Rule presets

MMM (Mahjong Masters Million)

This rule preset represents rules created for the 1997 Mahjong Masters Millions tournament by Zuwei Thomas Feng and Hiroyuki Takashaki.

As IMS (Internet Mahjong Server) rules, these are hybrid rules and combine features of modern Chinese and Japanese Mah Jong. Pattern selection resembles that of modern Japanese, featuring few mid-difficult Chow and Pung patterns, and hands like All Simples, Terminal in each set, Terminal or Honor in each set,  and as the Japanese Mah Jong, the MMM rules apply slightly better scoring for patterns appearing in a concealed hand (fully concealed is also rewarded, as in Japanese Mah Jong). On the other hand, No-points hand, going out on a pair or one-chance Chow, and other typical Japanese low-scoring patterns have been abandoned. But then again, going out on a self-drawn tile receives 10 auxiliary points, much in the style of Chinese Modern. Finally, like Japanese rules, MMM rules apply the rules of Sacred discard (extended version) and Missed discard, and do not use Flowers and Seasons.

The MMM rules retain point scoring for basic sets (as the Japanese and classical rules, and not only for Kongs, as the IMS rules), but instead of including them directly in the point calculation (and performing multiplying with doubles or faan units), use a table to convert point units (called "auxiliary points") into faan units. It is also typical that if a minimum is required (the winning hand must normally be worth at least 1 faan), the faan units produced by auxiliary points are added only if the hand meets the minimum point requirement without this bonus. The settling table, which determines the final score (based on the number of faan the hand is worth) resembles the Chinese faan-laak table, but is actually an arbitrary table not based on the concept of limit (laak) and multiples of it.

As in all modern Asian versions, only the winner is paid, but the payoff scheme is a peculiar mix of Chinese and Japanese Mah Jong, much like that of the IMS rules. As in IMS rules, an East winner (whether going out self-drawn or on a discard) receives his final score multiplied by 1.5 (not by 6, as in classical and Japanese Mah Jong, and the East loser is not penalized, either). If the winning tile is a discard, only the discarder pays the winner's final score (but not for all losers, as in Japanese Mah Jong), otherwise each loser pays one third of the winner's lot. Thus, the payoff scheme rewards East (without penalizing East as loser) but not going out self-drawn (like the IMS rules), and only mildly penalizes the discarder, but since the final score is not doubled (and especially not doubled for each loser, as in the classical rules), the actual payments tend to stay rather low.

MMM rules presented by Four Winds 2 apply a minimum point requirement of 1 faan (faan units produced by auxiliary points are not included in the calculation).

Settling table

The final scores are determined by using a settling table where a certain amount of faan corresponds to a certain amount of final points. The following table shows the final payments for the winner (notice that East winner, as well as winner going out self-drawn, is paid 1.5 times the final score, and that only the discarder pays, otherwise each loser pays one third).

Conversion table for auxiliary points

Points for basic sets (and other point-scoring patterns) are converted into faan units according to the following table (note that these bonus faan are paid only if the hand is worth at least 1 faan without the help of auxiliary points).

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Alan's Zung Jung
American Classical
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Hong Kong Mah Jong
Internet Mahjong Server
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