Japanese Mahjong scoring rules

Japanese Mahjong scoring rules are used for Japanese 1.1 Counting han
Mahjong, a game for four players common in Japan. The
rules were organized in the Taishō to Showa period as the The total number of han ( ) of all the kinds of yaku ( ;
game became popular. winning hand) in the hand is summed up. Each dora ( )
increases the han value of a hand. Dora are not regarded
The scoring system uses structural criteria as well as
as yaku, and no hand can be won without a yaku even if
bonuses. Players start with 20,000 to 30,000 points.
there are some dora tiles.
Scores are counted using sticks of 10,000 points, 5,000
points, 1,000 points and 100 points. A game often ends If there is more than one way to arrange the winning hand,
when all the points of a player are lost, which is a situation the arrangement with the highest han is used. For exam-
called hakoten,[nb 1] dobon,[nb 2] buttobi,[nb 3] etc. ple, a hand could be either ryanpeikou ( ) or chītoitsu
( ), but since ryanpeikou is three han where chītoitsu
There are two criteria in determining the winning points:
is two han, ryanpeikou should prevail. Some yaku have
han and fu, which correspond to a points table. Han is the
their han value reduced by one if the hand is not closed.
unit for the value of yaku, which are particular patterns
or conditions of a hand. Fu is the value of melds, waits If a hand has five han or more, it is always counted by
and “going out”. mangan ( ) as a unit and it is not necessary to calculate
fu ( ) or basic points.

1 Steps of calculation 1.2 Counting fu

Fu ( ) is counted in the order below and then rounded up
The payment to the winner of a hand is calculated as fol-
to the tens. There may be variations of rules for counting
lows:
it.
1. Counting han ( )
2. If it is five han or more, it is mangan ( )
or more and the calculation of basic points is
omitted
3. Counting fu ( )
4. If it is clear that the han and fu yield more
than mangan, the calculation of basic points is
omitted
5. Calculating the basic points based on the fu
and han
6. Multiplying the basic points depending on
whether the winner is the dealer or non-dealer,
and whether the hand is won by tsumo or ron
7. Adding bonuses based on the number of
counters
(8. Adjusting the payment by the wareme rule)
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.
[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.
1. A winning hand is automatically awarded 20 fu.
This is called fūtei ( ).
2. Ten fu are added if one wins by claiming a discarded
tile with a closed hand. This is called menzen-kafu
( ).
3. Add fu of the melds and the pair. (See the list be-
low.)
4. Add fu according to how the waiting was. (See the
list below.)
5. Add two fu if one wins by self-draw. This way of
winning is called tsumo ( , or ). However, if
the winning hand includes a yaku of no-points hand
(pinfu, ), in most rules the two fu are not awarded
and the hand is counted as a total of 20 fu.
6. Winning with yaku which include seven pairs (chī-
toitsu, ) is counted as 25 fu altogether. The
value is not rounded up to the tens. Some rules say
seven pairs has 50 fu and one han, especially in the
Kansai region.

1
2 3 SCORING TABLES

7. As an exception, if one wins by claiming a discard
with an open hand with melds and waits to which no
fu is awarded, the hand is not 20 fu but counted as
a total of 30 fu. This is the fu for an open pinfu.
1.2.1 Fu of melds
Example 2: The same player goes out by the same hand,
except this time the winning tile was discarded by the
player on the right. The resulting hand has one han of
honor tiles. The number of fu is 20 (fūtei) + 10 (ron with
a closed hand) + 8 (a closed triplet of Souths) + 2 (the
pair of Whites) + 2 (pair wait) = 42 fu, rounded up to 50
fu.

The list for the third step: 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.
1.2.2 Fu of waits

The list for the fourth step: 2.1 One han 110 fu

It is possible for a hand to have one han with 102 fu

1.3 Calculating basic points (rounded up to 110 fu) if the rules allow a pair to have
four fu when it is made of wind tiles that are both the
The basic points of a hand is calculated as follows: seat wind and the prevailing wind. Some rules consider
that such a pair is still worth two fu, making the hand have
[ basic points = fu × 2(2+han) ] exactly 100 fu.
An example of a hand that has one han with
• When a non-dealer (ko, : child) goes out by self-
draw, the dealer (oya, : parent) pays the winner 2 110 fu. , closed
× basic points, and the other two non-dealers pay the
winner 1 × basic points. , closed , winning
• When a non-dealer goes out by discard, the discard-
ing player pays the winner 4 × basic points. by a discard .
The hand has yakuhai of one han with 20 fu of fūtei,
• When the dealer goes out by self-drawn, all the three 10 fu of menzen-kafu, 32 fu of ankan, 32 fu of ankan,
non-dealers pay the winner 2 × basic points. four fu of minkō, and four fu of toitsu. East is both the
• When the dealer goes out by discard, the discarding player’s seat wind and the round’s prevailing wind in this
non-dealer pays the winner 6 × basic points. case. This is the largest amount of fu that a hand with one
han can have.

