Japanese Mahjong scoring rules are used for Japanese Mahjong, a game for four players common in Japan. The rules were organized in Taishō to Showa period as the game became popular.
The scoring system uses both criteria and meld as well as the way the winning hand was made. Players start with 20,000 to 30,000 points. Scores are counted using sticks of 10,000 points, 5,000 points, 1,000 points and 100 points. A game often ends when all the points of a player are lost, which is a situation called hakoten,[nb 1] dobon,[nb 2] etc.
There are two criteria in determining the winning points: han and fu, which correspond to a points table. Han is the unit for the value of yaku, which are particular patterns or conditions of a hand. Fu is the value of melds, waits and "going out".
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The score is calculated by following order:
In the case of a draw, points are transferred according to the nō-ten bappu rule. In the event of a penalty, such as claiming a win with an illegal hand, then points are transferred via the chombo rule.
The total number of han (飜) of all the kinds of yaku (役; winning hand) in the hand is summed up. If a hand has five han or more, it is always counted by mangan (満貫) as a unit and it is not necessary to calculate fu (符) or basic points any more. Some yaku are counted only if the hand is concealed, where some yaku have their han value deducted by one if the hand is not concealed.
If there are more than one way to arrange the winning hand, count the way in which the han is higher. For example, a hand could be either ryanpeikou (二盃口) or chītoitsu (七対子), but since ryanpeikou is three han where chītoitsu is two han, ryanpeikou should prevail.
Each dora (ドラ) tile increases han value of a hand. Dora is not regarded as yaku and no winning hand could be reached without any yaku even if there are some dora tiles.
Fu (符) is counted by the order below and then rounded up to tens. There may be variations of rules for counting it.
[Three han with 70 fu or more] and [four han with 40 fu or more] yield more than mangan and there is no need to calculate basic points.
The list for third step:
| non-terminal or honor tiles | terminal or honor tiles | |
| minkō (明刻), or min-kōtsu (明刻子) (open same three tiles meld) |
2 fu | 4 fu |
| ankō (暗刻), or an-kōtsu (暗刻子) (concealed same three tiles meld) |
4 fu | 8 fu |
| minkan (明槓), or min-kantsu (明槓子) (open same four tiles meld) |
8 fu | 16 fu |
| ankan (暗槓), or an-kantsu (暗槓子) (concealed same four tiles meld) |
16 fu | 32 fu |
| shuntsu (順子) (sequential meld) |
0 fu | |
| toitsu (対子) (two pieces meld, or eyes) |
2 fu for player's wind tiles, prevailing wind tiles or dragon tiles. 4 fu (or 2 fu in some rules) when player's and prevailing wind match. 0 fu for other tiles | |
The list for fourth step:
| ryanmen-machi (両門待ち) (sequential tile waits for both sides) |
0 fu |
| kanchan-machi (嵌張待ち) (sequential single tile waits for a middle tile) |
2 fu (waiting for one kind of tile) |
| penchan-machi (辺張待ち) (sequential single tile waits for a right or left side (number 3 or 7)) |
|
| tanki-machi (単騎待ち) (single tile waits for two pieces meld) |
|
| shanpon-machi (双碰待ち) (waits for either of melds of same three tiles) |
0 fu However, a meld of same three tiles would be made after winning, so 2, 4, or 8 fu is added |
The basic point of a hand is calculated as follows:
The actual point given has to be rounded up to the nearest 100.
Even if the number of han and fu is the same, the points received by self-drawn often slightly deviate from those received by discard because of rounding.
Example 1: The player on the right of the dealer goes out by self-drawn. (The dealer's wind is always East in Japanese rules.) The winner's hand is closed and has a concealed triplet (ankō) of Souths. The player also uses two Whites as the pair (toitsu) and the winning tile is that White. The winning hands are self-pick (menzenchin-tsumo-hō) and honor tiles (yakuhai), and they yield a total of two han. The sum of fu is 20 (fūtei) + 8 (a concealed triplet of Souths) + 2 (the pair of Whites) + 2 (pair wait) + 2 (self-drawing; tsumo) = 34 fu, rounded up to 40 fu.
