Chinese Official Scoring
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A minimum of eight points is needed to call for mahjong. There is less emphasis on Dragon tiles and concealed hands.

Initial Points

As these rules are based on tournament play there are no initial starting points. If you are playing casually everyone can start arbitrarily with 500 points.

Outline

The winning player adds up the value of his hand, then the other players may check and verify. The other players need not assist the winner in calculating the value of his hand if it is underscored. To visually show the value of the hand, the winning player uses (from his discards) a single face up tile to represent 1 point and a face down tile to represent 10.

The winner of the hand receives the score from the player who discard the winning tile, plus 8 basic points from each player; in the case of self drawn win, he receives the value of this round plus 8 points from all players. There is no scoring maximum.

Win by Self-drawn: Each player pays the extra and basic points to the winning player.
Win by Discard: Each player pays basic points to the winner. The player who discarded the winning tile pays the basic points in addition to the extra points.

Principles for Counting Basic Points

  1. The Non-Repeat Principle: When an fan is implied or included by another fan, it is not scored.
  2. The Non-Separation Principle: After combining sets to arrange a fan, it cannot be re-arranged to create another.
  3. Non-Identical Principle: If a set is used to create a fan, it cannot be used with other sets to create the same fan.
  4. Freedom to Choose: If a set can form both a high-scoring and low-scoring fan, the player has the right to choose which fan will be scored.
  5. Exclusionary Rule: When sets have been combined to create a fan, the player can combine any remaining sets once with a set that has already been used.

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 East in turn order is given the tile. The hand must also have a minimum of 8 points (not including points for Flowers).

