Taiwanese Mahjong Rule

16 tiles to play, 17 tiles to Mahjong

Limit

Taiwanese games are often played without applying a Limit. On the other hand, players may want to set a limit at certain level (e.g. at 40 tais) in order to guarantee that payments do not become too high.

Calculating the value of hands:

In Taiwanese Mahjong the only scoring unit is tai (equivalent to fan), which is used as a point-unit. Accordingly, the final score of the hand is simply the total of tais earned by its composing patterns. Possible conversions to monetary values are not a rule-specific issue, but – if necessary – must be negotiated by the players before the game is started.

Tais for the winner:

If Flowers and Seasons are used, the winner receives bonus tais for the following Flowers and Seasons:

In addition, the winner receives tais for the following hands:

1. 1. Pung/Kong of Honors (Dragons or any Winds ) – 1 Tai
      
   2. Melded Kong – 1 Tai
      
   3. Concealed Kong – 2 Tai
      
   4. 3 Chows of 1 suit + any cards – 5 Tai (if self-drawn to mahjong – 10 Tai)
      
   5. Two concealed triplets – 2 Tai (Note: Concealed Kongs are allowed, as well)
       
   6. Three concealed triplets – 5 tai (Concealed Kongs are allowed, as well)
        
   7. Four concealed triplets – 15 tai (Concealed Kongs are allowed, as well)
         
   8. Five concealed triplets – 40 tai (Concealed Kongs are allowed, as well))
          
   9. Little Three Dragons – 15 tai
         
   10. Little Three Winds (two Pungs/Kongs and a pair of Winds) – 5 tai
           
   11. Big Three Winds (three Pungs/Kongs of Winds) – 15 tai
           
   12. Exposed hand (waiting with a single tile for the tile completing the pair) – 10 tai (Implies One-chance hand and Out on a pair)
              
   13. Concealed hand (discarded last tile) – 1 tai (Concealed Kongs are allowed as concealed sets)
         
   14. Fully concealed hand – 3 tai (Concealed Kongs are allowed as concealed sets. Implies Self-drawn last tile. Always implies Concealed hand)
       
   15. Chow hand – 3 tai (a regular hand with no Pungs or Kongs)
            
   16. Chow hand with no Honors/Flowers – 10 tai (a regular hand with no Pungs, Kongs or Seasons)
            
   17. Pung hand – 10 tai (a regular hand with no Chows)
            
   18. No Honors – 1 tai (Mahjong without honors)
   19. No Flowers and no Honors – 3 tai
            
   20. One suit and any set of Honors – 10 tai
           
   21. One suit only – 40 tai
            

Limit or Special Hands

The winner can get high scores for the following special hands

1. Three Great Scholars (Big Three Dragons) – 30 tai (Pong or Kong with all three Dragons, two Chows, Pongs and/or Kongs, and any pair. May all be melded)
             
2. Little Four Winds (Little Four Joys) – 30 tai (Pong or Kong of three Winds, a pair of the fourth, and any other two sets completing the hand. May be all melded. Note: Does not imply doubles for any special winds, and does not imply One suit with Honors)
              
3. Big Four Winds (Big Four Joys, Four Big Blessings) – 40 tai (Pong or Kong of each Wind, any other set and any pair. May all be melded)
             
4. Seven pairs and a triplet (8 and Half Pairs) – 30 tai (Seven pairs (identical pairs are allowed, as well) and any triplet. The triplet cannot be melded before going out (but a player can go out by claiming a tile for the triplet)
                
5. Heavenly Hands – 40 tai (East declares “Out” with the dealt hand (after supplement tiles, if any). Basically the player has all the cards in place to Mahjong after all cards are distributed. Mahjong will take place instantly without any players to withdraw cards.
6. Earthly Hands – 40 tai (Non-dealer goes out on dealer’s first discard (supplement tiles are allowed) Basically the player has all the cards (except one) in place to match for Mahjong after all cards are distributed. Earthly Hands Mahjong will take if the player manages to Chow, Pong to Mahjong.

Calculating the total score

Finally, the winner can earn bonus fans for the following special ways of going out:

The total score is calculated simply by adding up the tai values for the composing parts. E.g., let us assume that the winner is North on the South round and that he goes out on the following hand (claiming the East wind from East). An example as below:

The winner gets the following tais for his hand:

Winning – 2 tai

Melded Kong – 1 tai

Honor pung – 1 tai

Pung hand – 10 tai

Out on a pair – 1 tai

Total – 16 tai

Payments

Let us assume that the winner was North and scored 22 points for his hand. The winning tile was claimed from East’s discard.

1. 1. • Payments to the winner

In Taiwanese Mah Jong each loser pays the winner his final score, in case the winning tile is self-drawn. However, if the winning tile is claimed from another player’s discard, discarder alone pays the winner’s final score, and just for himself (not for all losers, as in Japanese Mah Jong).

Accordingly, the winner is paid as follows:

From East – 16 Points

From South – No Points

From West – No Points

1. 1. • Payments between the losers

There are no payments between losers in Taiwanese Mahjong needed.

Calculating Totals

The total of all points stays always the same – in this case, 8,000 points.

Note that if penalties are used, they are always added/subtracted at the final stage of scoring. E.g., if the rules specify penalty for faulty declarations worth 1 point and East has made one faulty declaration of Pong, the total points would be 1 point less for East and 1 point more for the winner.