Scoring
Points, also known as "faan" (番) are awarded according to the arrangement of the winning player’s hand. More difficult hands are generally awarded more points. After determining the score, calculate the Payout. When winning from a discard, each player pays the payout and the discarding player pays double. Winning from a self-draw, all players pay double. This is in addition to the 1 point awarded for a self-draw, so in essence quadrupling the payout!
Except for the chicken hand, scoring conditions are additive. Examine the winning hand and find all matching conditions below and add up each score.
| Description | Points |
|---|---|
| a. Chicken 雞糊 (gāi wú) : nothing matches; mixed suits of chees and pongs, no dragons, no seated nor prevailing wind pongs. | ½ |
| b. All-chee hand, plus any pair | 1 |
| c. All-pong/kong hand, plus any pair | 3 |
| d. Hand is all one suit, plus honor tiles (dragons or winds) and a pair of the same suit or honors. | 3 |
| e. Hand is all of one suit, including the pair. A clear hand | 6 |
| f. Pong/kong of any dragon | 1 |
| g. Pong/kong of the prevailing wind | 1 |
| h. Pong/kong of your seat* | 1 |
| i. Self-drawing | 1 |
| j. Self-drawing on the very last piece** | 1 |
| k. Self-drawing on a kong draw*** | 1 |
| l. Self-drawing on a sequential kong draw | 2 |
| m. Stealing the kong | 1 |
* Your seat is determined in relation to the dealer. The dealer’s seat is East; to the dealer’s right is South, across is West, and to the left is North. If your seat is also the prevailing wind, you receive 2 points because the hand satisfies both conditions G and H.
** The player actually receives 2 points: 1 for this condition and 1 for condition I.
*** If the kong draw is also the last piece remaining, it is worth 3 points: 1 each for conditions I, J, and K.
A quick study of these scoring conditions, you'll notice the largest standard score you can win is 9 points: an all-suit hand of all pongs, following by 6 points for an all-suit hand. But, there are some colorful special hands that score even higher, players are excited to score these! There's also some extremely lucky special hands, from Heaven and Earth.
Standard Score Examples
| Hand | Conditions | Score |
|---|---|---|
 | A | ½ |
 | B | 1 |
 | F | 1 |
 | C, F | 4 |
 | D, F | 4 |
 | E | 6 |
 | C, E | 9 |
Special Hands
Certain special hands are worth the maximum score. The maximum can be set in advance; the examples below assume 13 is the maximum.
- Big Four Winds Hand — 13
- Small Four Winds Hand — 12
- Big Three Dragons Hand — 13
- Small Three Dragons Hand — 12
- “Hand from Heaven” — dealer’s starting hand is Mahjong — 13
- “Hand from Earth” — player wins on the dealer’s first discard — 13
- Nine-Tile Loop — 13
- Thirteen Scholars Hand — 13
- Seven Pairs - 13
Four Winds Hands
The Big Four Winds Hand (大四喜 Daai Sei Hei) consists of pongs and/or kongs of all four winds, plus any pair.
The Small Four Winds Hand (小四喜 Siu Sei Hei) consists of pongs/kongs of three winds, a pair of the fourth wind, and one other set (pong, kong, or chee).
Three Dragons Hands
The Big Three Dragons Hand (大三元 Daai Sāam Yùhn) consists of pongs/kongs of all three dragons, plus any other set and any other pair.
The Small Three Dragons Hand (小三元 Sīu Sāam Yùhn) consists of pongs/kongs of two dragons, a pair of the third dragon, and any two other sets.
Nine-Tile Loop (九子連環 áu Jí Mùhn)
The ine-Tile Loop is is a rare and legendary hand - it is a clear hand of one suit, consisting of three ones, three nines, one each of two through eight, and any other piece of the same suit.
Thirteen Scholars Hand - 十三么 (Sap Sāam Yīu)
This legendary hand breaks all the rules! Instead of 4 sets and a pair, this hand consists of one of each wind, each dragon, the ones and nines of each suit, plus one matching piece.
The player must self-draw all pieces for this hand, except the last piece may be taken from another player’s discard. The 13 Scholars Hand may also steal the kong — even a hidden kong — if someone declares Mahjong and thereby reveals it.
Seven Pairs - 七對仔 (Chāt Deui Jáí)
Like Thirteen Scholars, this is a non-standard hand - instead of sets of threes, this is simply 7 pairs of tiles. They may be a mix of suits, winds, and dragons. Since they are all pairs, the player must self-draw all pieces for thhis hand, except the last may may be taken from a discard. Seven Pairs was apparently not in the original HK rules, but was adopted from other country rules, so this may be declared as a house rule.
Payouts
After determining the score, then determine the payout. The basic payout rule is exponential, each player pays an amount equal to 2 raised to the power of the score (2p). the discarding player pays double, and if the win was on a self-draw, every player pays double. Exponential payouts is the basic rule, but since the payout on the high end becomes so extreme, it is often supplemented by house rules.| Points | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payout | 2 | 4 | 8 | 16 | 32 | 64 | 128 | 256 | 512 | 1024 | 2048 | 4096 | 8192 |
Half Rate Payout.Especially when real money (even if just pennies!) is applied, HK players adopt a modified schedule. We never documented this adapted payout schedule because we thought it was just our father's invention, but we have since seen similar variations (generally known as 半辣上 (bun laaht séuhng - half spicy progression), so it it must be more common than we realized! In our father's version, adapted payouts started out after 6 points, reducing the exponent and adding half the exponential point score, i.e., 2(score - 1) * 1.5 . This formula is equivalent to 0.75 × 2score, but mentally, the half calculation is easier to perform. Or, just refer to the table!
| Points | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payout | 64 | 96 | 192 | 384 | 768 | 1536 | 3072 | 6144 |
This still leads to very high payouts on the upper end, so another common house rule is to simply have a ceiling - 1024, for example, or even just 256. If you're playing for score, agree in advance to the cap.
Play within our family was never for money, but we were eager to keep score, since the loser would pick up the tab at our next dinner together!