The basic point is thus 40 × 2(2+2) = 640. The dealer pays the winner 640 × 2 = 1,280, rounded up to 1,300 points. The other two non-dealers pay the winner 640, rounded up to 700 points.
Example 2: The same player goes out by the same hand, except this time the winning tile was a discard by the player on the right. The resulting hand has one han of honor tiles. The number of fu is 20 (fūtei) + 10 (ron by a closed hand) + 8 (a concealed triplet of Souths) + 2 (the pair of Whites) + 2 (pair wait) = 42 fu, rounded up to 50 fu.
The basic point is thus 50 × 2(2+1) = 400. The discarder pays the winner 400 × 4 = 1,600 points. The other two players pay the winner nothing.
It is possible for a hand to have one han with 102 fu (rounded up to 110 fu) if rules allow a pair to have four fu when it is made by a kind of wind tiles that is both the prevailing wind and the player's wind. Some rules consider that such a pair is still worth two fu, making the hand have exactly 100 fu.
(An example of a hand which has one han with 110 fu)
, closed , closed , winning by a discard .
The hand has yakuhai of one han with 20 fu of fūtei, 10 fu of menzen-kafu, 32 fu of ankan, 32 fu of ankan, four fu of minkō, and four fu of toitsu. East is both the prevailing wind and the player's wind in this case. This is the largest amount of fu that a hand with one han can have.
Since the method of calculating a winning hand's score in mahjong is quite tedious, many players refer to a scoring table to look up the final score of a hand. Expert and professional players have this table memorized and can thus tell the value of a hand at a glance.
| Dealer | Han/Fu | Non-dealer | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 han | 3 han | 2 han | 1 han | 1 han | 2 han | 3 han | 4 han | |
| N/A (2600) |
N/A (1300) |
N/A (700) |
N/A | 20 fu | N/A | N/A (400/700) |
N/A (700/1300) |
N/A (1300/2600) |
| 9600 (3200) |
4800 (1600) |
2400 (N/A) |
N/A | 25 fu | N/A | 1600 (N/A) |
3200 (800/1600) |
6400 (1600/3200) |
| 11600 (3900) |
5800 (2000) |
2900 (1000) |
1500 (500) |
30 fu | 1000 (300/500) |
2000 (500/1000) |
3900 (1000/2000) |
7700 (2000/3900) |
| Mangan | 7700 (2600) |
3900 (1300) |
2000 (700) |
40 fu | 1300 (400/700) |
2600 (700/1300) |
5200 (1300/2600) |
Mangan |
| Mangan | 9600 (3200) |
4800 (1600) |
2400 (800) |
50 fu | 1600 (400/800) |
3200 (800/1600) |
6400 (1600/3200) |
Mangan |
| Mangan | 11600 (3900) |
5800 (2000) |
2900 (1000) |
60 fu | 2000 (500/1000) |
3900 (1000/2000) |
7700 (2000/3900) |
Mangan |
| Mangan | Mangan | 6800 (2300) |
3400 (1200) |
70 fu | 2300 (600/1200) |
4500 (1200/2300) |
Mangan | Mangan |
To use the table, simply look up the table that corresponds to the fu and han counts of the hand. The top numbers in each cell indicate the payout from a player who discards a winning tile. The numbers in brackets indicate the payout for each player in the event the winning tile is self-drawn. If the winner is the dealer, each player pays the same amount. If the winner is a non-dealer, then the other two non-dealers pay the smaller number, while the dealer pays the larger number.
The reason why there are no scores in the 1 han/20 fu cell is that such a hand is impossible. The only 20-fu hands are the no-points hand (pinfu, 平和) where the winning tile is self-drawn. However, since a no-points hand must be closed, making the win via a self-drawn tile automatically adds 1-han yaku of self pick to the hand. Therefore, a 20-fu, 1-han hand cannot possibly exist.
