Four Winds Rule Collection – European Classical

5. Scoring

5.1 Displaying the hands

In addition to payments to the winner, the classical European rules apply settlement of payments between the losers. Accordingly, all players must display their hands after a deal is over and one of the players has declared out.

The players are responsible of arranging their hands in a way that makes it clear which sets it is composed of, melded sets placed above the sets in the hand. The winner should mark the winning tile by placing it at right angles to the others, and should he wish to claim any score for special ways of going out (e.g., for One-chance hand, Out on a pair, etc.), he must show the tile he has drawn from the Wall before adding it to his concealed hand.

If a concealed portion of the hand can be arranged in more than one way, a player is free to arrange it in a way that results in the best scores. E.g., if a player is calling with Bamboo 2-2-3-4 and the winning tile is Bamboo 2 (either self-drawn or discard), a player is free to arrange his hand so that the winning tile is considered to complete the pair of Bamboo 2-2, rather than the Chow 2-3-4 (both arrangements are possible but the previous one normally pays two extra points).

5.2 Calculating the value of hands

In Chinese classical rules the available scoring units are points and doubles. Accordingly the scoring is performed by first summing up the patterns that earn point values and then applying doubles.

5.2.1 Basic points to all players

All players receive the following basic points for the completed sets.

Tile set Melded Concealed

Pung of Simples 		2 pts 4 pts

Pung of Terminals 		4 pts 8 pts

Pung of Winds		 4 pts 8 pts

Pung of Dragons		 4 pts 8 pts

Kong of Simples 		8 pts 16 pts

Kong of Terminals 		16 pts 32 pts

Kong of Winds		 16 pts 32 pts

Kong of Dragons		 16 pts 32 pts

Pair of player’s own Wind		 2 pts *) 2 pts

Pair of Wind of the Round		 2 pts *) 2 pts

Pair of Dragons		 2 pts *) 2 pts

 *) Not applicable in a loser's hand.

In addition, if Flowers and Seasons are used, all players receive the following basic points for Flowers and Seasons:

Pattern Score
Flower 4 pts each
Season 4 pts each
5.2.2 Bonus points for the winner

The winner gets bonus points for the following patterns:

Pattern Score
Winning (jap. yaku) 20 pts
Concealed hand
Note: As for Kongs, only concealed Kongs are accepted as concealed sets.		 10 pts
Self-drawn last tile (ch. tsuu mo ho, jap. tsumo, tsumo ru) 2 pts
Out on a one-chance Chow (a.k.a. Out on a one-way Chow; ch. kan chan machi, pen chan machi, jap. kanchan, penchan)
e.g. 1-2 or 8-9 or n-?-n+1 (middle tile missing), as opposed to going out on a Chow that can be completed on both sides.		 2 pts
Out on a pair (ch. tan chao machi, jap. danki) 2 pts

Note: Many European rules give 2 points for One-chance hand (which means a hand that can be completed with only one kind of a tile, e.g. calling with B1 B-345) instead of giving points for Out on a one-chance Chow. E.g. going out on a pair would give 2 points for Out on a pair and 2 points for One-chance hand. This practice is true to the classical Chinese game.

5.2.3 Doubles for all players

All players receive bonus doubles for the following basic sets:

Set Score 

Pung of Dragons		 1 dbl

Kong of Dragons		 1 dbl

Pung of player’s Own Wind		 1 dbl

Kong of player’s Own Wind		 1 dbl

Pung of the Wind of the Round		 1 dbl

Kong of the Wind of the Round		 1 dbl

All players receive bonus doubles for the following Flowers and Seasons:

Pattern Score
Flower of own Wind 1 dbl
Season of own Wind 1 dbl
All Flowers 2 dbl
All Seasons 2 dbl
All Flowers and Seasons 4 dbl

In addition, all players receive doubles for the following patterns:

Pattern Score
Green DragonGreen DragonGreen Dragon White DragonWhite DragonWhite Dragon Red DragonRed Dragon
Little Three Dragons (jap. sho san gen)
 Note: Implies scores for Dragons.		 3 dbl
5.2.4 Doubles for the winner

The winner gets doubles for the following hands:

