Hong Kong mahjong rules

The set 牌

144 tiles: three suits of 1 to 9, the four winds and the three dragons, four of each, and eight flowers, one of each. Winds and dragons stay in your hand and make pairs and sets of three, never runs.

Flowers 花

Flowers never sit in a hand. Draw one and it goes face up beside your name, and you draw again. The table does this for you.

Each carries a number, 1 to 4. The one matching your seat wind (East 1, South 2, West 3, North 4) is your seat flower: 1 faan when you win, from each of the two sets. All four of one set is 2 faan, in place of its seat flower. No flowers at all is 1 faan.

Winning 胡

Four sets and a pair, or thirteen orphans: one each of the 1s and 9s of every suit, the winds and the dragons, and a pair of any of them. Between turns you hold 13 tiles; the tile you draw or claim completes the hand at 14, and each kong adds one.

A complete hand also needs 3 faan. Short of that, Hu is never offered: on your own draw it shows dim with its count, "2 faan · 3 to win". Winning is never forced.

Calls 叫

Hu beats Kong, Kong beats Pung, Pung beats Chow. If two seats call Hu on the same discard, the one closest after the discarder takes it.

After a Chow or Pung you can't discard a copy of the tile you just called, and after a Chow on an open end (a 3 onto your 4 5) not the far end either (the 6). Called a Chow or Pung on a tile you could have won with? Hu stays open until you throw.

The last 14 tiles are set aside at the deal and never drawn. Play runs to the last of the rest, and every discard can be called, the very last one too.

The dealer 庄

The dealer starts with 14 tiles and discards first. Play passes to the right: the seat after the dealer draws next, so the seat on your left plays just before you, and a Chow comes only from there. When the dealer wins, the dealer deals again; after anyone else's win, or a draw, the deal passes to the next player. Keeping the deal scores nothing extra.

When the drawable wall is gone (the 14 set aside stay out), the hand is a draw: no points change hands.

The round wind starts at 東 East. Each time the deal has gone around all four seats and comes back to the first dealer, it moves on: 南 South, 西 West, 北 North, then 東 again. The felt names it above the discards.

Scoring 番

A hand needs 3 faan and scores 10 at most, the limit. A limit hand is 10 by itself, with nothing added. A pattern counts once: small three dragons' 5 includes its dragon pungs, and pure one suit replaces mixed one suit.

Faan become points: 3 faan 8, 4 faan 16, 5 faan 24, 6 faan 32, 7 faan 48, 8 faan 64, 9 faan 96, 10 faan 128.

Who pays is the host's pick, set in the lobby for the session. Thrower pays all (全銃): on a discard the thrower pays 100% of the hand. Thrower pays half (半銃): on a discard the thrower pays 50% and the other two 25% each, 100% total. In both, on a self-draw everyone pays 50%, so the winner gets 150%.