Scoring Table

Points Hand Description Pattern
1 Pure Double Chow Hand includes two identical chows in the same suit.
b3.gifb4.gifb5.gif b3.gifb4.gifb5.gif
Chow-Based
1 Mixed Double Chow Hand includes two chows of the same numbers but in different suits.
b3.gifb4.gifb5.gif c3.gifc4.gifc5.gif
Chow-Based
1 Short Straight Hand includes two chows in the same suit that run consecutively after one another to make a six-tile straight.
b1.gifb2.gifb3.gif b4.gifb5.gifb6.gif
Chow-Based
1 Two Terminal Chows Hand includes a 123 chow and a 789 chow in the same suit.
b1.gifb2.gifb3.gif b7.gifb8.gifb9.gif
Chow-Based
1 Pung of Terminals or Honors Hand includes a pung (or kong) of 1's, 9's, or winds that aren't the prevalent wind nor the player's seat wind.
b1.gifb1.gifb1.gif
Terminals/Honors
1 Melded Kong Hand includes a melded kong.
d2.gifd2.gifd2.gifd2.gif
Kong-Based
1 One Voided Suit Hand uses tiles from only two of the three suits. The hand can include honors. Suit-Based
1 No Honor Tiles Hand uses suit tiles only. Suit-Based
1 Edge Wait Winning on a 3 to form a 123 chow, or solely for a 7 to form a 789 chow. This tile must be the only one that will complete four sets and a pair. Going Out
1 Closed Wait Waiting solely for the middle tile of a chow. This tile must be the only one that will complete four sets and a pair. Going Out
1 Single Wait Waiting solely for a tile to form a pair. This tile must be the only one that will complete four sets and a pair. Going Out
1 Self-Drawn Winning on a tile drawn from the wall. Going Out
1 Flower Tiles Each flower tile is worth 1 point. They do not count towards the 8 point minimum for making mahjong. Special
2 Dragon Pung Hand includes a pung (or kong) of dragons.
e1.gife1.gife1.gif
Terminals/Honors
2 Prevalent Wind Hand includes a pung (or kong) of the prevalent wind. Terminals/Honors
2 Seat Wind Hand includes a pung (or kong) of the player’s seat wind.
w1.gifw1.gifw1.gif
Terminals/Honors
2 Concealed Hand Hand includes four concealed sets and is won by discard. Going Out
2 All Chows Hand consists of all chows and no honors.
b1.gifb2.gifb3.gif b3.gifb4.gifb5.gif d2.gifd3.gifd4.gif d6.gifd7.gifd8.gif c3.gifc3.gif
Chow-Based
2 Tile Hog Hand uses all four of a suit tile without using them as a kong. Special
2 Double Pung Hand includes two pungs of the same number in two different suits.
b5.gifb5.gifb5.gifd5.gifd5.gifd5.gif
Pung-Based
2 Two Concealed Pungs Hand includes two concealed pungs.
z1.gifz1.gifz1.gif z1.gifz1.gifz1.gif
Pung-Based
2 Concealed Kong Hand includes one concealed kong.
z1.gifz1.gifz1.gifz1.gif
Kong-Based
2 All Simples Hand consists entirely of simples.
b2.gifb2.gifb2.gif c3.gifc4.gifc5.gif c4.gifc5.gifc6.gif d8.gifd8.gifd8.gif
Suit-Based
4 Outside Hand Hand includes terminals and honors in each set, including the pair.
b1.gifb2.gifb3.gif c7.gifc8.gifc9.gif b9.gifb9.gifb9.gif e1.gife1.gife1.gif w1.gifw1.gif
Terminals/Honors
4 Fully Concealed Hand Hand consists entirely of concealed sets and is won by self-draw.
z1.gifz1.gifz1.gif z1.gifz1.gifz1.gif z1.gifz1.gifz1.gif z1.gifz1.gifz1.gif z1.gifz1.gif
Going Out
4 Two Kongs Hand includes two melded kongs.
b1.gifb1.gifb1.gifb1.gif b2.gifb2.gifb2.gifb2.gif
Kong-Based
4 Last Tile Winning on a tile that is the last of its kind. This fact must be clear based on the visible discards, melds, and the winning player’s hand. Going Out
6 All Pungs Hand includes four pungs (or kongs) and a pair.
d3.gifd3.gifd3.gif b4.gifb4.gifb4.gif d8.gifd8.gifd8.gif e3.gife3.gife3.gif w4.gifw4.gif
Pung-Based
6 Half Flush Hand composed entirely of honors and suit tiles of only one suit.
