Mahjong

Mahjong
Players	2-4
Age range	4 years and older
Setup time	1-5 minutes
Playing time	Dependent on variation and/or house/tournament rules
Random chance	Yes
Skill(s) required	Tactics, observation, memory

	Mahjong
	A game of mahjong being played in Hangzhou, China
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	麻將
Simplified Chinese	麻将
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Má jiàng
Wu
Romanization	mo ziang
Gan
Romanization	ma4 chiong4
Hakka
Romanization	ma jiong3
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping	maa4 zoeng3
Yale Romanization	ma4 jeung3
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	麻雀
Simplified Chinese	麻雀
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Má què
Wu
Romanization	mo ziang (麻雀兒)
Gan
Romanization	ma4 chhiok6
Hakka
Romanization	ma4 jiok3
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping	maa4 zoek3
Yale Romanization	ma4 jeuk3
Southern Min
Hokkien POJ	Moâ-chhiok
Eastern Min
Fuzhou BUC	Mà-chiók
Pu-Xian Min
Hinghwa BUC	Má-chio̤h
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese	mạt chược
Korean name
Hangul	마작
Hanja	麻雀
Transcriptions
Revised Romanization	majak
McCune–Reischauer	machak
Japanese name
Kanji	麻雀
Kana	マージャン
Transcriptions
Romanization	mājan

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

Mahjong, also spelled majiang, mah jongg, and numerous other variants, is a game that originated in China. It is commonly played by four players (with some three-player variations found in South Korea and Japan). The game and its regional variants are widely played throughout Eastern and South Eastern Asia and have a small following in Western countries. Similar to the Western card game rummy, mahjong is a game of skill, strategy, and calculation and involves a degree of chance.

The game is played with a set of 144 tiles based on Chinese characters and symbols, although some regional variations use a different number of tiles. In most variations, each player begins by receiving 13 tiles. In turn players draw and discard tiles until they complete a legal hand using the 14th drawn tile to form four groups (melds) and a pair (head). There are fairly standard rules about how a piece is drawn, how a piece is stolen from another player and thus melded, the use of simples (numbered tiles) and honors (winds and dragons), the kinds of melds, and the order of dealing and play. However, there are many regional variations in the rules; in addition, the scoring system and the minimum hand necessary to win varies significantly based on the local rules being used.

Name

In Chinese, the game was originally called 麻雀 (pinyin: máquè)—meaning sparrow—which is still the name most commonly used in some southern Chinese varietes such as Cantonese and Min Nan, as well as in Japanese. However, most Mandarin-speaking Chinese now call the game májiàng (麻將). In Northern Wu Chinese (Shanghainese and its relatives), it is pronounced as 麻將 [mo tsiaŋ], but in actuality, 麻將 is the diminutive form of 麻雀, written as 麻雀兒 [mo tsiaʔ ŋ], due to an erhua event. It is through the Wu Chinese pronunciation of 麻雀兒 that the diminutive form of 麻雀 in Northern Wu became known as 麻將 in both Mandarin and Wu.^{[citation needed]}

History

China

Money-suited cards

Mahjong is based on draw-and-discard card games that were popular in 18th and 19th century China and some are still popular today.^[1] They were played with a stripped deck of money-suited cards. Each deck is divided into three suits of Cash or coins, Strings of cash, and Myriads of strings. There are nine ranks in each suit. In addition, there are three wild cards: Red flower, White flower, and Old thousand. Depending on the game, there are multiple copies of each card.

Games scholar David Parlett has written that the Western card games Conquian and Rummy share a common origin with mahjong.^[2] All these games involve players drawing and discarding tiles or cards to make melds. The most likely ancestor to mahjong was pènghú (碰和) which was played with 120 or 150 cards.^[1] During the late 19th century, pènghú was used interchangeably with máquè in both card and tile form.