Pattern Score
Dot 2Dot 2 

Fully concealed hand (Ch. men zen tsuu mo, Jap. men zen tsumo)
Going out on a hand that contains only concealed sets. The winning tile must be self-drawn (either from the Wall or Dead Wall).
Note: Accepts concealed Kongs as concealed sets.		 1 dbl
Bamboo 1Bamboo 2Bamboo 3 Character 4Character 5Character 6 Dot 2Dot 3Dot 4 Dot 5Dot 6Dot 7 Character 9Character 9
Chow hand (a regular hand with no Pungs or Kongs)
Note: The hand may contain no scoring pairs. Some rules acknowledge the Japanese style No-points hand instead of this classical pattern. (A No-points hand requires, besides a valueless pair, that the hand goes out in a way that gives no bonus scores, i.e., it must go out on a discard and complete a Chow that can be completed on two sides).		 1 dbl
Bamboo 2Bamboo 2Bamboo 2 Character 5Character 5Character 5 Dot 2Dot 2Dot 2 Red DragonRed DragonRed Dragon Character 9Character 9
Pung hand (a regular hand with no Chows) (Jap. toi toi ho) 		1 dbl
Bamboo 1Bamboo 1Bamboo 1 Dot 9Dot 9Dot 9 Green DragonGreen DragonGreen Dragon East WindEast WindEast Wind Character 9Character 9
All Terminals and Honors (Ch., Jap. hon rao to)
Note: Does not imply scoring for Pung hand. A common alternative scoring is 2 doubles.		 1 dbl
Dot 1Dot 2Dot 3 Dot 5Dot 5Dot 5 Dot 7Dot 8Dot 9
Green DragonGreen DragonGreen Dragon East WindEast Wind
One suit and Honors (Mixed hand, Ch. hon ii so, Jap. hon itsu) 		1 dbl
Dot 1Dot 2Dot 3 Dot 2Dot 3Dot 4 Dot 5Dot 5Dot 5 Dot 7Dot 8Dot 9 Dot 1Dot 1
One suit only (Clear hand, Ch. chin ii so, Jap. chin itsu) 		3 dbl

Finally, the winner gets bonus doubles for the following special ways of going out:

Pattern Score
Out on the last tile of the Wall (ch. hai tei rao yue, jap. haite)
Note: Implies Self-drawn last tile.		 1 dbl
Out on the last discard (no tiles left in the Wall) (ch. ho tei rao yui, jap. hote) 1 dbl
Out on a supplement tile (ch., jap. rin shan kai ho) 1 dbl
Out by robbing a Kong (ch., jap. chan kan)
Note: Robbing a Kong is considered going out on a claimed tile (and the player declaring the Kong is considered a discarder). Accordingly, a Kong robber can get extra points for Out on the last discard. 		1 dbl
5.2.5 Limit hands

In addition, the winner can get directly the limit points for the following special hands (note that % of Limit values are exclusive so no other points are added):