As stated above, a seven pairs hand is worth 25 fu. Since the hand is always closed, it adds 1-han yaku of self pick when won by self-drawn.
When it is clear that a hand reaches basic points of more than 2,000, it is limited to full basic points of 2,000 and called mangan (満貫). A hand of five han or more is always counted as multiple of mangan. In those cases there is no need to calculate basic points.
One han cannot reach mangan because 110 fu × 2(2+1) = 880 < 2,000. (See One han with 110 fu hand.)
Two han cannot reach mangan because 110 fu × 2(2+2) = 1,760 < 2,000.
When a hand has 120 fu or more, it always has some yaku of three han or more.[1]
| Name | Han value | Point value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mangan | 3 han, 70 fu or more; 4 han, 40 fu or more; 5 han |
1 × mangan | 12,000 (dealer) 8,000 (non-dealer) |
| [Three han with 70 fu or more] is mangan as 70 × 2(2+3) = 2,240 > 2,000. The basic points become 2,000.
[Four han with 40 fu or more] is mangan as 40 × 2(2+4) = 2,560 > 2,000. (In some rules [four han with 30 fu] is regarded as mangan because 30 × 2(2+4) = 1,920 is close to 2,000. [Three han with 60 fu] is the same.) Five han is automatically mangan irrespective of fu since 20 fu × 2(2+5) = 2,560 > 2,000. |
|||
| Haneman | 6 or 7 han | 1.5 × mangan | 18,000 (dealer) 12,000 (non-dealer) |
|
A 6 or 7 han hand is considered haneman (跳満, or hane-mangan 跳満貫) and the basic point is 3,000. |
|||
| Baiman | 8−10 han | 2 × mangan | 24,000 (dealer) 16,000 (non-dealer) |
| An 8−10 han hand is considered baiman (倍満, or bai-mangan 倍満貫) and the basic point is 4,000. | |||
| Sanbaiman | 11 or 12 han | 3 × mangan | 36,000 (dealer) 24,000 (non-dealer) |
| An 11 or 12 han hand is considered sanbaiman (三倍満, or sanbai-mangan 三倍満貫) and the basic point is 6,000. | |||
| Kazoe-yakuman | 13 or more han | 4 × mangan | 48,000 (dealer) 32,000 (non-dealer) |
| In most rules, a hand with 13 han or above is considered kazoe-yakuman (数え役満; counted yakuman). It has the same scoring as yakuman (役満). | |||
| Yakuman | Limit | 4 × mangan | 48,000 (dealer) 32,000 (non-dealer) |
| A yakuman (役満, or yaku-mangan 役満貫) is awarded to some rare hands which are particularly hard to achieve, like kokushi-musō (国士無双; thirteen orphans) or sū-ankō (四暗刻; four concealed melds of same three tiles). The basic point is 8,000. | |||
| Multiple yakuman | Multiple limit | NA | Multiplied yakuman value |
| If the winning hand can be interpreted as combined forms of rare hands, multiple yakuman points are awarded. For example, a hand consisting of four concealed quads of wind tiles plus a pair of dragon tiles would be worth six yakuman. | |||
Tenpai (聴牌) means one tile short of winning hands. To be tenpai a hand needs no yaku partly because winning by the last discard is yaku itself. When a hand is not tenpai, the situation is called nō-ten (ノー聴: nō is English "no" and ten for tenpai).
In case a round is a draw, players ended with nō-ten pay points of penalty to other players whose hands are tenpai. The points are called nō-ten bappu (ノー聴罰符; fu of penalty for nō-ten).
When a round ended in a draw, in case the hand(s) of (1) one player is in a state of tenpai, the player gets 1,000 points from each of other three players and gets total of 3,000, (2) two players are tenpai, they get 1,500 each and other two players pay 1,500 each, (3) three players are tenpai, they get 1,000 each and the other player pays 3,000, (4) all the players are or are not tenpai, no payment is made.