d3.gifd3.gifd3.gif d4.gifd5.gifd6.gif d8.gifd8.gifd8.gif e3.gife3.gife3.gif w4.gifw4.gif
Suit-Based
6 Mixed Shifted Chows Hand includes three chows, one in each suit, each shifted up one number from the last.
b4.gifb5.gifb6.gifc5.gifc6.gifc7.gifd6.gifd7.gifd8.gif
Chow-Based
6 All Types Hand in which each set, including the pair, is composed of a different type of tile (characters, bamboos, dots, winds, and dragons).
b1.gifb2.gifb3.gif d2.gifd3.gifd4.gif c6.gifc7.gifc8.gif e3.gife3.gife3.gif w3.gifw3.gif
Suit-Based
6 Melded Hand Hand includes four melded sets and is won by discard. Going Out
6 Two Dragon Pungs Hand includes two pungs (or kongs) of dragons.
e1.gife1.gife1.gif e2.gife2.gife2.gif
Terminals/Honors
8 Mixed Straight Hand includes a 123 chow in one suit, a 456 chow in another suit, and a 789 chow in the third suit.
b1.gifb2.gifb3.gifc4.gifc5.gifc6.gifd7.gifd8.gifd9.gif
Chow-Based
8 Reversible Tiles Hand consists entirely of reversible tiles (1,2,3,4,5,8,9 dots; 2,4,5,6,8,9 bamboo; and white dragon).
b4.gifb5.gifb6.gif d8.gifd8.gifd8.gif d9r.gifd9.gifd9.gif d3.gifd4.gifd5.gif b6.gifb6.gif
Special
8 Mixed Triple Chow Hand includes three chows of the same numerical sequence, one in each suit.
b5.gifb6.gifb7.gif c5.gifc6.gifc7.gif d5.gifd6.gifd7.gif
Chow-Based
8 Mixed Shifted Pungs Hand includes three pungs (or kongs), one in each suit, each shifted up one number from the last.
c4.gifc4.gifc4.gif b5.gifb5.gifb5.gif d6.gifd6.gifd6.gif
Pung-Based
8 Chicken Hand A hand that would otherwise earn 0 points (excluding flowers). Special
8 Last Tile Draw Self-drawn win on the last tile of the wall. Going Out
8 Last Tile Claim Win by discard on the discard after the last tile of the wall is drawn. Going Out
8 Out with Replacement Tile Winning on the replacement tile drawn after declaring a kong. Counts as self-drawn. Going Out
8 Robbing the Kong Winning off the tile that somebody adds to a melded pung. Going Out
8 Two Concealed Kongs Hand includes two concealed kongs.
z1.gifz1.gifz1.gifz1.gif z1.gifz1.gifz1.gifz1.gif
Kong-Based
12 Lesser Honors and Knitted Tiles Hand composed of singles of any honors and singles of suit tiles that belong to different knitted sequences. Combines with Fully Concealed Hand if Self-Drawn.
b1.gifb4.gifb7.gifc2.gifc5.gifc8.gifd3.gifd6.gife1.gife2.gife3.gifw1.gifw2.gifw3.gif
Special
12 Knitted Straight Hand includes a nine-tile straight formed with 3 different knitted sequences.
b1.gifb4.gifb7.gifc2.gifc5.gifc8.gifd3.gifd6.gifd9.gif
Special
12 Upper Four Hand consists entirely of suit tiles 6 through 9.
b6.gifb6.gifb6.gif b7.gifb8.gifb9.gif c9.gifc9.gifc9.gif d7.gifd8.gifd9.gif d6.gifd6.gif
Suit-Based
12 Lower Four Hand consists entirely of suit tiles 1 through 4.
b1.gifb2.gifb3.gif b4.gifb4.gifb4.gif c3.gifc3.gifc3.gif d1.gifd2.gifd3.gif d4.gifd4.gif
Suit-Based
12 Big Three Winds Hand includes pungs (or kongs) of three of the winds.
w1.gifw1.gifw1.gif w2.gifw2.gifw2.gif w3.gifw3.gifw3.gif
Terminals/Honors
16 Pure Straight Hand includes three consecutive chows in the same suit, making a nine-tile straight.
b1.gifb2.gifb3.gif b4.gifb5.gifb6.gif b7.gifb8.gifb9.gif
Chow-Based
16 Three-Suited Terminal Chows Hand consists of a 123 chow and 789 chow in one suit, a 123 chow and 789 chow in another suit, and a pair of fives in the third suit.
b1.gifb2.gifb3.gifb7.gifb8.gifb9.gifc1.gifc2.gifc3.gifc7.gifc8.gifc9.gifd5.gifd5.gif
Chow-Based
16 Pure Shifted Chows Hand includes three chows in one suit, each shifted up either one or two numbers from the last, but not a combination of both.
b1.gifb2.gifb3.gif b2.gifb3.gifb4.gif b3.gifb4.gifb5.gif
