Chinese Classical Scoring
Chinese Classical Overview Gameplay Scoring

Chinese Classical Mahjong, Shanghai New Style Mahjong (SHNS), and Hong Kong New Style Mahjong (HKNS) score a combination of Mini Points and Doubles where all players pay and receive points. The latter two variants also reward wins by self-draw and punish discarders when there's a win by discard.

Over the years, Chinese Classical went through several changes within China. Some of the tables on this page have multiple rulesets…

  1. Early Classical (1900s)
  2. Late Classical (1910s)
  3. Shanghai New Style (1920s)
  4. Hong Kong New Style (1950s)

The Process

After a player wins, each player totals their Point Total.

  1. Each player counts the sum of their Doubles
  2. Each player counts their Mini Points
    • The winner also counts their Bonus Mini Points
  3. Point Total = Mini PointsDoubles

And then the Payout occurs. Let's break it down table-by-table…

Step 1: The Doubles Table

All players calculate the sum of their Doubles.

If the player has a 100 or 200 Point hand, they skip to the Final Step.

Dragon Pung/Kong 1 Double
Seat Wind Pung/Kong 1 Double
Round Wind Pung/Kong 1 Double
2 Seat Flowers 1 Double
Half Flush 1 Double
Pure Flush 3 Doubles
All Honors 3 Doubles
Blessing of Earth 100 Points
Blessing of Heaven 200 Points
3 Big Dragons 200 Points
13 Orphans 200 Points
4 Big Winds 200 Points
9 Gates 200 Points

Step 2: The Mini Point Table

All players calculate their Mini Points using this table.

Each Pung Each Kong
Exposed Concealed Exposed Concealed
2-8 2 4 8 16
1 or 9 4 8 16 32
Dragon 4 8 16 32
Seat/Round Wind 4 8 16 32
Pair of Seat/Round Winds 2
Pair of Dragons 2

Step 2.5: The Bonus Mini Point Table

Only the winner calculates their Bonus Mini Points. They then add their Bonus Mini Points to their Mini Points.

Mahjong 10 Bonus Points for Winning
Pinghu 4 All Chows, No Value Honor Pairs
All Pungs 4 All Pungs or Kongs of any type
Replacement Tile Win 4 Winning off the Kong replacement tile
Last Tile Win 4 Winning upon drawing the last tile in the wall
Self-Drawn Win 2 Drawing the winning tile
Single Wait 2 Winning off a Pair Wait, Middle Wait, or Edge Wait
Double Pair Wait 2 Winning off 2 Pairs Waiting to complete a Pung

Step 3: The Total Score

Instead of using an exponent, players can use the scoring table below.
Doubles 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Points 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024

Total Score = Mini Points x Points

Final Step: The Payout

The winner never pays.
East pays and receives double (unless they won).

Here are two examples. In the example on the left South won. In the example on the right East won.

SOUTH got 30 pts, WEST got 8 pts, NORTH got 4 pts, EAST got 4 pts SOUTH got 16 pts, WEST got 0 pts, NORTH got 4 pts, EAST got 40 pts
SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST
SOUTH Pays 0 0 0 SOUTH Pays 0 4 40x2
WEST Pays 30 4 4x2 WEST Pays 16 4 40x2
NORTH Pays 30 8 4x2 NORTH Pays 16 0 40x2
EAST Pays 30x2 8x2 4x2 EAST Pays 0 0 0
SOUTH gained 120, WEST lost 18, NORTH lost 34, EAST lost 68 SOUTH lost 52, WEST lost 100, NORTH lost 88, EAST gained 240

Self-Draw vs. Discard Payout

Old Style Chinese Classical: Although the winner's Mini Points increase if they self-draw their winning tile, it does not effect how the other players pay them. Therefore, unlike many contemporary Mahjong variants, the player who discards the winning tile is not penalized.

New Style Chinese Classical: The player who discarded the winning tile is penalized. It's very complicated; update coming soon.

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