A player ending with declaration of rīchi or going to declare tenpai must show their hand to verify that it is tenpai when a round is a draw. In some cases, a player with no rīchi declaration selects to declare nō-ten even when it is tenpai and keep their hand concealed.
A round goes to next in most rules when a dealer's hand is nō-ten, and the dealer changes. In some rules, a game does not end in case the last dealer in the last round declares nō-ten.[2]
Honba (本場) is a unit of numbers of continuing kyoku (局; round). To be exact, hon (本) is a unit of numbers of some bars and so on, and ba (場) means a scene or a situation.
A winner of a round gets additional points calculated multiplying 300 by the number of honba.
The dealer offers the same number of bars of 100 points as the number of honba as mere marks (not for payment) on some part of the table (usually the right side of the dealer).
In a state of n honba (suppose n is a number), when a player wins a round by tsumo (self-drawn), the player gets additional n × 100 points from each of other three players as a total of n × 300, and when a player wins by ron (栄; picking a discard), the player gets additional n × 300 from the discarder.
The initial number of honba is zero. The number of honba increases by one when (1) the dealer won a round, (2) a round was a ryūkyoku (流局; draw) or (3) an abortive draw happened in a round. In case of (1) or (3), a round continues. In case of (2), when the dealer cannot declare tenpai, a round goes to next and the number of honba still increases. In other cases the number of honba is reset to zero (namely when a non-dealer wins).
There is a possible rule in which players must win by hands with two han or more in a round of five honba or more, which is called ryanhan-shibari (二飜縛り; literally "two-han binding").
There may be some variation of rules.
Example: The round of a game is Eastern 4th round 0 honba (東4局0本場). The dealer (East) wins and the next round is Eastern 4th round 1 honba (東4局1本場). The dealer remains the dealer and puts one bar of 100 points as a mark on the table. The round becomes a draw, and the dealer could not declare tenpai, so the next round becomes Southern 1st round 2 honba (南1局2本場). The dealer changes, the former dealer takes back the one bar of 100 points and the new dealer offers two bars of 100 points. In this round the North wins by ron (picking a discard) getting additional 600 points from the discarder. The next round becomes Southern 2nd round 0 honba (南2局0本場). The dealer changes, and the former dealer takes back the two bars of 100 points.
Under the rule of chombo (チョンボ, 錯和 or 冲和), a player pays penalty of the same amount as mangan to other players in most rules. A non-dealer pays 4,000 to East and 2,000 to the other two seats, while a dealer pays 4,000 to each.[3][4] Chombo occurs for any of the following:
Note that invalid rīchi are caught only after draws or winning declarations by players who declared the rīchi.
Any rīchi bets are returned to the players after the end of a chombo round.
After the game is finished, the number of points which each of three players other than the winner has is rounded off to the nearest 1,000. The winner's points are the difference between 120,000 (30,000 × 4) and the total of these three players' points. The number of points is divided by 1,000, and 30 is finally subtracted from it. The sum of these final points is always zero. In most cases there are some additional points of awards or penalties related to the players' final place. (For example: 1st gets +20, 2nd gets +10, 3rd gets -10 and 4th gets -20)
Example: The initial points are 25,000 each. A (winner): 43,600, B: 14,500, C: 15,400, D: 26,500, and rounded off to B:15,000, C:15,000, D:27,000. The number of the winner's points is calculated as follows irrespective of initial points: 120,000 − (15,000 + 15,000 + 27,000) = 63,000 (There sometimes happens the case like this. The result of the winner differs from 64,000 that was counted rounding 43,600 off and adding 4 × 5,000 (difference between 30,000 and initial points)). The final points and place: A:+33 (1st), D:−3 (2nd), C:−15 (3rd), B:−15 (4th). The 1st place is also counted like: (30 − 15) + (30 − 15) + (30 − 27) = +33.