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The Scoring in Chinese
Classical Mahjong
About
Mahjong | Rules
| Scoring |
Special Hands
As soon as a player has achieved a mahjong hand
and gone out, play stops and everyone exposes
the tiles still in hand.
The rules for Chinese classical mahjong can be
found here. If you wish to see an overview of
the tiles used in playing mahjong, click here.
Naturally, when playing at this site all the
scoring is done automatically by the software
and shown on the screen.
Basic Points
The following scoring in Chinese classical
mahjong applies to ALL the players, whether
going out or not:
Chow/chi
Any chow/chi always scores 0 points. (This is
for mathematical reasons - there are about ten
times as many chow/chi combinations possible, as
pong and kong combinations.)
| Pair |
|
|
| A pair of Dragons, or of your own
Wind |
2 points |
|
All other pairs score 0 points. Your own wind is
defined as your seating position right then:
South if you are sitting in South position, and
so on.
| Pong |
|
|
| An exposed pong in
Simples (2-8) |
2 points |
|
| An exposed pong in
Terminals (1 or 9) or Winds or Dragons |
4 points |
|
| A
concealed pong in Simples (2-8) |
4 points |
|
| A
concealed pong in Terminals (1 or 9) or
Winds or Dragons |
8 points |
|
An exposed pong is one containing a tile claimed
from an opponent. A concealed pong is one where
you yourself has drawn all the tiles from the
Wall.
| Kong |
|
|
| An exposed kong
in Simples (2-8) |
8 points |
|
| An exposed kong
in Terminals (1 or 9) or Winds or
Dragons |
16 points |
|
| A concealed kong
in Simples (2-8) |
16 points |
|
| A
concealed kong in Terminals (1 or 9) or
Winds or Dragons |
32 points |
|
| Bonus tiles |
|
|
| For each
Season tile or Flower tile |
4 points |
|
Basic Doubles
The following doubles apply ALL the players in
Chinese classical mahjong, whether going out or
not: |
|
| For every pong or kong
of Dragons |
1 double |
|
| For every pong or kong
in your own wind |
1 double |
|
| For
having all four Season tiles |
2
doubles |
|
| For
having all four Flower tiles |
2
doubles |
|
| For
having all eight Bonus tiles |
5
doubles |
|
| For
having two sets of Dragons and a pair of
the third Dragon |
3
doubles |
|
| For
having three sets in all three Dragons
(Three Great Scholars) |
5
doubles |
|
| For
having three sets of Winds and a pair of
the fourth Wind |
1 double |
|
| For
having four sets in all four Winds (Four
Large Blessings) |
3
doubles |
|
| For three concealed pongs |
1 double |
|
Note that some of the doubles exclude each other
in a logical way: if you have two sets of
Dragons and a pair of the third Dragon, the
individual doubles for the two sets are already
included in the 3 doubles.
Note that all applicable doubles are cumulative,
meaning that the points you score may for
example be doubled three times over (2x2x2 = 8)
where applicable.
Additional points for the winner only
The player going out by achieving mahjong may in
addition to the Basic Points above also include
the following additional points (before
doubling), as applicable: |
|
| For
going out (always) |
20
points |
|
| For
having drawn the winning tile from the
Wall |
2 points |
|
| For
going out with the only possible tile |
2 points |
|
"The only possible tile" is defined as
-
(a) the tile completing the pair when all other
sets have already been completed, or
-
(b) the middle tile in a chow/chi (such as
drawing or claiming 7 of Bamboos when you have 6
and 8 of Bamboos, which completes your mahjong
hand), or
-
(c) the Terminal tile in a chow/chi which can
only be completed this way (such as drawing or
claiming 9 of Dots when you have 7 and 8 of
Dots, and all 6 of Dots tiles have already been
discarded or placed in exposed sets belonging to
the other players), or
-
(d) the tile when you towards the end have two
pairs left in hand and can only go out by
completing one of them to a pong, since the
tiles that would complete the other pair have
already been discarded or placed in exposed sets
belonging to the other players.
Note that "The only possible tile" refers to the
one value needed to complete your mahjong hand.
If you have 6 and 8 of Bamboos in hand and are
waiting for the 7 of Bamboos and there are two
or more such identical tiles remaining in the
game, it does not matter which of these 7 of
Bamboos tiles you draw or claim.
