the player to the right of east is South, the player across is West, and the player to
the left is North. This assignment of winds DOES NOT match the cardinal directions on a compass.

Playing order: East, South, West, North

Dump out your tiles on the table. Turn all the tiles face-down and swirl them around with your hands to shuffle them.
After the tiles are shuffled, each player makes a wall 18 tiles (if playing with flowers, 17 if not) across and 2 tiles
high. Each player's wall should look like this:

One wall

All players move their walls towards the center of the table, making a big square like this:

Bringing all four walls together

Breaking the Wall

The East player starts by rolling three dice and adding up the sum of the rolls. East uses this number to determine
whose wall to break and where to break it.

Counting themselves as number one, East counts off players counter-clockwise around the table until they reaches
the sum. This determines whose wall they will break. For example, if East rolled 12, then they would break North's
wall.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
E S W N E S W N E S W N E S W N E S
Next, starting from the right side of the indicated player's wall, East counts off stacks clockwise until they reach the
sum. They then take the next two stacks (four tiles) after the last stack they counted. South takes the next two
stacks, West takes the next two, then North takes the next two. All players continue to take stacks in turn until each
player has six stacks (12 tiles). Note: players take turns going counter-clockwise, but tiles are drawn from the wall
going clockwise. This applies when dealing tiles and during gameplay.

Lastly, the players take their final tiles as shown below. East takes his two tiles, then South takes one, West takes
one, and North takes one. After this step, east should have 14 tiles, and the rest of the players should have 13.

The last five dealt tiles

Here is what the tile distribution would look like if East rolled a sum of 12:

Breaking North's wall at the twelfth tile from his right.

The above section applies to games using tiles. For games using cards, simply assign the directions and shuffle the
cards. Still deal out four cards to the dealer to start, and sets of four to all players until all players have 12 cards.
Then the dealer should deal themselves one card, the next to the South player, then one to themselves, and then
the next to the West player, and finally the North player. The dealer should have 14 cards, while all others will start
with 13. Replacements should be drawn from the bottom of the deck.

Formal Seating Determination

The above seating determination is casual. Formal seating determination goes as follows:

Separate out one copy of each of the directions and shuffle them facedown, and stacking the tiles on top of one
another. A random player will cast the three dice and starting with themselves as 1, count off counterclockwise until
the number is reached. That player draws from the top tile in the stack, and players draw counterclockwise until all
four cardinal tiles are drawn. The player who draws the East tile chooses a seat and the other players arrange
themselves according to their drawn directions.

The players shuffle the direction tiles back in with the other tiles and then build the wall as indicated above. When
the walls are brought together, the player who drew the East tile casts the dice and counts off, starting with
themselves as 1. The indicated wall is the breaking wall, and should be broken at the set of tiles by counting from
right to left the rolled dice number. Importantly, the player associated with this wall is considered the first dealer and
East seat to begin the game.
Gameplay
East starts the game by discarding one tile from his hand and placing it face-up in the area in the middle of the
walls, which is called the river. If nobody claims East's discard, then play resumes with the player to his right, South.
Remember, players take turns going counter-clockwise. For most turns, you will simply draw a tile and then discard
a tile.

Many of the moves below require you to "use the most recently discarded tile." That refers discards from other
players, not your own discards. For example, you can't discard a tile and then immediately claim it for a melded
pung.

If you claim a discard to make a melded set, that melded set cannot be integrated back into the concealed part of
your hand. The melded set remains visible until the end of the hand.

Normal Turn
At the beginning of your turn, you can
1. Claim the most recent discarded tile to make a melded pung, melded chow, or big melded kong, OR if you
can’t or choose not to, you can
2. Draw a tile from the wall.

If you claim the discard, follow the corresponding procedure in the Special Moves section.

Should a player fail to claim a tile to make a meld, he/she cannot claim any identical discarded tile until his next
draw.

If you simply want to draw a tile, you must:

1. Draw a tile from the wall. Remember, take tiles from the wall going clockwise. If the next stack in the wall is
two tiles high, take the top tile. Otherwise, take the bottom tile.
2. Optional: Declare a concealed kong or a small melded kong. (These are explained in the special moves
section.) If you declare one of these kongs, DO NOT go on to step 3. Instead, follow the procedure listed
under Concealed Kong or Small Melded Kong.
3. Discard a tile. If nobody claims the discard, play resumes with the player to the right.

