Scoring variations

Initial and Limit points

Initial points

In the classical Mah Jong each player starts the game with 2,000 points but if the rules allow exceptionally valuable hands, the amount of initial points should be increased accordingly. You can specify the initial points by entering a value in the Initial points number box on the Payments page (under the Scoring section in the category tree of the Preferences dialog box).

Notice that the total of players' points stays always the same during the game: e.g., if the players start with 2,000 points, the total of points will be 8,000 points at any stage of the game.

Limit points

The default setting of the Limit points (the maximum score a player is allowed for his hand) is 500. The limit is normally applied if the total score of the hand (i.e., the score after applying the doubles and rounding) exceeds the specified limit value. The value should be increased if the rules allow patterns and hands that frequently result in scores that exceed the specified limit.

The limit is applied on the total score of the hand, before applying the payment doubles. E.g., in the default European Classical rules the limit is 500 points, but the maximum total payment a player can receive is 3,000 if the winner is the dealer (each loser pays the dealer twice the amount of the Limit points), and 2,000 if the winner is not the dealer (East pays 1,000, and other losers each 500 points).

If a Faan-Laak or Mangan settling table is used to determine the final score (as in modern Chinese and Japanese versions of Mah Jong), the maximum final score is the highest score specified in the table (or even a higher value, if a multiple limit value is directly specified for a certain hand or pattern), not the amount of Limit points specified on the Payments page. In this case the Limit points only serve as a base unit that is used to specify multiples of limit in the settling table regulating the pace of doubling.

E.g., in Hong Kong Mah Jong, which uses the Faan-Laak scoring system, the limit is 16 points, which according to the settling table is earned by hands worth 4 to 6 faans. The actual maximum final score is 3 laaks (limit doubled twice), i.e., 64 points, earned by hands worth 10 faans, or more. The maximum total payment a player can receive is 384 points if he goes out on a self-drawn tile (all losers pay double), or 256 points if the winning tile is a discard (discarder pays double, other losers normally).

In the Japanese Modern rule preset which uses the Mangan scoring system the limit is 2,000 points, but the actual maximum final score is 8,000 points (400% of the limit). Note however that certain limit hands might pay quadruple limit (limit points doubled four times, 1600% of the limit) and accordingly bypass the settling table.

Note however that when the Regulated doubles settling table is used, the final score is determined by multiplying the total point score of the hand with a multiplier value achieved by using a settling table that regulates the linear doubling. Accordingly the maximum final score is not determined by the settling table but by the Limit points setting.

Note: Penalties and bonus for dealer's extra hand and for winning a Goulash deal or kitty are paid independently of the scoring, i.e., these points are added to/reduced from the payment points after all other calculations have been made.

Procedures:
Printing scoring items
Renaming scoring items
Resetting the names of scoring items
Creating and managing custom rule presets