Chow-Based
16 All Fives Hand uses a 5 suit tile in every set, including the pair.
b4.gifb5.gifb6.gif b5.gifb6.gifb7.gif c5.gifc5.gifc5.gif c3.gifc4.gifc5.gif d5.gifd5.gif
Suit-Based
16 Triple Pung Hand includes three pungs of the same number, one in each suit.
b3.gifb3.gifb3.gif c3.gifc3.gifc3.gif d3.gifd3.gifd3.gif
Pung-Based
16 Three Concealed Pungs Hand includes three concealed pungs.
z1.gifz1.gifz1.gif z1.gifz1.gifz1.gif z1.gifz1.gifz1.gif
Pung-Based
24 Seven Pairs Hand consists of seven pairs. May combine with Fully Concealed Hand if Self-Drawn.
b6.gifb6.gif b9.gifb9.gif c2.gifc2.gif d5.gifd5.gif d7.gifd7.gif e1.gife1.gif e3.gife3.gif
Special
24 Greater Honors and Knitted Tiles Hand consists of one tile of every wind and dragon, and singles of suit tiles that belong to separate knitted sequences. May combine with Fully Concealed Hand if Self-Drawn.
b1.gifb4.gifb7.gifc2.gifc5.gifc8.gifd3.gife1.gife2.gife3.gifw1.gifw2.gifw3.gifw4.gif
Special
24 All Even Pungs Hand consists of four pungs and a pair, using only even-numbered suit tiles.
b2.gifb2.gifb2.gif c2.gifc2.gifc2.gif c4.gifc4.gifc4.gif d6.gifd6.gifd6.gif d8.gifd8.gif
Suit-Based
24 Full Flush Hand consists entirely of suit tile of the same suit.
b2.gifb2.gifb2.gif b2.gifb3.gifb4.gif b4.gifb5.gifb6.gif b8.gifb8.gifb8.gif b9.gifb9.gif
Suit-Based
24 Pure Triple Chow Hand includes three chows of the same numerical sequence and in the same suit.
b5.gifb6.gifb7.gif b5.gifb6.gifb7.gif b5.gifb6.gifb7.gif
Chow-Based
24 Pure Shifted Pungs Hand includes three pungs (or kongs) of the same suit, each shifted one up from the last.
b1.gifb1.gifb1.gif b2.gifb2.gifb2.gif b3.gifb3.gifb3.gif
Pung-Based
24 Upper Tiles Hand consisting entirely of 7, 8, and 9 suit tiles.
b7.gifb7.gifb7.gif b7.gifb8.gifb9.gifc9.gif c9.gifc9.gif d7.gifd8.gifd9.gif d9.gifd9.gif
Suit-Based
24 Middle Tiles Hand consisting entirely of 4, 5, and 6 suit tiles.
b4.gifb4.gifb4.gif b4.gifb5.gifb6.gif c6.gifc6.gifc6.gif d4.gifd5.gifd6.gif d6.gifd6.gif
Suit-Based
24 Lower Tiles Hand consisting entirely of 1, 2, and 3 suit tiles.
b1.gifb1.gifb1.gif b1.gifb2.gifb3.gif c3.gifc3.gifc3.gif d1.gifd2.gifd3.gif d3.gifd3.gif
Suit-Based
32 Four Shifted Chows Hand includes four chows in one suit, each shifted up 1 or 2 numbers from the last, but not a combination of both.
b1.gifb2.gifb3.gif b2.gifb3.gifb4.gif b3.gifb4.gifb5.gif b4.gifb5.gifb6.gif
Chow-Based
32 Three Kongs Hand includes three kongs. May combine with Three Concealed Pungs if the kongs are all concealed.
b2.gifb2.gifb2.gifb2.gif b5.gifb5.gifb5.gifb5.gif c7.gifc7.gifc7.gifc7.gif
Kong-Based
32 All Terminals and Honors Hand consists entirely of terminals and honors.
b1.gifb1.gifb1.gif c9.gifc9.gifc9.gif e1.gife1.gife1.gif e2.gife2.gife2.gif d1.gifd1.gif
Terminals/Honors
48 Quadruple Chow Hand includes four chows of the same numerical sequences in the same suit.
b5.gifb6.gifb7.gif b5.gifb6.gifb7.gif b5.gifb6.gifb7.gif b5.gifb6.gifb7.gif
Chow-Based
48 Four Pure Shifted Pungs Hand includes four pungs (or kongs) in the same suit, each shifted up one from the last.
b1.gifb1.gifb1.gif b2.gifb2.gifb2.gif b3.gifb3.gifb3.gif b4.gifb4.gifb4.gif
Pung-Based
64 All Terminals Hand made with only terminal suit tiles.
b1.gifb1.gifb1.gif b9.gifb9.gifb9.gif d1.gifd1.gifd1.gif c1.gifc1.gifc1.gif c9.gifc9.gif
Terminals/Honors
64 Little Four Winds Hand includes three pungs of winds, and a pair of the fourth wind. Can combine with Prevalent Wind and Seat Wind.
w1.gifw1.gifw1.gif w2.gifw2.gifw2.gif w3.gifw3.gifw3.gifw4.gifw4.gif
Terminals/Honors
64 Little Three Dragons Hand includes two pungs of dragons and pair of the third dragon.