Special Moves

Melded Pung
If you want to use the most recently discarded tile in a pung, you must already have two concealed tiles in your hand
that match the discard. You must:
1. Declare “pung”.
2. Take the discard. (Do not place the discard in your hand).
3. Lay down the three tiles of the pung face-up as a set in front of your hand. This set is called a melded pung.
4. Discard a tile. If nobody claims the discard, play resumes with the player to the right. Note: some players
might get their turns skipped.
 + =
Two concealed identical tiles + discarded matching tile = melded pung

Melded Chow
If you want to use the most recently discarded tile in a chow, you must already have two concealed tiles in your
hand that would make a chow with the discarded tile, and the discard must come from the player to your left. You
must:
1. Declare “chow”.
2. Take the discard. (Do not place the discard in your hand).
3. Lay down the three tiles of the chow face-up as a set in front of your hand. This set is called a melded
chow.
4. Discard a tile. If nobody claims the discard, play resumes with the player to the right.

Example 1

+ =
Concealed 4- and 5-bamboo + discarded 6-bamboo = melded chow

Example 2

+ =
Concealed 4- and 6-bamboo + discarded 5-bamboo = melded chow

Big Melded Kong

If you want to use the most recently discarded tile in a kong, you must already have a concealed pung in your hand
that matches the discard. You must:
1. Declare “kong”.
2. Take the discard. (Do not place the discard in your hand).
3. Lay down the four tiles of the kong face-up as a set in front of your hand. This set is called a big melded
kong.
4. Draw a replacement tile from the back end of the wall. (Replacement tiles are explained later.)
5. Optional: Declare a concealed kong or a small melded kong. If you declare one of these kongs, do not go on
to step 6. Instead, follow the rules concerning the concealed kong or small melded kong.
6. Discard a tile. If nobody claims the discard, play resumes with the player to the right. Note: some players
might get their turns skipped.

+ =
 concealed pung + matching discard = big melded kong

Small Melded Kong

If you draw a tile that matches a melded pung you already have, you may promote the pung to a kong. Note that you
DO NOT have to promote the pung. If you do want to promote the pung, you DO NOT need to do it on the same turn
you drew the matching tile. You can declare a small melded kong on any of your turns, but only immediately after
you draw a tile from the wall or a replacement tile. You must:
1. Declare “kong”.
2. Add the matching tile to your melded pung. This set is called a small melded kong.
3. Draw a replacement tile.
4. Optional: Declare a concealed kong or a small melded kong. If you declare one of these kongs, do not go on
to step 5. Instead, follow the rules concerning the concealed kong or small melded kong.
5. Discard a tile. If nobody claims the discard, play resumes with the player to the right.

+ =
melded pung + drawn matching tile = small melded kong

Concealed Kong
If you draw a tile that matches a concealed pung you have in your hand, you may declare a concealed kong. Note
that you DO NOT have to use the tiles as a kong. If you do want to use the tiles as kong, you DO NOT need to do it
on the same turn you drew the matching tile. You can declare a concealed kong on any of your turns, but only
immediately after you draw a tile from the wall or a replacement tile. You must:
1. Declare “kong”
2. Lay down the four tiles of the kong face-down as a set in front of your hand. This set is called a concealed
kong.
3. Draw a replacement tile.
4. Optional: Declare a concealed kong or a small melded kong. If you declare one of these kongs, do not go on
to step 5. Instead, follow the rules concerning the concealed kong or small melded kong.
5. Discard a tile. If nobody claims the discard, play resumes with the player to the right.
Note: if you wish to use a concealed kong as one of your sets but you do not declare it, then you will not have
enough tiles to complete the four sets and the pair you need to win.

+ =
concealed pung + drawn matching tile = concealed kong

Order of Claims
If players claim the same discard, a pung or kong will supersede a chow. However, a claim of mahjong trumps all
other claims. If two or more players claim mahjong, then the next player counterclockwise from the discarder gets
the discard to win.
Replacement Tiles
When you declare a kong, you must draw a replacement tile from the back end of the wall (the ridge). That is to
say, you draw a tile from the end of the wall you normally WOULD NOT draw tiles from. If you don't get a
replacement tile, you won't have enough tiles to make the four sets and a pair you need to get mahjong.
Players may not declare kong when the wall is exhausted and there are no replacement tiles to take.