It is not known when the conversion from cards to tiles took place precisely but most likely occurred in the middle of the 19th century. The earliest surviving tile sets date to around 1870 and were acquired in Fuzhou, Shanghai, and Ningbo.^[1]^[3]^[4] These sets differ from modern ones in several ways. In the Glover sets, there were no "flower" and fā ("green dragon") tiles. In their place were "king" tiles for heaven, earth, man, and harmony. There were also "king" tiles for the each of the four "winds". In the contemporaneous Himly set, there were no zhōng ("red dragon") tiles too. Instead there were the Cash Flower, String Flower, and Myriad Flower plus an additional king tile, the king of everything. The function of the king tiles are uncertain, they may have acted as wild cards. They may have been removed as the tiles share the same titles as the leaders of the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864).^[5] For example, Hong Xiuquan was the self-styled "Heavenly King of Great Peace" and his top subordinates were called east king, south king, west king, and north king.

This game was banned by the government of People's Republic of China when it took power in 1949.^[6] The new Communist government forbade any gambling activities, which were regarded as symbols of capitalist corruption. After the Cultural Revolution, the game was revived, without gambling elements, and the prohibition was revoked in 1985.^[7] Today, it is a favorite pastime in China^[8] and other Chinese-speaking communities.

Mahjong in the West

Students in the United States learning how to play mahjong

In 1895, British Sinologist William Henry Wilkinson wrote a paper which mentioned a set of cards known in central China by the name of ma chioh, literally, hemp sparrow, which he maintained was the origin of the term mahjong. He did not state the specific Chinese variety of his informant.^[9] By 1910, there were written accounts in many languages, including French and Japanese.^{[citation needed]}

The game was imported to the United States in the 1920s.^[10] The first mahjong sets sold in the U.S. were sold by Abercrombie & Fitch starting in 1920. It became a success in Washington, D.C., and the co-owner of the company, Ezra Fitch, sent emissaries to Chinese villages to buy every mahjong set they could find. Abercrombie & Fitch sold a total of 12,000 mahjong sets.

Also in 1920, Joseph Park Babcock published his book Rules of Mah-Jongg, also known as the "red book". This was the earliest version of mahjong known in America. Babcock had learned mahjong while living in China. His rules simplified the game to make it easier for Americans to take up, and his version was common through the mahjong fad of the 1920s. Later, when the 1920s fad died out, many of Babcock's simplifications were abandoned.

The game has taken on a number of trademarked names, such as "Pung Chow" and the "Game of Thousand Intelligences". Mahjong nights in America often involved dressing and decorating rooms in Chinese style.^[11] Several hit songs were recorded during the mahjong fad, most notably "Since Ma Is Playing Mah Jong" by Eddie Cantor.^[12]

Many variants of mahjong developed during this period. By the 1930s, many revisions of the rules developed that were substantially different from Babcock's classical version (including some that were considered fundamentals in other variants, such as the notion of a standard hand). The most common form, which eventually became "American mahjong", was most popular among Jewish women.^[12] Standardization came with the formation of the National Mah Jongg League (NMJL) in 1937, along with the first American mahjong rulebook, Maajh: The American Version of the Ancient Chinese Game, written by NMJL's first president and co-founder, Viola L. Cecil.^[13]

Many consider the modern American version a remake of a Jewish game,^[12] as many American mahjong players are of Jewish descent. The NMJL was founded by Jewish players and is considered a Jewish organization. In 1986, the National Mah Jongg League conducted their first Mah Jongg Cruise Tournament, in conjunction with Mah Jongg Madness. In 2010, this large scale seagoing event hosted its 25th Silver Anniversary Cruise, with players from all over the States and Canada participating.

In recent years, a second organization has formed, the American Mah Jongg Association. The AMJA currently hosts tournaments all across North America, with their signature event being at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

British author Alan D. Millington revived the Chinese classical game of the 1920s with his book The Complete Book of Mah-jongg (1977). This handbook includes a formal rules set for the game.

Current development

There are many governing bodies which often host exhibition games and tournaments for modern and traditional mahjong gaming.

Mahjong, as of 2010, is the most popular table game in Japan.^[14] As of 2008, there were approximately 7.6 million Mahjong players in Japan and an estimated 8,900 Mahjong parlors did ¥300 billion in sales.^[15] Many devotees there believe the game is losing popularity and have taken efforts to revive it.^{[citation needed]} There are several manga and anime (e.g. Saki and Akagi) devoted to dramatic and comic situations involving mahjong.^[16] Since the 1980s, hundreds of different mahjong arcade machines in Japanese video arcades have been created, including strip versions. Newer units can connect with other arcade machines across the Internet.

