Mahjiku

How Hong Kong mahjong scoring works

Hong Kong scoring looks intimidating, but it comes down to one idea: you count faan — points — and every hand is just a few of them added together. Here's the whole system in five minutes.

1. Faan is just points

A faan (番) is a scoring point. When you win a hand, you total up the faan it's worth: a base point, small bonuses for how you won, and points for the shape of your hand. That total is what the other players owe you in points.

2. You need a minimum to win

A winning hand must be worth at least a set minimum — most tables play 3 faan. If your hand is only worth 1 or 2, it isn't enough to declare a win yet; you keep going for something bigger. (Flower bonuses don't count toward this minimum.) The minimum is a house rule, so groups set their own.

3. Points add up

Your score is simply the sum of everything your hand earns:

• Base — every win starts with 1.
• Bonuses — small extras: a triplet of dragons, your seat or round wind, a kong, a concealed hand, winning by self-draw, and so on.
• The pattern — the big one: the shape of the hand itself, like an all-one-suit Full Flush (13) or an All Triplets hand (6).

4. The settlement

How the points settle depends on how the hand was won:

• Won on a discard (點炮) — the player who threw the winning tile usually owes the full amount alone.
• Self-drawn (自摸) — you drew it yourself, so all three other players owe their share.

Some tables also double the dealer's (莊, always East) points. Again, these are house rules — every group settles slightly differently, which is exactly why a shared rule sheet helps.

5. Flowers and limit hands

Flowers and seasons (花) are bonus tiles set aside from your hand — each is usually worth a point, with extra for collecting a whole set. And at the very top sit the limit hands: rare, spectacular hands like Thirteen Orphans (27) or Nine Gates (22) that every player dreams of once.

Mahjiku records game points only — no real-world value, not a gambling app.