Mahjong
When you have a hand that requires only one more tile to make four sets and a pair, then your hand is ready. If you
draw the last tile you need, then you can declare "mahjong" to win by self-draw. If another player discards the last
tile you need, then you can declare "mahjong" to win by discard. When a player adds a piece to a pung to form a
small melded kong, if you require that tile, you can declare "mahjong" by robbing a kong.

If you declare mahjong, reveal your entire hand so that everybody else can see it and verify that your hand is valid.
After you win a hand, typically you would calculate your score and make your opponents pay. If you want to learn a
simple scoring system, I suggest you look up the scoring rules for Hong Kong Old Style.

For the next hand, if the winner is not the dealer, rotate the dealer and seat winds counterclockwise. The South
player of the first round becomes the new East, and the other players change seat winds accordingly. Shuffle the
tiles, rebuild the wall, and start again! If the winner is the dealer, he continues to be the dealer and the dealer is not
rotated.

Draw
If no player has won and there are no more tiles to take from the wall, then the hand is a draw and nobody wins.
Shuffle the tiles and start a new hand. All players keep their current seat winds.

Post Round
A round is over when the original dealer becomes the dealer again. After the round is over, the prevalent wind
changes, and the original dealer becomes East again. The order of the winds are East, South, West, North.

Post Game
A full game of mahjong ends when it is the North round and the original dealer would become the dealer again.
Stated another way, the original North player must lose when they are the dealer in the North round.

The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.
Hong Kong Old Style Scoring
Initial Points
Because HKOS mahjong is also a gambling game, no initial points are specified. If you are playing casually
everyone can start arbitrarily with 500 points.

Criteria
The hand must contain 14 tiles and be composed of four sets and a pair (with the exception of special limit hands). If
two players call mahjong for the same discard, the player sitting closest to the discarder in turn order is given the
tile. An exception to this is when a player completes a Thirteen Orphans hand the turn order does not matter.
Decide on a minimum number of fan needed before calling mahjong (3 fan is common). When declaring a win on a
discard, the player must display his hand first before adding the discarded tile. In case of a self-drawn win, the
drawn tile is displayed first followed by his hand.

Miss Win
Should a player fail to declare a winning tile, he/she cannot claim any identical discarded tile until his next draw.

Outline
If the winner wins by self-draw, then all other players pay him however much his hand is worth (or double its worth
depending on the variation).
If the winner wins by discard, the player who discarded the winning tile (known as the discarder) is penalized. One
common method of penalizing the discarder is forcing the discarder to pay the full value of the winning hand, while
the other two players only pay half. Alternatively, the discarder must pay one or two times the value of the winning
hand, while the other players pay nothing. Make sure your mahjong group agrees on a method of payment before
starting a game.
• Win by a discarded tile: Discarder pays winner double the full score.
• Win by self-drawn tile: All player's pay double the full value of the winner's hand.
Scoring Table
Only the winning hand is scored. Determine which scoring elements apply to the winning hand then add. Use the
table to convert the fan into points. However, different sources use different tables, and even combinations across
all three. It’s up to players to mutually decide which hands they wish to allow.

Variant 1
Value Hand Description Pattern Type
No Flowers and no
1 fan Hand contains no flowers and seasons. Special
Seasons
1 fan Seat Flower Hand contains player's flower. Special
1 fan Seat Season Hand contains player's Season. Special

Hand consists only of chows and a pair of suit tiles.

1 fan All Chows Chow-Based

Hand includes a pung (or kong) of dragons.

1 fan Dragon Pung Terminals/Honors

Hand includes a pung (or kong) of the player’s seat or round

wind.
1 fan Seat/Prevalent Wind Terminals/Honors

1 fan Self-drawn Win Winning on a tile drawn from the wall. Going Out
1 fan Last Tile Draw Self-drawn win on the last tile of the wall. Going Out
Win by discard on the discard after the last tile of the wall is
1 fan Last Tile Discard Going Out
drawn.
1 fan Robbing the Kong Winning off the tile that somebody adds to a melded pung. Going Out
Winning on the replacement tile drawn after declaring a
1 fan Out on Replacement Going Out
kong. Counts as self-drawn.

Hand contains all flower tiles. Implies Seat Flower.

2 fan All Flowers Special

2 fan All Seasons Hand contains all seasons tiles. Implies Seat Season. . Special
 Hand consists all pungs.

3 fan All Pungs Pung-Based

Hand consists only of honors and suit tiles of one suit.

