Hong Kong Mahjong Scoring Rules

Criteria
 

A hand is considered an absolute hand when it has 4 melds and a pair or is known as a special hand.

Points are obtained by matching the winning hand and the winning condition with a particular group of criteria, with different criteria scoring different values. A few of these criteria could be subsets of additional criteria (for instance, having a meld of 1 dragon versus having a meld of most of these), and in such cases, only the criteria with the tighter requirements are scored. The points obtained could be translated into scores for every player using some (typically exponential) function. When gambling with mahjong, these scores are usually directly translated into sums of money. Some criteria can also be when it comes to both points and score.

Source: free mahjong games

The terminology of point differs from variation to variation. A common English term is usually double, as the point-to-score translation is normally exponential with a base of 2. Cantonese variants use the word 番 (pinyin: fān / jyutping: faan1).

Because points and score are two distinct concepts, this article will adopt the usage of the word score unit to make reference to a spot in a player's score.

At the beginning of every game, each player is given a set score, usually by means of scoring chips. Oftentimes, only the winner scores, with the winner's gain being deducted from the three losers' scores (that's, the losers pay out the winner). Oftentimes, there exist various other modifiers to the score. A common group of modifiers (that this article will call the typical payment variations) include:

• In the case in which a player wins by a discard (a new player picks off an opponent), the player who performs the discard pays double
• In the case in which a player wins by a draw (a new player wins by self-pick), every losing player pays double.
• In the case in which a player wins from a high-risk scenario (see below), the player who performs the discard will pay for the other two losing players (as well as the normal double share).

There is absolutely no general rule for whenever a player runs out of score units. In a few circles, the match is definitely immediately aborted, with the player furthest ahead in score declared the winner, while in others, a new player out of scoring chips continues to play without threat of further losses.

Mahjong may also be played in a gambling setting. Poker chips are used for keeping score only. Since Mahjong is a zero-sum game, when one player loses all his chips, his chips are distributed among the other winners. In this instance, the loser pays cash to get back the chips from the winners and the overall game continues. Prior to the game begins, all players must agree upon just how much one group of chips (100 unit) will probably be worth. Some gamblers get rid of chips and pay cash after every round based on local laws regarding legality of gambling.

The criteria discussed below are in no way exhaustive or common to every variation, but are normal to numerous 13-tile and 16-tile variations.

Terminology
 

The following is a listing of the various terms describing the progress of your respective hand:

• 獨聽 (duk6 teng1) - Known in English typically as an one-shot win or a last-chance win, this occurs if the winner wanted only one tile to win the hand (e.g., the center tile in a Chow). In a few variations, this might extend to cases where several tiles could win the hand, but all except one were previously discarded.
• 雞糊 (gai1 wu2) - Also known in a few circles as 推倒胡 (tuī dǎo hú/teoi1 dit3 wu4) or 雞胡 (ji hú/gai1 wu4 "Chicken Hand"), that is used to describe an absolute hand worth zero fān, or no points.
• 詐糊 (zaa3 wu2) - Known in English literally as a trick hand, used to spell it out a "false alarm" whenever a player claims to possess won the total amount claimed however in fact has not.
• 食糊 (sik6 wu2) - Winning off another player's discard.
• 叫糊 (giu3 wu2) - A "ready" or "waiting" hand, one tile from winning.