The actual points given are rounded up to the nearest 100.

Even if the values of han and fu are the same, the points
received for self-draw wins often slightly deviate from 3 Scoring tables
those received for discard wins because of rounding.
Since the method of calculating a winning hand’s score in
mahjong is quite tedious, many players refer to a scoring
2 Example calculations table to look up the final score of a hand. Expert and
professional players have this table memorized and can
Example 1: The player on the right of the dealer goes thus tell the value of a hand at a glance.
out by self-draw. (The dealer’s wind is always East in To use the table, simply look up the values that corre-
Japanese rules.) The winner’s hand is closed and has spond to the han and fu counts of the hand. The top
a closed triplet (ankō) of Souths. The player also has numbers in each cell indicate the payout from a player
two Whites as the pair (toitsu) and the winning tile is a who discards a winning tile. The numbers in brackets in-
White. The yaku are “self-pick” (menzenchin-tsumo-hō) dicate the payout for each player in the event the winning
and “honor tiles” (yakuhai), and they yield a total of two tile is self-drawn. If the winner is the dealer, each player
han. The sum of fu is 20 (fūtei) + 8 (a closed triplet of pays the same amount. If the winner is a non-dealer, then
Souths) + 2 (a pair of Whites) + 2 (pair wait) + 2 (self- the other two non-dealers pay the smaller number, while
draw) = 34 fu, rounded up to 40 fu. the dealer pays the larger number.
The basic points are thus 40 × 2(2+2) = 640. The dealer The reason why there are no scores in the 1 han 20 fu cell
pays the winner 640 × 2 = 1,280, rounded up to 1,300 is that such a hand is impossible. The only 20 fu hands
points. The other two non-dealers pay the winner 640, are the no-points hand (pinfu, ) where the winning tile
rounded up to 700 points. is self-drawn. However, since a no-points hand must be
 3

closed, it makes winning via a self-drawn tile automati- • (1) one player is in a state of tenpai, the player gets
cally add 1 han yaku of self pick to the hand. Therefore, 1,000 points from each of the other three players and
a 1 han 20 fu hand cannot exist. receives total of 3,000.
As stated above, a seven pairs hand is worth 25 fu. Since • (2) two players are tenpai, they get 1,500 each and
the hand is always closed, it adds 1 han yaku of self pick the other two players pay 1,500 each.
when won by self-draw.
• (3) three players are tenpai, they get 1,000 each and
the other player pays 3,000.
4 Mangan • (4) the players are all tenpai or all nōten, no payment
is made.
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 In most rules when a dealer’s hand is nōten, the dealer
called mangan ( ). A hand of five han or more is always changes and the game wind may change. But if it’s the
counted as a multiple of mangan. In those cases there is last hand of the last round, in some rules, a game does
no need to calculate basic points. not end if the dealer declares nōten.[1]
One han cannot reach mangan because 110 fu × 2(2+1) =
880 < 2,000. (With one han, 110 fu is the maximum.)
Two han cannot reach mangan because 110 fu × 2(2+2) = 6 Counters
1,760 < 2,000. (With two han, 110 fu is also the maxi-
mum.) When there are counter sticks (honba) on the table, win-
ners get bonus points calculated by multiplying 300 by
When a hand has 120 fu or more, it always has some yaku
the number of those counters. Honba ( ) is a unit of
of three han or more.
continuous dealer wins and draws, and to be exact, hon
( ) is a unit of numbers of some bars and so on, and ba
( ) means a scene or a situation.
5 Exhaustive draws The dealer keeps count of the number of continuous
dealer wins and draws by placing point sticks on the ta-
In plenty of occasions, a hand ends with all tiles drawn ble. While point sticks are usually used for scoring, here
and the 14-tiles in the dead wall remain. Yet, no player they are used merely as counters, a visual aid. The initial
wins the hand. This is the exhaustive draw. In this case, count is zero. The number of counters increases by one
points may be exchanged barring any tenpai hands vs when:
nōten hands. After each exhaustive draw, the counter in-
creases by one. • (1) the dealer wins a hand

• (2) a hand is a draw (ryūkyoku, )

5.1 Tenpai
• (3) an abortive draw happens.
Tenpai ( ) means one tile short of a winning hand. To
be tenpai, a hand does not need any particular yaku partly In the case of (1) or (3), the dealer remains the same. In
because winning by the last discard is yaku itself. When the case of (2), when the dealer cannot declare tenpai, the
a hand is not tenpai, the situation is called nōten ( : nō dealer changes, but the number of counters increases re-
is English “no” and ten for tenpai). gardless of whether the dealer declares tenpai. In all other
cases, namely when only a non-dealer wins, the count is
Players must show their hand to verify that it is tenpai
reset to zero.
when a hand is a draw and if they declared rīchi or if they
declare tenpai. If a hand with rīchi declaration is nōten, a Renchan ( ) is a situation in which a player successively
chombo penalty is imposed. In some cases, a player who plays the dealer, and is often only caused by dealer’s win
didn't declare rīchi can declare nōten even when the hand or tenpai; therefore, draws are not always renchan. On the
is tenpai to keep their hand concealed. other hand, the number of honba always increases when a
draw or a dealer’s win occurs. If the dealer changes, it is
called rinchan ( ) instead of renchan, and happens for
5.2 Point exchange example by their nōten in the case of a draw.
In a state of n counters (suppose n is a number), when a
Players receive or pay points called nō-ten bappu player wins a hand by self-draw (tsumo), the player gets a
( ; fu of penalty for nōten) in the following way, bonus of n × 100 points from each of other three players
when a hand ends in an exhaustive draw: for a total of n × 300, and when a player wins by claiming
4 11 NOTES