3 fan Half Flush Suit-Based

Hand has two dragon pungs and a pair of the third dragon.

4 fan Little Three Dragons Terminals/Honors

Hand is composed of seven pairs of tiles.

4 fan Seven Pairs Special

Hand consists only of suit tiles of one suit.

6 fan Full Flush Suit-Based

 Four Concealed Hand has four concealed pungs and a pair and self-drawn
Limit Pung-Based
Pungs win.
Hand has three dragon pungs.

Limit Big Three Dragons Terminals/Honors

Hand has three pungs and a pair of winds.

Limit Little Four Winds Terminals/Honors

Hand has four pungs of winds.

Limit Big Four Winds Terminals/Honors

Hand consists only of honor tiles.

Limit All Honors Terminals/Honors

Hand consists only of terminals.

Limit All Terminals Terminals/Honors

Concealed hand of 1112345678999 in one suit and winning

Limit Nine Gates Suit-Based
on any tile of the same suit.
 Hand made of single tiles of 12 honors and terminals, plus a
pair of the 13th.

Limit Thirteen Orphans Special

Limit All Kongs Hand has four kongs and a pair. Kong-Based
Hand is composed of pungs (or kongs) of bamboo tiles and
a pung of green dragons.

Limit Jade Dragon Suit-Based

Hand is composed of pungs (or kongs) of character tiles and

pung of red dragons.

Limit Ruby Dragon Suit-Based

Hand is composed of pungs (or kongs) of dot tiles and a

pung of white dragons.

Limit Pearl Dragon Suit-Based

Limit Blessing of Heaven East wins with initial hand. Going Out
Limit Blessing of Earth Non-east player wins on East's first discard. Going Out
The table below is called a fan-laak table. In this one, certain fan values convert to the same amount of points. This
helps to limit the scores.
This variation uses:
• Win by a discarded tile: Discarder pays winner double score and the other players pay normal the winner's
score.
• Win by self-drawn tile: All player's pay double value of the winner's hand.
Scoring Table
Fan Points By discard Self drawn

0 1 1+1+2=4 n/a

1 2 2+2+4=8 4+4+4=12

2 4 4+4+8=16 8+8+8=24

3 8 8+8+16=32 16+16+16=48

4, 5, 6 16 16+16+32=64 32+32+32=96

7, 8, 9 32 32+32+64=128 64+64+64=192

10+ 64 64+64+128=256 128+128+128=384

Scoring Examples
Example 1
Consider the following example. East (東) round; South ( ) position.

melded pung concealed tiles melded chow melded pung out on

Half Flush 3 fan
Dragon Pung 1 fan
No Flowers 1 fan
5 fan
Payment 64 (32 + 16 + 16) points
The hand has a total of 5 fan. The discarder would pay 32, while all other players pay 16 points each.
Example 2
Consider the following example. East ( ) round; East ( ) position.

self-
melded pung concealed tiles melded chow melded pung pair
drawn
Seat Wind 1 fan
Prevalent Wind 1 fan
Self-Drawn Win 1 fan
No Flowers 1 fan
4 fan
Payment 96 (32 x 3) points
The hand is worth 4 fan but was completed with a self-drawn tile. Each opponent would have to pay 32 points each.
1

Variant 2
Value Hand Description Pattern Type
0 Fan Chicken Hand Hand with no value.

Hand includes a pung (or kong) of dragons.

1 Fan Dragon Pung Terminals/Honors

Hand includes a pung (or kong) of the player’s seat or round

wind.
1 Fan Seat/Prevalent Wind Terminals/Honors

1 Fan Seat Flower/Season Player has the flower or season of his seat. Special

No
1 Fan Hand contains no flower/season tiles upon winning. Special
Flowers/Seasons
Hand consists of all sequences.

1 Fan All Chows Chow-Based

1 Fan Self-drawn Win Drawing the winning tile for mahjong. Going Out
Last Tile
1 Fan Winning on the very last tile or the following discard. Going Out
Draw/Discard
Out on
1 Fan Winning after drawing a replacement tile. Going Out
Replacement Tile
1 Fan Robbing the Kong Winning on off a tile used to extend a kong. Going Out

Hand contains all flower tiles.

2 Fan All Flowers Special

Hand contains all season tiles.

2 Fan All Seasons Special

 Hand consists only of honors and suit tiles of one suit.

2 Fan All Pungs Pung-Based

Hand consists only of honors and suit tiles of one suit.

