Scoring
ScoringTraditionally the final score of the hand was determined by multiplying the total point score (earned e.g., for winning and basic sets, and often rounded off to nearest ten) of the hand with doubles earned by the certain special patterns that appear in the hand., and possibly rounding the total sums. In addition, if the final score thus achieved was higher than the specified Limit, it was cut off to the Limit.
In modern Japanese and Chinese versions of Mah Jong the number of acknowledged patterns has increased, and accordingly hands that earn several doubles occur frequently. In order to strike a balance between adequately rewarding such valuable hands and keeping payoff amounts within practically feasible sums (the game is usually played for money in these places), a complex limit system is adopted.
This scoring system specifies that, when a hand contains more han/faan than minimally needed to make the limit, it is paid a larger amount than the limit but less than the amount one would arrive at by applying all the han/faan as doubles. (In other words, han/faan are applied as doubles for small hands below the limit, but past the limit they increase the score in a way which is less steep than doubling.)
In Four Winds this is handled by a settling table, which is a look-up table where a certain amount of faan or han (depending on the selected scoring system) correspond to a specified final score. In Modern Japanese, the settling table also facilitates convenient look-up of final scores for below-limit small hands: since the fu value is rounded up to the nearest ten before doubling, it is easier to just cross-reference the rounded fu value against the number of han in a table than to apply several doubles every time.
Four Winds provides three pre-defined settling tables – Regulated doubles, Faan-Laak and Mangan – all of which can be fully customized.
When a settling table is used, the Limit points are not absolute, but rather used as a unit to determine scoring for exceptionally valuable hands (e.g., certain hand might be worth 6 times the Limit). Notice too that if the Faan-Laak settling table is used, the points can be rounded at payment time only (if they are rounded at all), and if the Mangan settling table is used, the fu points must be rounded off or up to nearest ten before calculating the han factors.
To enable the use of a settling table, choose Payments under the Scoring section in the category tree of the Preferences dialog and choose one of the options listed in the Use settling table for final scores list. To customize or examine the values of the settling table, click the Customize button. For more information, see Scoring variations – Settling tables.
Related topics:
Basic scheme of calculation
Basic tile points
Scores for basic sets
Scores for Flowers and Seasons
Scores for patterns based on Chows
Scores for patterns based on Pungs and Kongs
Scores for patterns based on the whole hand
Scores for miscellaneous patterns
Scores for winning
Limit and Special hands – Classical
Limit and Special hands – Serpents
Limit and Special hands – Pairs
Limit and Special hands – Special ways of going out
Limit and Special hands – American hands
Limit and Special hands – Miscellaneous
Doubling table
Rounding
Limit points
Procedures:
Printing scoring items
Renaming scoring items
Resetting the names of scoring items
Inclusion and scoring of hands and patterns