Mahjong culture is still deeply ingrained in the Chinese community. Sam Hui wrote Cantopop songs using mahjong as their themes, and Hong Kong movies have often included scenes of mahjong games. Many gambling movies have been filmed in Hong Kong, and a recent subgenre is the mahjong movie.

Prolonged playing of mahjong may trigger epileptic seizures according to a 2007 study.^[17]^[18] To date there are 23 reported cases of mahjong-induced seizures in the English medical literature.

Studies by doctors have also shown in Hong Kong that the game is beneficial for individuals suffering from dementia or cognitive memory difficulties, leading to the development of mahjong therapy.^[19]

Old Hong Kong mahjong

Old Hong Kong mahjong uses most of the standardised tiles, utilizes the basic features in common with most variations of the game and has a relatively simple scoring system.

Equipment

A mahjong set

Hong Kong Mahjong is played with a set of mahjong tiles (though cards may be used). Sets often include counters (to keep score), dice (to decide how to deal) and a marker to show who is dealer and which round is being played. Some sets include racks to hold tiles (if they are shaped small or differently).

A set of mahjong tiles usually has at least 136 tiles (most commonly 144), although sets originating from America or Japan will have more. Mahjong tiles are split into these categories: suits, honor, and flowers.

Simples

There are three different suits numbered 1 to 9, which are called simple tiles. They are bamboo (bams), characters (or myriads or cracks), and circles (or dots).

Suit	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Numbers
Bamboos
Circles
Characters

There are four identical copies of each number of each suit giving 108 simple tiles (3x9x4).

Honors and bonus tiles

There are two different honor suits: the winds and the dragons. The winds are east, south, west and north, and the dragons are Red, Green and White. They have no numerical sequence and there are four identical tiles of each wind and dragon (e.g. four Red dragon tiles, four Green dragon tiles etc.)

There are eight bonus tiles: four flowers and four seasons. Each flower and season tile is unique without three matching pieces as per simple tiles and honour tiles. These tiles are not part of a player's hand but are set to the side when drawn and an extra tile is drawn in lieu of the bonus tile.

Winds
Name	Sign
East
South
West
North

Dragons
Name	Sign
Red
Green
White

Flowers
Flower	Sign
Plum
Orchid
Chrysanthemum
Bamboo

Seasons
Season	Sign
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter

Choosing table positions and first dealer

The dealer is chosen by various means, either by throwing dice (the highest total takes the east wind), by placing one of each wind face down and having each player randomly select one of these tiles or other house rule variations. Each player sits down at their respective position (called the wind position) at the table in positions of an inverted compass: East is dealer, the right of the dealer is South, across is West and the left is North. The order essentially is counter-clockwise.

Hands, rounds, and matches

A match consists of four rounds of which each round represents a "prevailing wind" starting with East. In each round at least four hands are played with each player taking the position of dealer. In the first hand of each round player 1 (winner of the dice toss) is east and therefore dealer. In the second hand, player 2 takes the east position shifting the seat winds amongst the players counter clockwise (though players don't physically move their chairs). A marker is used to mark which player is east and often the round number. This continues until all four players have been east (dealer).

Once the first round is completed, a second round begins with the prevailing wind of "south". Player 1 deals the first hand and player two deals the second hand etc. There are four rounds which represent all four prevailing winds.

Whenever a player in the east position (dealer) wins a hand or if there is no winner (a draw or "goulash hand") an extra hand is played with the players repeating the same position as the previous hand.

Example of Games:

Example of a standard 16 hand game with two extra hands played per no-winner-hand (goulash) and per east winning hand.
Hand Number	Prevailing Wind	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Comment
1	East	East (dealer)	South	West	North
2	East	North	East (dealer)	South	West
3	East	West	North	East (dealer)	South
4	East	South	West	North	East (dealer)
5	South	East (dealer)	South	West	North
6	South	North	East (dealer)	South	West
7	South	West	North	East (dealer)	South	no one wins (goulash)
extra hand	South	West	North	East (dealer)	South	(repeat of seat positions)
8	South	South	West	North	East (dealer)
9	West	East (dealer)	South	West	North
10	West	North	East (dealer)	South	West
11	West	West	North	East (dealer)	South
12	West	South	West	North	East (dealer)
13	North	East (dealer)	South	West	North
14	North	North	East (dealer)	South	West
15	North	West	North	East (dealer)	South	(east wins hand)
extra hand	North	West	North	East (dealer)	South	(repeat of seat positions)
16	North	South	West	North	East (dealer)

If the dealer wins a hand or if there is a draw (no winner), then an extra hand is played and the seating and prevailing wind remains the same. This may mean that a match would have no limit to the number of hands played (though some players will set a limit to three consecutive hands allowed with the same seat positions and prevailing winds).

