Scoring in Mahjong

Mahjong is a game that's easy to pick up, but the sheer amount of information to remember can sometimes feel overwhelming. That's why some players aren't quite sure about how to score in mahjong. However, with a few key things to keep in mind, playing your preferred variation becomes much smoother.

If you're looking for answers on how to score in mahjong, you've landed in the right spot. This guide will break down everything you need to know about mahjong scoring. Let's dive in!

What Goes Into Mahjong Scoring?

Scoring in mahjong depends on certain mahjong tile melds or other combinations you've collected, how you played your hand, and the presence of special unique sets. When multiple criteria apply, usually only the one with the stricter requirements is scored. For example, having a meld of one dragon tile is less valuable than a meld of all three dragons.

The points you rack up are then translated into scores that determine player balances during games. These scores often directly inform payments between players while playing mahjong as a form of friendly competition and betting.

It's important to note that 'points' and 'score' can refer to slightly different things. Players usually exchange money based on the points earned throughout a round, along with any other agreed-upon factors. Sometimes, chips or tokens are used instead of cash during play.

Often, only the winner takes home the spoils, with the other players' scores being adjusted downwards to cover the winner's gain. However, there are several common ways to handle payments among players. Here are a few:

• If someone wins by claiming a discard, the player who made that discard pays double.
• If a player wins by a tile drawn from the wall (a "tie" or "self-drawn" win), all three losing players pay double.
• In a high-risk situation where a player wins from the wall, the player who made the last discard covers the payments for the other two losing players.

Mahjong Scoring Rules Explained

How Scoring Works in Chinese Mahjong

Here's a rundown of the scoring rules you'll typically encounter in mahjong:

• Based on the presence of specific melds, pairings, and bonus tiles, each player adds up the fundamental points for his hand.
• Each player doubles his basic points one or more times based on ownership of specific uncommon melds or combinations of melds. The winner adds additional basic points for gaining mahjong and maybe for finishing his hand in several unique ways.
• Depending on his hand's formation of uncommon patterns, such as those made completely of honor tiles, or being finished uniquely, such as stealing an exposed kong, the winner doubles his basic points once or more.
• Each of the three losers pays the winner his entire points.
• The losers split the difference into points among themselves.
• In his dealings, East makes duplicate payments or receipts.
• There are many Special Limit hands that, if acquired, provide the possessor with the most points assigned to his hand.

American Scoring

In the American version, players utilize a card with a point value for each hand that specifies a narrow number of hands as the only legitimate winning hands. Two main Mahjong regulatory organizations in the United States, the National Mahjong League and the American Mahjong Association, employ this method, with new cards that specify the legal winning hands being produced every year. Each card often includes scoring requirements that make mention the year the scorecards are published.

Shanghai Scoring

The Shanghai variant's scoring system is complex, with a wide range of requirements and exaggerated ratings for more uncommon hands like the thirteen terminals. There is typically a minimum point value in the Shanghai variation due to the inflated point values.

Singaporean Scoring

While using a different set of tiles, Singaporean scoring is comparable to the Chinese scoring method. Here, regular payment variations apply. But, there are those in which the dealer is also required to pay and receive twice.

Hong Kong Scoring

Due to the limited number of factors employed in the conventional Hong Kong grading method, the score is frequently poor. The point translation function is a piecewise function, and the general scoring modifiers are in effect.

Scoreless hands are awarded a fixed sum, and each point doubles the score. Players sometimes play with the extra constraint that a winning hand must be of some point value, often ranging between one and five points, with three being the most frequent. This is because zero-point hands are common.

Japanese Scoring

Each player starts with a score. This amount is often between 25,000 and 30,000. It may be an agreed-upon initial value. In current tile settings, this is often represented by a row of bars with the following four denominations: 10,000, 5,000, 1,000, and 100. The bars resemble long Chinese dominoes. If not, all that is represented online are the point totals.

Limits in Mahjong Scoring

A score limit is imposed by some variants. The usual point translation function, which assigns a constant score to points up to the first restriction, works in many situations where there are limitations. Once further limitations are achieved, the score rises.

A scoring restriction may serve as more of a gambling motivation. If the scoring limitations were six and nine points, a hand with seven or eight points would be valued the same as one with six points, which may encourage players to aim for nine-point hands.

High-risk discards

As the size of the wall shrinks, several versions may additionally apply fines for discards that are deemed to be high-risk. The players who made the high-risk discards are responsible for covering the winner's points if a player wins or goes out self-drawn after making a high-risk discard. A discard is deemed dangerous if there are enough open melds to show that, before it was claimed, it would very certainly have allowed for the completion of a limited hand.

Conclusion

Some complications occur when players are trying to play different mahjong variations at once. So, it’s better to stick with one variety and master it first.

In this guide, different rules for different variations are discussed so that players can choose the one they prefer. We have discussed Chinese, American, Japanese, Shanghai, Singaporean, and Hong Kong Scoring. Hope that it will be enough for an enjoyable experience.