2 Fan Half Flush Suit-Based

Hand has two dragon pungs and a pair of the third dragon.

4 Fan Little Three Dragons Terminals/Honors

Hand consists only of suit tiles of one suit.

4 Fan Full Flush Suit-Based

Winning on a replacement tile after declaring two

4 Fan Kong on Kong Going Out
consecutive kongs.

Hand has four concealed pungs and a pair and self-drawn

win.

Four Concealed
Limit Pung-Based
Pungs

Terminals/
Limit Big Three Dragons Hand has three dragon pungs.
Honors
 Hand has three pungs and a pair of winds.

Terminals/
Limit Little Four Winds
Honors

Hand consists only of honor tiles.

Terminals/
Limit All Honors
Honors

Hand consists only of terminals.

Terminals/
Limit All Terminals
Honors

Concealed hand of 1112345678999 in one suit and winning

on any tile of the same suit.

Limit Nine Gates Suit-Based

Hand made of single tiles of 12 honors and terminals, plus a

pair of the 13th. Hand must be concealed.

Limit Thirteen Orphans Special

Limit Blessing of Heaven East wins with initial hand. Going Out
Limit Blessing of Earth Non-east player wins on East's first discard. Going Out
The table is called "4-7-10 System" in that each tier where the points double occur at the 4, 7 and 10 mark.
This variation uses:
• Win by a discarded tile: Discarder pays winner double score and the other players pay normal the winner's
score.
• Win by self-drawn tile: All player's pay double the full value of the winner's hand.
Scoring Table
Fan Points By discard Self drawn

0 1 1+1+2=4 n/a

1 2 2+2+4=8 4+4+4=12

2 4 4+4+8=16 8+8+8=32

3 8 8+8+16=32 16+16+16=48

4,5,6 16 16+16+32=64 32+32+32=96

7,8,9 32 32+32+64=128 64+64+64=192

10+ 64 64+64+128=256 128+128+128=384

Variant 3
Value Hand Chinese Description Pattern
Gay Woo
0 Chicken Hand A valueless hand. Special
雞

Hand consists only of chows and a pair of

suit tiles.

1 All Chows Ping Woo // Chow-Based

1 Dragon Pung //Fan Jee Hand includes a pung (or kong) of dragons. Terminals/Honors
 Hand includes a pung (or kong) of the
player’s round wind.
1 Round Wind Huen Fung Terminals/Honors

Hand includes a pung (or kong) of the

player’s seat wind.
1 Seat Wind Moon Fung Terminals/Honors

1 Self-Draw Win Chi Mo Winning on a tile drawn from the wall. Going Out

Chueng Winning off the tile that somebody adds to a

1 Robbing a Gong Going Out
Gong melded pung.
(Optional) Winning with a concealed hand.
1 Concealed Hand Moon Ching Going Out
Going out on a discard is ok.

Win on Gong Winning on the replacement tile drawn after

2 Going Out
Replacement Sheung Far declaring a kong.
2 Last Tile Win Hoi Day Self-drawn win on the last tile of the wall. Going Out

Win by discard on the discard after the last

2 Last Tile Discard Hoi Day Going Out
tile of the wall is drawn.

Hand consists all pungs.

Dui Dui
3 All Pungs Pung-Based
Woo對

Hand consists only of honors and suit tiles of

one suit.
Won Yat
3 Half Flush Suit-Based
Sik
 Hand has two dragon pungs and a pair of the
third dragon.

Little Three Siu Sam

3 Terminals/Honors
Dragons Yuen

Gong
Winning on a replacement tile after declaring
3 Kong on Kong Sheung Going Out
two consecutive kongs.
Gong

Moon from the Hoi Day Lao

3 Last tile win where the tile is 1 dot Going Out
Bottom of the Sea Yeut
Gong
Plum Blossom on Win on replacement tile where the tile is 5
3 Shueng Mui Going Out
the Roof dots in a 4-5-6 chow.
Far

Hand has three dragon pungs.

Dai Sam
6 Big Three Dragons Terminals/Honors
Yeun

Hand has three pungs and a pair of winds.

6 Little Four Winds Siu Sei Hei Terminals/Honors

Ching Yak
6 Full Flush Hand consists only of suit tiles of one suit. Suit-Based
Sik
 If a player draws all eight flower tiles he will
have a winning hand.

A player with 7 flower tiles may declare

mahjong immediately upon drawing it,
regardless of the completeness of their hand.