A mahjong set with Winds in play will usually include a separate Prevailing Wind marker (typically a die marked with the Wind characters in a holder) and a pointer that can be oriented towards the dealer to show Player Game Wind. In sets with racks, a rack may be marked differently to denote the dealer.

Wind position is significant in that it affects the scoring of the game.

Dealing tiles

All tiles are placed face down on the table and are shuffled. By convention all players should participate in shuffling using both hands moving the pieces around the table, loudly, for a lengthy period. There is no fixed rule on how to deal or how to treat tiles which flip over during shuffle, though possible solutions include turning back over the pieces at the moment they are seen, turning over all revealed pieces at intervals or doing so at the end of the shuffling and forming of the wall.

Each player then stacks a row of 18 tiles two tiles high in front of them (for a total of 36 tiles). Players then push each side of their tiles together to form a square wall.

The dealer throws three dice and sums up the total. Counting counterclockwise so that the dealer is 1 (or 5, 9, 13, 17), so that south is 2 (or 6, 10, 14, 18), etc., a player's quarter of the wall is chosen. Using the same total on the dice, the player then counts the stacks of tiles from right to left. Starting from the left of the stacks counted, the dealer takes four tiles to himself, and players in counterclockwise order take blocks of four tiles until all players have 12 tiles, so that the stacks decrease clockwise. Each player then takes one last tile to make a 13-tile hand. Dealing does not have to be this formal and may be done quite differently based on house rules.

Each player now sets aside any flowers or seasons they may have drawn and takes replacement piece(s) from the wall.

The dealer takes the next piece from the wall, adds it to his hand. If this does not complete a legal hand, he then discards a piece (throwing it into the middle of the wall with no particular order in mind).

Rules

Local play on the street in Lanzhou

Each player takes a turn picking up a tile from the wall and then discarding a tile by throwing it into the center and, if desired, announcing out loud what the piece is. Play continues this way until one player has a legal winning hand and calls out mahjong while revealing their hand. There are four different ways that this order of play can be interrupted.

During play, the number of tiles maintained by each player should always be thirteen tiles (meaning in each turn a tile must be picked up and another discarded). Not included in the count of thirteen tiles are flowers and seasons set to the side and the fourth added piece of a kong. If a player is seen to have more or less than thirteen tiles in their hand outside of their turn they are penalised.

Legal hand

A winning hand consists of fourteen tiles (the thirteen tiles in the hand plus the additional tile picked up from the wall or stolen when a player discards a tile needed to complete a hand). The first is called winning from the wall, the second is called winning by a discard.

The winning hand is made of four melds (a specific pattern of three pieces) and the eyes (a pair of two identical pieces). The exception to this rule are the special hands listed below.

Most players play with a table minimum, meaning a winning hand must score a minimum number of points (which can be seen in the scoring section). In Hong Kong Mahjong the most common point set is three.

Melds

Pong (Chinese: 碰, Japanese: ポン) is a set of three identical tiles. For example:

You can form a pong with any tile (except flowers as they are bonus tiles set to the side when drawn from the wall). The tiles must be identical (you cannot mix suits).

Kong (Chinese: 槓, Japanese: カン) is a set of four identical tiles. For example:

Consider a Kong the same as a Pong/ Pung with an additional tile to make a set of four. There are three ways to form a Kong.

Before discarding a player who has all four matching tiles in their hand may declare a kong. They do so by revealing the meld and placing two pieces in the middle face up and two pieces on the ends face down. This is called a concealed or hidden kong (Chinese: 暗槓, Japanese: アンカン).
If a player can use a discarded tile to complement three matching tiles in their hand, they can take the piece and reveal a "kong by discard" or "melded Kong". The player reveals his three pieces face up and places the stolen discard on top of the middle tile.
If a player has already stolen (melded) a piece to make a pong and then later in the game draws the fourth piece from the wall, he or she may announce (then or later in the game) a kong by placing the fourth tile on top of the middle piece of the melded pong. If a pong has been melded a player cannot steal the fourth piece if another player discards it.