a discard (ron, ), the player gets a bonus of n × 300 from • Having more tiles than allowed (depending on the
the discarder. rules)[5]
There is a rule in which players must have two han or
• Crashing the wall so that it cannot be recovered[5]
more from yaku when the count is five or more, which is
called ryanhan-shibari ( ; literally “two-han bind-
ing”). Note that false rīchi and invalid kan after rīchi are caught
There may be some variation of the rules. only after draws or winning declarations by players who
declared the rīchi.
Example:
Any rīchi bets are returned to the players after the end of
a chombo hand.
• East round, 4th rotation with 0 counters ( 4 0 ).
The dealer (East) wins the hand. The seat winds
don't rotate. Dealer puts 1 counter on the table.
9 Final points and place
• East round, 4th rotation with 1 counter ( 4 1 ).
Hand is a draw with the dealer not declaring tenpai.
The seat winds rotate. The former dealer retrieves After the game is finished, the points of each of the three
the 1 counter and the new dealer places 2 counters. players other than the winner is rounded off to the nearest
1,000. The winner’s points are the difference between
• South round, 1st rotation with 2 counters ( 1 2 ). 120,000 (30,000 × 4) and the total of these three players’
North wins by ron (claiming a discard), getting a points. The number of points is divided by 1,000, and 30
bonus of 600 points from the discarder. The seat is finally subtracted from it. The sum of these final points
winds rotate and the former dealer retrieves the 2 is always zero. In most cases there are additional points
counters. transferred based on the players’ final places (uma). (For
example: 1st gets +20, 2nd gets +10, 3rd gets −10 and
• South round, 2nd rotation with 0 counters 4th gets −20)
( 2 0 ).
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
7 Wareme the winner’s points is calculated as follows irrespective
of initial points: 120,000 − (15,000 + 15,000 + 27,000)
In the optional rule wareme ( , ; fissure, split), the = 63,000 (There sometimes happens the case like this.
player in front of whom the wall was split to indicate the The result of the winner differs from 64,000 that was
end of the dead wall, acquires and pays double the normal counted rounding 43,600 off and adding 4 × 5,000 (dif-
points. They are doubled after the points for counters ference between 30,000 and initial points)). The final
are added.[2] It is often especially called oya-ware ( ; points and place: A:+33 (1st), D:−3 (2nd), C:−15 (3rd),
parent’s wareme) when the player is the dealer. B:−15 (4th). The 1st place is also counted like: (30 − 15)
+ (30 − 15) + (30 − 27) = +33.

8 Chombo
10 See also
Under the rule of chombo ( , or ), a player
pays a penalty of the same amount as mangan to other
players in most rules. A non-dealer pays 4,000 to East and • Scoring in Mahjong
2,000 to the other two players, while a dealer pays 4,000
to each.[3][4] Chombo occurs for any of the following: • Japanese Mahjong yaku

• Invalidly claiming a winning hand

• Winning on a discard under the situation of sacred
11 Notes
discard (furiten)
[1] Literally "(empty) box points.” Japanese mahjong sets of-
• False rīchi, that is, rīchi with a hand that is not in the ten have four boxes to store tiles, and they are often used
state of tenpai for point sticks. (Japanese: )

• Closed kan after rīchi if the kan changes the hand [2] Sound of something heavy like a stone falling into water.
structure (in other words a kan of a tile after rīchi is (Japanese: )
not allowed if the hand can be interpreted such that
the tile is a part of a sequence) [3] (Japanese: )
 5

12 References
[1] Wikipedia contributors, " ,” Wikipedia: Japanese
language version, February 23, 2011, 20:37 UTC, re-
trieved June 15, 2011.

[2] Wikipedia contributors, " ,” Wikipedia:

Japanese language version, July 24, 2011, 05:20 UTC,
retrieved November 24, 2011.

[3] http://japanese-mahjong.com/riichi-mahjong.html

[4] http://mahjong-europe.org/rules/downloads/riichisheet_
EN.pdf

[5] Wikipedia contributors, " ,” Wikipedia:

Japanese language version, April 19, 2011, 14:16 UTC,
retrieved June 15, 2011.

13 External links
• European Mahjong Association’s Riichi Ruleset

• Japanese rules
6 14 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

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