Additional doubles for the winner only
The player going out by achieving mahjong may in
addition to any doubles listed above also apply
the following doubles, where applicable: |
|
|
Going out by drawing the last tile from
the Wall |
1 double |
|
|
Going out by claiming the last discard,
after the last tile has been drawn from
the Wall |
1 double |
|
|
Going out by drawing a replacement tile
from the Wall (called Winning on the
Roof) |
1 double |
|
|
Going out with by drawing the last
remaining tile of the Wall as a
replacement tile (called Opening a
Flower) |
2 doubles |
|
|
Going out with a worthless hand (only
chows and a non-scoring pair) |
1 double |
|
|
For a hand containing no chows |
1 double |
|
| For a hand consisting of sets in Terminals
and/or Honours (no Simples) only, and any pair |
1 double |
|
| For a hand of Honour
tiles and one suit only |
1 double |
|
| For a hand of tiles from only one suit, and no
Honour tiles |
3 doubles |
|
Also all these doubles are cumulative, where
applicable. In order to simplify the
calculations, it is suggested that you after you
have calculated the points then calculate the
number of doubles, and do the math.
1 double = multiply by 2
2 doubles = multiply by 4
3 doubles = multiply by 8
4 doubles = multiply by 16
5 doubles = multiply by 32
The limit
Since a player's score, using many doubles,
could theoretically run into millions of points
when winning with a very unusual and lucky hand,
a limit of 500 points maximum applies. (This is
regardless of whether you are playing East or in
any other position.)
Note that you may also go out with any of a
number of special mahjong hands, which do not
necessarily confirm to the "four sets, one pair"
rule above! Click here (9) to see a list of
these special hands, which are all limit hands
as they score the maximum number of points
allowed in the game.
Scoring procedure
Once a player goes out, he or she scores his
hand first, and receives that number of points
from each of the other players.
Then, in Chinese classical mahjong, the other
players in counterclockwise order score their
hands and receive that number of points from the
others – but NOT from the player who went out.
In a live game, the score is kept using tally
sticks or chips – even poker chips will do
nicely – or sometimes using just paper and
pencil. When playing at this site, naturally all
the scoring is done automatically by the
software and shown on the screen.
An example of scoring:
West went out, with a mahjong hand made up of
the following combinations: |
|
A concealed pong in 9 of Dots
An exposed pong in 7 of Characters
An exposed pong in North Wind
A chow, 5-6-7 of Bamboos
A pair in 4 of Bamboos
One Flower tile (Chrysanthemum, his own)
Drawing the winning tile from the Wall
For going out
|
8 points
2 points
16 points
0 points
0 points
4 points
2 points
20 points
|
|
|
Sum |
52 points |
In addition, that player receives a double for
having drawn his own Flower tile
|
|
Final sum
|
104 points |
|
East, South and North now all pay 104 points
each to the winner West. If all players started
with 2000 points each, the score for the moment
looks like this:
East: 1896 p. South: 1896 p. West: 2312 p.
North: 1896 p.
(Note that mahjong is a zero-sum game: what one
player wins, another loses. If all players
started with 2000 points each, the sum total of
all four players' scores must always total 8000
if all the calculations have been done
correctly.)
West has finished scoring; now it is North's
turn. She has a concealed pong in White Dragons
in hand (8 points), an exposed pong in Simples
(2 points) and one Season tile (4 points, but it
is not her own). Her uncomplete hand is
therefore only worth 14 basic points, but in
addition she receives a double for her pong of
Dragons, bringing the total up to 28 points. She
receives this amount from East and South (but
not West, since he won the hand), after which
the score for the moment looks like this:
East: 1868 p. South: 1868 p. West: 2312 p.
North: 1952 p.
East has two chows (0 points each), one pair in
East Wind (which happens to be his own wind, so
2 points), an exposed kong in 8 of Dots (8
points), but otherwise worthless tiles. Sum
total is 10 points, which he receives from South
and North respectively,
South, finally, has a concealed pong in 1 of
Bamboos (8 points), an exposed kong in West Wind
(16 points), a Season tile (4 points), a Flower
tile (4 points, and it is his own Flower), and a
pair of Green Dragons (2 points). The sum is 34
points, which the double for his own flower
brings up to 68 points. After scoring this as
well, the final point standings after the hand
are as follows:
East: 1820 p. South: 1994 p. West: 2312 p.
North: 1874 p.
... and once again, the total of all players'
points after this hand is 8000 in this example.
Note that it is actually possibly for a losing
player to score more points than the winning
player who went out, if the winning player has a
very low-scoring hand but the other player has
almost completed an exceptionally strong hand!
The rules for Chinese classical mahjong can be
found here. If you wish to see an overview of
the tiles used in playing mahjong, click here.
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