In any case, whenever a Kong is formed, the player must draw an extra tile from the end of the wall and then discard a tile. The fourth piece of the kong (not flowers/seasons) is not considered as one of the 13 tiles a player must always have in their hand. Kongs are worth collecting to score more points and/or deprive opponents of obtaining a specific tile.

Chow (Chinese: 吃 (Mandarin, Minnan)/上 (Cantonese), Japanese: チー) is a meld of three suited tiles in sequence. For example:

The meld must be in absolute numerical sequence. There is no skipping of numbers, nor does 9 loop around to 1. The sequence must be in the same suit. Honours, flowers and seasons cannot be used to make chows. A player can steal a discard to form a chow from the player prior to them in order if no one else needs the tile to make pongs/ pungs or kongs or win (go mahjong).

Eyes,^[20] also known as a pair, are two identical tiles which are an essential part of a legal winning hand. A piece cannot be stolen (melded) to form the eyes unless the player simultaneously completes a legal winning hand.

For example:

Interruption of play

Flower or season

Whenever a player draws a flower or season, it is announced and then placed to the side (it is not considered as a part of the hand but can earn a bonus points if part of the winning hand) and the last tile of the wall is drawn as a replacement tile so that the player has the fourteen pieces needed before their discard. This may happen successively in a player's turn.

Melding another player's discard

When a player discards a tile, other players may steal the tile to complete a meld. Stealing tiles has both advantages (quickly forming a winning hand and scoring extra points) and disadvantages such as revealing part of ones hand to other players and not being able to change the meld once declared.

When a meld (Pong, Kong or Chow) is declared through a discard, the player must state the type of meld to be declared and place the meld face up. The player must then discard a tile, and play continues to the right. If the player who melds a discard is not directly after the discarder (in order of play), one or two players essentially miss their turn as play continues to the player after the one who declared the meld.

When two or more players call for a discarded tile, a player taking the tile to win the hand has precedence over all others. Otherwise a player who can form a Pong or Kong takes precedence over a player who claims a Chow. Players may only call for a Chow from the discard of the player immediately prior to them, unless the tile is the final one required to complete the hand, but may call for a Pong or Kong from any player. A player may also take the tile to win the hand from any other player.

Going mahjong

If at any point in the game a player can use another player's discard to complete a legal hand (and with the agreed minimum points), they yell out Mahjong (Chinese: 和, Japanese: ロン), take the piece and reveal their hand, with the way of calling it out depending on variations. This ends the hand, and scoring commences. If two or three players need the piece to win, there are two ways to resolve the issue depending on agreed table rules: Either the players compete to see who would have a better hand in terms of scoring, or simply the player closest to the discarder in order of turn wins the game.

Alternatively, a player may also win by drawing the tile required to complete a legal hand on his turn (Chinese: 自摸, Japanese: ツモ). This usually results in more points scored than if the player were to use another player's discard.

Extra points are also scored if the dealer draws a winning hand right at the beginning of the game (Chinese: 天和), or if another player uses the dealer's first discard to complete a winning hand (Chinese: 地和).

Robbing a kong

A rarely occurring and high scoring feature of Hong Kong Mahjong is a move called robbing the kong. If a player declares a kong (by melding it or adding a fourth piece to a pong to form a kong or declaring a concealed kong) and another player(s) can use that piece to complete a hand (which by logic could not be used to form a pong or kong as two players cannot make a pong out of the same tile) a player may steal that piece from that player when declaring the kong and go mahjong (win the hand).

Example winning hands

Below are examples of winning hands. A winning hand must consist of four melds (pongs, kongs and/or chows) and a pair (eyes) and must also score the agreed table minimum.

– – – –

Hand formed with four pongs and the eyes (pair) of East wind. Only bamboo is used (no other simples), scoring extra points (clean hand). No chows are used (an all pong/kong hand scores extra points).

– – – –

A high scoring hand formed using only circles, known as a pure hand. Hand is made of chows, pongs and the eyes of circles.

Most players include table variations in their games, of which some non-standard are included. The hands of seven different pairs, thirteen orphans and heavenly gates are examples which do not have four melds and the eyes. They are described in more detail below.

