Hong Kong mahjong scoring rules

Overview of scoring

• In the case where a player wins by a discard, the player who performs the discard pays double
• In the case where a player wins by a draw, every losing player pays double.
• In the case where a player wins from a high-risk scenario, the player who performs the discard pays for the other two losing players.

Criteria for scoring faan

• A double wind, where a certain wind is both the winner's seat wind and the prevailing wind, counts as 2 fan.

• It is possible to obtain the maximum fan only from winning condition criteria. For example, a player draws the second last tile from the wall, declares a Kong and wins on the replacement tile.
• Depending on variation, there may also be the additional requirement of winning by self-pick, in which case, this is known as men qing zi mo, or purely concealed self-drawn hand.

Non-standard special hands

• Thirteen Orphans + any tile in the set - also known in English as thirteen terminal hand or thirteen wonders and known in Cantonese as 十三幺, this occurs in 13-tile variants when the winning hand consists of one of each one, nine, wind, and dragon, and a 14th tile. Because the hand is so greatly divergent from the standard hand, this hand is generally considered the highest scoring hand of any kind, although it is not the hand that is least likely to occur - the nine gates is said to be some 450 times more rare, barring criteria that are probabilistic in nature. Thus, in scoring systems where a maximum point value is imposed, this is often an automatic limit hand.

Point translation function

• In the traditional style, there is a four-point maximum: a hand worth more than four points pays exactly the same as one worth exactly as a four-point hand. Thus, a limit hand scores 16 times the value of a scoreless hand.
• In some styles there is a rule stating that if a hand is worth one point or less it scores nothing.
• In the more modern style, which expands on the traditional style, a second limit is set at the seventh point, and optionally, a third limit at the tenth point. Thus, a seven-point hand is worth double that of hands that are between four and six points. The English terms for each limit is typically titled full house. This modern style is commonly used by younger generations who find the traditional styles more boring, and by gamblers who require a minimum of one point to win.
• In the parlor style, named for mahjong parlors in Hong Kong, the translation function is constant. This is because gambling, with the exception of bets placed with the Hong Kong Jockey Club on horse racing and football, is forbidden, and thus the constant function is used as "prize money".
• In the most extreme of styles, there is no limit - every point doubles the score. Due to the fast growth of exponential functions the constant for a zero-point hand is set very low, and a minimum point value is imposed, as lower scores are often considered to be game spoilers.

Simplified faan point-base point table

• If the winner wins from the wall the base points is doubled.
• If the hand was won by discard, the discarder doubles the number they owes the winner
• If the winner is east all losers double the basepoints
• If east player is a losing player he pays double the points to the winner.

Examples

Traditional faan point-base point table

• If the winner wins from the wall the base points is doubled.
• If the hand was won by discard, the discarder doubles the number he owes the winner
• If the winner is east all losers double the basepoints
• If east player is a losing player he pays double the points to the winner.

Examples

Canton Faan point-base point table

• If the winner wins from the wall the base points is doubled.
• If the hand was won by discard, the discarder doubles the number he owes the winner
• If the winner is east all losers double the basepoints
• If east player is a losing player he pays double the points to the winner.

Examples

Penalties

Hand progress terminology

• 獨聽 - Known in English typically as a one-shot win or a last-chance win, this occurs if the winner was looking for one and only one tile to win the hand. In some variations, this may extend to cases where two or more tiles could win the hand, but all but one were previously discarded.
• 雞糊 - Also known in some circles as 推倒胡 or 雞胡, this is used to describe a winning hand worth zero fān, or no points. For games with a minimum fān score, this can also describe those with insufficient fān.
• 詐糊 - Known in English literally as a trick hand, used to describe a "false alarm" when a player claims to have won the amount claimed but in fact has not.
• 食糊 - Winning off another player's discard.
• 叫糊 - A "ready" or "waiting" hand, one tile away from winning.