Hong Kong mahjong hands & scoring

Every tile in your hand is a plain middle number — a 2 up to an 8. No 1s, no 9s, and no wind or dragon tiles.

Every winning hand starts with one point, just for winning. It is always there — nothing to do.

Three of the same dragon — red (中), green (發) or white (白). Dragons are the tiles with no number and no wind letter.

Flower and season tiles are bonus tiles set to the side — not part of your 14-tile hand. Each one you hold scores a point.

A set of four identical tiles instead of the usual three — laid down as one set, whether you claimed the fourth tile from a discard (exposed) or drew all four yourself (concealed). Declaring one earns you a replacement tile from the wall.

You won on the very last discard of the hand, after the wall was empty — “catching a fish from the riverbed.”

You self-drew the winning tile as the very last tile left in the wall — “scooping the moon from the seabed.”

You won on the very tile an opponent was adding to turn their triplet into a kong — you “robbed” it.

Three of the wind tile that matches your seat, or the wind of the current round. Other winds do not score.

You made a kong, drew the free replacement tile — and that tile completed your hand.

You built your whole hand yourself, never taking a tile from another player’s discard to complete a set.

You collected a complete set of one kind — all four flowers (梅蘭菊竹) or all four seasons (春夏秋冬).

Lucky on lucky: your kong’s replacement tile made a second kong, and that kong’s replacement won. Very rare.

Your hand shows every family of tile at once — characters, dots and bamboo, plus a wind and a dragon.

The gentlest hand: all four of your sets are runs (like 3-4-5), and your pair is a plain number tile — no triplets, no honours.

A full 1-to-9 run, but split across the three suits — say 1-2-3 in dots, 4-5-6 in bamboo, 7-8-9 in characters.

The same run twice over — the identical three tiles, same suit, appearing two times.

Every set in your hand is a matching three-of-a-kind (or a kong) — no runs anywhere — plus your pair.

Your whole hand sticks to one number suit — say all dots — and the only outsiders allowed are wind and dragon tiles.

The same run in all three suits — for example 2-3-4 of characters, 2-3-4 of dots and 2-3-4 of bamboo.

Every set and your pair reaches an end tile — a 1, a 9, or an honour (wind/dragon).

Instead of four sets and a pair, your hand is seven pairs — seven matching couples of tiles.

A complete 1-to-9 run in a single suit: 1-2-3, 4-5-6 and 7-8-9, all the same suit.

Triplets of two of the three dragons, and a pair of the third.

Triplets of three of the four winds, and a pair of the fourth.

Your entire hand is a single suit — all characters, all dots, or all bamboo — with no winds or dragons.

Every set and the pair touches a 1 or a 9 — and there are no winds or dragons at all.

You are holding every bonus tile there is — all four flowers and all four seasons. That alone wins the hand instantly.

Every set is a triplet of end tiles — only 1s and 9s, no 2-to-8 and no honours.

A non-dealer wins on a discard in the very first go-around, before drawing a single tile.

A triplet of all four winds — East, South, West and North. Among the rarest hands there is.

A triplet of all three dragons — red, green and white together. A dream hand.

Four triplets, every one formed in your own hand (none claimed from the table), and you won by self-draw.

Every tile is green: the 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 of bamboo, plus the green dragon (發). A famous showpiece hand.

Not a single number tile — your whole hand is winds and dragons only.

Four kongs in one hand — four separate sets of four. Almost never seen.

A pure one-suit masterpiece shaped 1-1-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-9-9, waiting on any tile of that suit to complete.

A non-dealer wins on the dealer’s very first discard of the game.

The dealer’s opening 14 tiles are already a complete winning hand. The rarest event in mahjong.

One of every end tile — the 1 and 9 of each suit plus all four winds and all three dragons — with one of them paired.