*It is worth one less than the maximum fan

level. No additional fan may be added to this
All Flowers and score.
Limit* Special
Seasons
If mahjong is not declared, the opportunity is
lost and the player must win like normal.

The same follows if the player has 7 flowers

and draws the eighth. They may immediately
declare mahjong regardless of their hand
completeness.

*This is worth max fan.

Hand consists only of terminals.

Limit All Terminals Terminals/Honors

Hand has four pungs of winds.

Limit Big Four Winds Dai Sei Hei Terminals/Honors

 Hand consists only of honor tiles.

Limit All Honors Chuen Tse Terminals/Honors

Hand has four concealed pungs. A kong is

considered a concealed pung.

Four Concealed Kan Kan

Limit Pung-Based
Pungs Woo

Hand made of single tiles of 12 honors and

terminals, plus a pair of the 13th.

Limit Thirteen Orphans Sup Sam Yiu Special

Blessing of
Limit Tin Woo East wins with initial hand. Going out
Heaven
Limit Blessing of Earth Dei Woo Non-east player wins on East's first discard. Going Out

1 Any One additional point for each flower tile. Special

 Flower/Season Tile
1 No Flower tiles Hand contains no flower tiles. Special
Flower/Season of
1 Hand contains a flower tile of the round. Special
the Round
Seat
1 Hand contains a player's flower tile. Special
Flower/Season

After four fan the score doubles after every increment of two (4, 6, 8 , 10, 12).
Variations
• Win by a discarded tile: Discarder pays winner full score.
• Win by a discarded tile: Discarder pays winner double the full score.
• Win by a discarded tile: Discarder pays winner full score and the other players pay normal the
winner's score.
In the first two cases, if the discarded tile is used to promote a big melded kong, and the replacement tile is the
winning tile, the discarder pays three times the winner's score.
• Win by self-drawn tile: All player's pay the full value of the winner's hand.
Fan Score Fan Score
0 2 7 96
1 4 8 128

2 8 9 192
3 16 10 256
4 32 11 384
5 48 12 512

6 64
Hong Kong Old Style Penalties & Errors
Penalties

Erroneous Mahjong
• If an erroneous mahjong is called the offender pays each player 4 fan worth

Wrong Tile Count

• A player with more than 13 or fewer than 13 tiles forfeits the right to win the current hand. The number of
tiles remains uncorrected.

Miss Win
• Should a player fail to declare a winning tile, he cannot claim any identical discarded tile until his next draw.

Insurance Penalties
• Big Three Dragons — If Player A discards a dragon tile, which completes Player B's winning hand and the
third dragon pung needed for Big Three Dragons, Player A pays two times the full value for himself and the
other two players. Prior to this, Player B must have two melded dragon pungs.
• Big Four Winds — If Player A discards a wind tile, which completes Player B's winning hand and the fourth
wind pung needed for Big Four Winds, Player A pays two times the full value for himself and the other two
players. Prior to this, Player B must have three melded wind pungs.
• All Honors — If Player A discards an honor tile, which completes Player B's winning hand and the fourth
honor pung needed for All Honors, Player A pays two times the full value for himself and the other two
players. Prior to this, Player B must have three melded honor pungs.
• All Terminals — If Player A discards a terminal tile, which completes Player B's winning hand and the fourth
terminal pung needed for All Honors, Player A pays two times the full value for himself and the other two
players. Prior to this, Player B must have three melded terminal pungs.
• Full Flush — If Player A discards a matching suit tile, which completes Player B's winning hand and the
fourth set needed for Full Flush, Player A pays two times the full value for himself and the other two players.
Prior to this, Player B must have three melded sets of the same suit.

In the case of All Honors, All Terminals or Full Flush as described above, if Player A discards the tile completes the
fourth set but is not the winning tile
• If Player B draws the winning tile, Player A pays the full value for himself and all other players. (This totals to
three times the full score).
• If Player A subsequently discards the winning tile (i.e. the single wait), Player A pays for himself and all other
players. (This totals to two times the full score).
• If Player C discards the winning tile, Player A and C pay the winner the value of the full score each.

If a Player A has no choice but to discard a risky tile (i.e. Player B and C show three melded sets in one suit), he will
not be penalized in payment to all other players.
• Five Remaining Tiles - If there are five drawable tiles left and Player A discards a winning tile that has never
been revealed or discarded before. Player A pays the value for himself and all other players.