e1.gife1.gife1.gife2.gife2.gife2.gife3.gife3.gif
Terminals/Honors
64 All Honors Hand is composed entirely of only honor tiles.
e1.gife1.gife1.gife2.gife2.gife2.gife3.gife3.gife3.gifw1.gifw1.gifw1.gifw2.gifw2.gif
Terminals/Honors
64 Four Concealed Pungs Hand includes four concealed pungs. Combines with Fully Concealed Hand if Self-Drawn.
z1.gifz1.gifz1.gif z1.gifz1.gifz1.gif z1.gifz1.gifz1.gif z1.gifz1.gifz1.gif
Pung-Based
64 Pure Terminal Chows Hand includes two 123 chows, two 789 chows, and a pair of 5's, all in the same suit.
b1.gifb2.gifb3.gif b1.gifb2.gifb3.gif b7.gifb8.gifb9.gif b7.gifb8.gifb9.gif b5.gifb5.gif
Chow-Based
88 Big Four Winds Hand includes pungs (or kongs) of all four wind tiles.
w1.gifw1.gifw1.gif w2.gifw2.gifw2.gif w3.gifw3.gifw3.gif w4.gifw4.gifw4.gif
Terrminals/Honors
88 Big Three Dragons Hand includes pungs (or kongs) of all three dragon tiles.
e1.gife1.gife1.gife2.gife2.gife2.gife3.gife3.gife3.gif
Terminals/Honors
88 All Green Hand is composed entirely of the 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 of bamboo and/or green dragon tiles.
b2.gifb3.gifb4.gif b3.gifb3.gifb3.gif b4.gifb4.gifb4.gif b6.gifb6.gifb6.gif e1.gife1.gif
Suit-Based
88 Nine Gates Holding a concealed hand of 1112345678999 tiles in one suit, and winning on the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 of the same suit. Combines with Fully Concealed Hand if Self-Drawn.
c1.gifc1.gifc1.gifc2.gifc3.gifc4.gifc5.gifc6.gifc7.gifc8.gifc9.gifc9.gifc9.gif c9.gif
Suit-Based
88 Four Kongs Hand includes four kongs. Does not combine with Single Wait. Points for concealed pungs can be added.
d4.gifd4.gifd4.gifd4.gife1.gife1.gife1.gife1.gifc6.gifc6.gifc6.gifc6.gifb8.gifb8.gifb8.gifb8.gif
Kong-Based
88 Seven Shifted Pairs Hand is composed of seven pairs in the same suit, each shifted one up from the last. Combines with Fully Concealed Hand if Self-Drawn.
d2.gifd2.gifd3.gifd3.gifd4.gifd4.gifd5.gifd5.gifd6.gifd6.gifd7.gifd7.gifd8.gifd8.gif
Special
88 Thirteen Orphans Hand is composed of singles of any 12 of the 1, 9, and Honor tiles, along with a pair of the 13th. Combines with Fully Concealed Hand if Self-Drawn.
b1.gifb9.gifc1.gifc9.gifd1.gifd9.gife1.gife2.gife3.gifw1.gifw2.gifw3.gifw4.gif w4.gif
Special

Remember the Non-Repeat Principle: When a fan is implied by or included by another fan, it is not scored. For example, if you have a Middle Tiles hand, you can't add points for All Simples or No Honor Tiles.

Note that having one concealed kong and one melded kong is worth six points.

Example

Example 1

Consider the following example. East (東) round; South (南) position.

e3.gife3.gif c3.gifc4.gifc5.gif c6.gifc7.gifc7.gifc8.gifc8.gif w3r.gifw3.gifw3.gifw3.gif c6.gif
pair concealed chow waiting on 6-9 melded kong out on
Half Flush 6
Melded Kong 1
Pung of Terminals/Honors 1
Pure Double Chow 1
Short Straight 1
11
Payment 35 [(11 + 8) + 8 + 8)]

Breaking down the hand, we earned 6 points for Half Flush. From the melded kong of Wests, we earn 2 additional points: one for having melded kong and one for having a pung of terminals/honors. Remember kongs are also counted as a pung. One point is earned for having a pure double chow (678 twice). We can combine the 345 chow with a 678 chow to make a short straight for one more point. Due to the non-identical principle we cannot do this twice with the other 678 chow.

The responsible player will pay out the value of the hand, 11, plus 8 points for winning. The two other players must pay out 8 basic points each for a combined total of 35.

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