Calling out mahjong

In Western Classical variants, this is known as creating a mahjong, and the process of winning is called going mahjong. Calling a mahjong without having a legal hand or with the minimum points is usually penalized via points or with the player having to play the rest of the hand with his tiles shown to the other players face up.

Turns and rounds

If the dealer wins the hand, s/he will remain the dealer and an extra hand is played in addition to the minimum 16 hands in a match. The same occurs if there is no winner.

The dealer position is significant in that s/he owes or is owed double their score.

Extra points are also scored if their hand is composed of pieces that match their seat wind and or the prevailing wind.

Flowers and seasons are also scored as bonus points to the winner depending on their seat position.

Rhythm of play

Amongst players, there is an agreed amount of time allowed to make a call for a discarded tile, before the next player takes their turn, known as "window of opportunity" is explicitly stated in the rules; whereas in other variants, it is generally considered that when the next player's turn starts, i.e., the tile leaves the wall, the opportunity has been lost.

Scoring

Old Hong Kong scoring involves adding up the fan value (the value of a hand) of the winner's hand and paying the winner the appropriate sum/points:

Only the winner calculates (scores) his or her hand. The winners fan value is based on:
- individual melds
- the composition of the entire hand
- how the hand was won
- bonus tiles
- special patterns
- and a few other special criteria.
In order to win, a player needs to have at least the minimum fan value agreed in advance (often three). Bonus tiles and a few other elements are not included in the minimum fan value a player needs to form a legal winning hand. (i.e. having a flower in one's hand does not contribute to the three minimum fan points a player needs in a typical game).
When a player wins their fan value is calculated. The other players do not need to count their hands.
Players then pay the winner (in money or when not gambling with "points") based on three factors:
- the fan value of the hand (converted into base points)
- if the player won from the wall (doubles the points)
- if the player was the dealer or not (doubles the points)

Fan value

Basic fan value

A winning hand must include an agreed minimum amount of fan value (often 3)

Basic Elements
Item	Fan value
A pong/kong of Dragons	1
A pong/kong of Seat wind or Round wind	1
All simples	1
All chows and a pair of simples	1
Only pongs/kongs and any pair (pong hand)	3
Only bamboos with honours, only circles with honours or only characters with honours (clean hand)	3

Advanced Elements (less common and difficult elements to achieve)
Item	Fan value
Three unmelded (hidden) pongs/kongs	3
Three kongs	3
Seven pairs (special pattern)	4
Pure hand (of only one suit and no honours: pure circles, pure bamboos or pure characters)	6
Little Dragons (two pongs of dragons and a pair of the 3rd dragon)	12
Little Winds (three pongs of winds and a pair of the 4th wind)	12

Bonus fan

Bonus fan by Manner of Winning (not counted towards the minimum fan needed)
Item	Fan value
Winning from the wall	1
Robbing the Kong	1
Winning on the last tile from the wall or its subsequent discard	1

Bonus fan from Flowers and Seasons (not counted towards the minimum fan needed)
Item	Fan value
No flowers or seasons tiles in hand	1
Having Own flower (seat flower)	1
Having Own season (seat season)	1
All four flowers	2 (plus 1 for own flower)
All four seasons	2 (plus 1 for own season)
All 8 flowers and seasons (exceedingly rare)	Automatic win with maximum payment

A player only scores a bonus fan for flowers or seasons if it is their own flower or season (East=1, South=2, West=3 and North=4) or if the player has all four flowers or all four seasons (scoring five fan in total).

Payment

The fan value of a hand is converted into base points which are then used to calculate the money (or "points") the losers pay the winner.

Base Payment (Hong Kong Canton Style)^{[citation needed]}
Points	Base Payment
3	8
4	16
5	24
6	32
7	48
8	64
9	96
10	128

If a player has three fan then his hand is worth one base point. A winning hand with nine fan is worth four base points. The base points are doubled for the following (if two criteria apply, the base payment is doubled and then redoubled):

If the winner wins from the wall the base payment is doubled.
If the hand was won by discard, the discarder doubles the amount he owes the winner
If the winner is east he or she receives double the payment from each player. If east player is not the winner, he pays double the points to the winner.

