Mahjiku › Mahjong variants
Mahjong is not one game but a family of regional rule sets built on nearly the same tiles — Hong Kong, Riichi, Chinese Official, Taiwanese, American, Singaporean are the 6 covered here. What separates them is almost never the tiles and almost always the scoring: Hong Kong counts in faan (番), Riichi counts in han + fu, Chinese Official counts in points (the "81 patterns"), Taiwanese counts in tai (台), American counts in points (card-assigned), Singaporean counts in fan/tai (doubling). Hand size and tile count vary too (hands of 13–16 tiles, sets of 136–152), but it is the scoring system that decides what a hand is actually worth, and it is why the same winning shape pays very differently from one table to the next.
One game, many rule sets. Each variant uses its own tiles, hands, and scoring. Here is each one explained — and compared side by side.
| Variant | Played in | Tiles | Scored in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hong Kong 廣東麻雀 / 香港麻雀 | Hong Kong, Guangdong | 144 | faan (番) |
| Riichi 麻雀 / リーチ麻雀 | Japan, international competitive scene | 136 | han + fu |
| Chinese Official 国标麻将 | China (competition circuit), international (WMO events) | 144 | points (the "81 patterns") |
| Taiwanese 臺灣麻將 | Taiwan, diaspora communities | 144 | tai (台) |
| American | United States | 152 | points (card-assigned) |
| Singaporean | Singapore, Malaysia | 148 | fan/tai (doubling) |
Last updated: 2026-08-27.
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