Examples

Hand 1 (West wins with 4 fan from the wall (base payment of 1))
Player	Base Payment
East (dealer)	1 (base payment) x2 (doubling for winning from wall) x2 (doubling for being east) = -4
South	1 (base payment) x2 (doubling for winning from wall) = -2
West	4 (from east) + 2 (from south) 2 (from north) = +8
North	1 (base payment) x2 (doubling for winning from wall) = -2

Hand 2 (North wins with 6 fan on a discard from south (base payment of 2)
Player	Base Payment
East (dealer)	2 (base payment) x2 (doubling for being east) = -4
South	2 (base payment) x2 (discarding winning piece) = -4
West	2 (base payment) = -2
North	4 (from east) + 4 (from south) 2 (from west) = +10

Hand 3 (East wins with 10 fan on discard from west (base payment of 8)
Player	Base Payment
East (dealer)	16 (from south) + 32 (from west) + 16 (from north) = +64
South	8 (base payment) x2 (paying to east) = -16
West	8 (base payment) x2 (paying to east) x2 (discarding winning piece) = -32
North	8 (base payment) x2 (paying to east) = -16

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 penalised if he or she wins or loses.

Limit hands

There are a series of "limit hands". Table rules dictate if these rare and special hands are allowed, which ones, and the limit for scoring. A common scoring limit is 64 points, which is the highest base points doubled twice. A winner receives the scoring limit from each player without any doubling.

In some cases it is expected that the hand is achieved without calling any sets, except when winning, and or that it must be won from the wall.

Some groups also play with the "great flowers" rule. If a player picks up all 4 flowers and all 4 seasons during his/her hand, s/he instantly wins the hand and receives the maximum points from all of the players. This is exceptionally rare.

Limit Hands (winner receives agreed maximum payment from each player)
Item	Explanation
Heavenly Hand	The dealer draws a winning hand at the beginning of the game.
Earthly Hand	A player completes a winning hand with the dealer's first discard.
Thirteen Orphans	Player has 1 and 9 of each simple suit, one of each wind, one of each dragon and in addition one extra piece of any of those thirteen elements
Heavenly Gates	Player has 1112345678999 of any simple suit and one extra piece of numbers 1 to 9. This hand always has four melds and the eyes.
Hidden Pong Hand	Four concealed pongs
Kong Hand	Player has four kongs
Honours Hand	Player has all honours in the hand (only winds and dragons)
Pearl Dragon	Three circle pongs/kongs and a pair of circles (eye) with a pong/kong of the White dragon (no chows).
Ruby Dragon	Three character pongs/kongs and a pair of character (eye) with a pong/kong of the Red dragon (no chows).
Jade Dragon	Three bamboo pongs/kongs and a pair of bamboo (eye) with a pong/kong of the Green dragon (no chows).
Great Dragons	Three pongs of all three dragons
Great Winds	Four pongs of all four winds

Examples of high-scoring hands

All-pong hand (Chinese: 對對糊)

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Kong hand / Eighteen Arhats hand (Chinese: 十八羅漢)

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Clean hand (Chinese: 混一色)

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Pure hand (Chinese: 清一色)

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Great winds hand (Chinese: 大四喜)

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Great dragons hand (Chinese: 大三元）

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Thirteen orphans hand (Chinese: 十三幺)

Variations

Video of an uncharacteristic five player game

Variations may have far more complicated scoring systems, add or remove tiles, and include far more scoring elements and limit hands.

In many places, players often observe one version and are either unaware of other variations or claim that different versions are incorrect. Many variations today differ only by scoring:

Hong Kong mahjong or Cantonese mahjong is possibly the most common form of mahjong, differing in minor scoring details from the Chinese Classical variety. It does not allow multiple players to win from a single discard.
Competition Mahjong is an international standard that some mahjong societies have adopted for competition play and in some cases for all play.
Chinese classical mahjong is the oldest variety of mahjong and was the version introduced to America in the 1920s under various names. It has a small, loyal following in the West, although few play it in Asia.
Sichuan mahjong is a growing variety, particularly in southern China, disallowing chi melds, and using only the suited tiles. It can be played very quickly.
Tianjin mahjong using normally 7 jokers, with special scoring such as joker-free, joker-waiting-pair, catch-5, dragon, joker-suited-dragon.
Shenyang mahjong using 13 hands in a game, and Shenyang mahjong has a really fast speed on playing, which is matching the personality of North-east people in China. Also in Shenyang mahjong, the player must to have Bamboos, Characters, Circles and number one or nine in his hand. In addition, the players have to Pong before they Chow, so there is no chance to win even if some players win at the first time they have their hands in hand.
Taiwanese mahjong is the variety prevalent in Taiwan and involves hands of 16 tiles (as opposed to the 13-tile hands in other versions), features bonuses for dealers and recurring dealerships, and allows multiple players to win from a single discard.
Fujian mahjong, with a Dàidì joker 帶弟百搭.
Shanxi mahjong, or Lisi (Raise Four; zh:太原立四麻将), the players must win with the first four blocks drawn which are placed separately in front of other. These four blocks cannot be touched until the player has a ready hand.
Guobiao Majiang a rule of Mahjong founded by All-China Sports Federation in July 1998.
Japanese mahjong is a standardized form of mahjong in Japan and is also found prevalently in video games. In addition to scoring changes, the rules of rīchi (ready hand) and dora (bonus tiles) are unique highlights of this variant. In addition, tile discards are specifically arranged in front of each player by discard order, to take discarded tiles into account during play. Some rules replace some of number 5 tiles with red tiles so that they can eventually get more value.
Western classical mahjong is a descendant of the version of mahjong introduced by Babcock to America in the 1920s. Today, this term largely refers to the "Wright-Patterson" rules, used in the U.S. military, and other similar American-made variants that are closer to the Babcock rules.
American mahjong is a form of mahjong standardized by the National Mah Jongg League^[21] and the American Mah-Jongg Association.^[22] It uses joker tiles, the Charleston, plus melds of five or more tiles, and eschews the Chow and the notion of a standard hand. Purists claim that this makes American mahjong a separate game. In addition, the NMJL and AMJA variations, which differ by minor scoring differences, are commonly referred to as mahjongg or mah-jongg (with two Gs, often hyphenated).
Singaporean mahjong is a variant similar to the Cantonese mahjong played in Malaysia. Unique elements of Singaporean/Malaysian mahjong are the four animal tiles (cat, mouse, cockerel, and centipede) as well as certain alternatives in the scoring rules, which allow payouts midway through the game if certain conditions (such as a kang) are met.
South African mahjong is a variant of Cantonese mahjong. It is very similar in terms of game play and follows most of the rules and regulations of Cantonese mahjong. However, there are some minor differences in scoring, e.g. the limit on the maximum points a hand can be rewarded is 3 or 4 fan depending on the house rules. A chicken hand (gai wu) is normally considered a value hand. Depending on the house rules flowers may also be used to boost scoring.
Vietnamese mạt chược, with 16 different kinds of jokers for a total of 160 tiles. Modern variant include more jokers for a total of 176 tiles.
Thai mahjong, includes the older Vietnamese tiles with another eight for a total of 168 tiles.
Filipino mahjong, with the Window Joker.
Korean mahjong is unique in many ways and is an excellent version for three players. One suit is omitted completely (usually the Bamboo set or 2-8 of bamboo) as well as the seasons. The scoring is simpler and the play is faster. No melded chows are allowed and concealed hands are common. Riichi (much like its Japanese cousin) is an integral part of the game as well.Korean Rules
Pussers bones is a fast-moving variant developed by sailors in the Royal Australian Navy. It uses an alternative vocabulary, such as Eddie, Sammy, Wally, and Normie, instead of East, South, West, and North respectively.
Three player mahjong (or three-ka) is a simplified three-person mahjong that involves hands of 13 tiles (with a total of 84 tiles on the table) and may use jokers depending on the variation. Any rule set can be adapted for three players; however, this is far more common and accepted in Japan, Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines. It usually eliminates one suit entirely, or tiles 2-8 in one suit leaving only the terminals. It needs fewer people to start a game and the turnaround time of a game is short—hence, it is considered a fast game. In some versions there is a jackpot for winning in which whoever accumulates a point of 10 is considered to hit the jackpot or whoever scores three hidden hands first. The Malaysian and Korean versions drop one wind and may include a seat dragon. Korean Japanese three player variant.
Mah Jongg Card Game by Winning Moves is a card game variant based on the basic Mah Jonng game.