Limit or Special Hand Description Score
All Green (The Imperial Jade) Bamboo 2Bamboo 3Bamboo 4 Bamboo 2Bamboo 3Bamboo 4 Bamboo 6Bamboo 6 Bamboo 8Bamboo 8Bamboo 8 Green DragonGreen DragonGreen Dragon
Going out with sets composed only of Green Dragons, Bamboo 2’s, 3’s, 4’s, 6’s and 8’s. May all be melded.
Note: Some rules do not acknowledge this pattern.		 100% of Limit
Four Kongs (Fourfold Plenty, 18 Buddhas) Bamboo 3Bamboo 3Bamboo 3Bamboo 3 Character 3Character 3Character 3Character 3 Dot 5Dot 5Dot 5Dot 5 Green DragonGreen DragonGreen DragonGreen Dragon
Hand containing any four Kongs, concealed or melded.
Note: Some rules do not acknowledge this pattern.		 100% of Limit
Hidden Treasure (Buried Treasure) Bamboo 1Bamboo 1Bamboo 1 Character 3Character 3Character 3 Character 7Character 7Character 7 Dot 3Dot 3Dot 3 Dot 8Dot 8
Four concealed triplets and a pair.
Note: The hand can go out on a discard, if the completing set is the pair, and it may contain concealed Kongs. 		100% of Limit
Three Great Scholars
(Big Three Dragons)		 Red DragonRed DragonRed Dragon White DragonWhite DragonWhite Dragon Green DragonGreen DragonGreen Dragon Character 5Character 6Character 7 Dot 4Dot 4
Pung or Kong with all three Dragons, any Chow, Pung or Kong, and any pair. May all be melded.		 100% of Limit
Big Four Winds (Big Four Joys, Four Big Blessings) East WindEast WindEast Wind South WindSouth WindSouth Wind West WindWest WindWest Wind Notrh WindNotrh WindNotrh Wind Dot 3Dot 3
Pung or Kong of each Wind, and any pair. May all be melded.		 100% of Limit
Little Four Winds (Little Four Joys) Bamboo 1Bamboo 2Bamboo 3 East WindEast WindEast Wind South WindSouth WindSouth Wind West WindWest WindWest Wind Notrh WindNotrh Wind
Pung or Kong of three Winds, a pair of the fourth, and any other set completing the hand. May be all melded.
Note: Some rules do not acknowledge this pattern. 		100% of Limit
All Honors (All Symbols) Red DragonRed DragonRed Dragon White DragonWhite DragonWhite Dragon East WindEast WindEast Wind West WindWest WindWest Wind Notrh WindNotrh Wind
Four Pungs or Kongs and a pair of Dragons and Winds. May all be melded.		 100 % of Limit
All Terminals (Heads and Tails) Character 1Character 1Character 1 Character 9Character 9Character 9 Bamboo 1Bamboo 1Bamboo 1 Dot 1Dot 1Dot 1 Dot 9Dot 9
Four Pungs or Kongs and a pair of 1’s or 9’s. May all be melded.		 100% of Limit
Nine Gates (Nine United Sons, Nine Sacred Lamps of Lotus) Bamboo 1Bamboo 1Bamboo 1 Bamboo 2Bamboo 3Bamboo 4Bamboo 5Bamboo 6Bamboo 7Bamboo 8Bamboo 9Bamboo 9Bamboo 9 Bamboo 3
Three 1’s, a sequence of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and three 9’s, all of the same suit, and any other tile of the same suit completing the hand. The hand must be concealed (the winning tile can be a discard). No Kongs are allowed in this hand.
Note: This hand is traditionally considered the most perfect hand possible. This is a regular hand which can go out on any of the nine suit tiles.		 100% of Limit
Thirteen Orphans (Thirteen Unique Wonders, Thirteen Grades of Imperial Treasure) Bamboo 1Bamboo 9 Character 1Character 9 Dot 1Dot 9 White DragonGreen DragonRed DragonRed Dragon East WindSouth WindWest Wind Notrh Wind  
One of each Dragon and Wind, 1 and 9 of each suit and 14th tile forming a pair with any of these. The hand must be concealed (the winning tile can be a discard).		 100% of Limit
Heavenly Hand East declares ‘Out’ with the dealt hand (after supplement tiles, if any) 100% of Limit
Earthly Hand Non-dealer goes out on dealer’s first discard.
Note: A common option is to give this bonus also if a non-dealer goes out on the first tile he draws from the Wall (provided that there are no melded sets on the board). 		100% of Limit
Moon from the Bottom of the Sea Going out on the last tile of the Wall or on the last discard, tile being Dot 1.
Note: Some rules do not acknowledge this pattern.		 100% of Limit
Plum Blossom on the Roof Going out on a supplement tile, tile being Dot 5.
Note: Some rules do not acknowledge this pattern.		 100% of Limit
Scratching a Carrying Pole Going out on robbed Kong, tile being Bamboo 2.
Note: Some rules do not acknowledge this pattern.		 100% of Limit
5.3 Calculating the total score

When the basic points and doubles have been calculated, the total score for the hand can be determined. E.g., let us assume that the winner is North on the South round and that he goes out on the following hand (claiming the East wind from East):

Character 5Character 5Character 5 Red DragonRed DragonRed DragonRed Dragon

Bamboo 2Bamboo 2Bamboo 2  Dot 1Dot 1Dot 1 East      East

He gets the following basic points:

4 pts Concealed Pung of Simples (Bamboo 2)
8 pts Concealed Pung of Terminals (Dot 1)
2 pts Melded Pung of Simples (Character 5)
16 pts Melded Kong of Dragons (Red Dragons)
20 pts Winning
2 pts Out on a pair (East wind)
52 pts Total points

In European rules the basic points are normally rounded off to nearest ten before applying doubles, so the rounded total points will be 50 points, in this case.

In addition, the winner gets the following doubles for his hand:

1 dbl Kong of Dragons
1 dbl Pung hand
200 pts Final score (50 pts doubled twice)
5.4 Limit

If a player's total score exceeds 500 points, it will be cut down to 500 points. Note that this is done before applying payment doubles. 

5.5 Scoring accessories

A sheet of paper and a pencil is sufficient for keeping the scores, but normally Mah Jong sets come with counters or chips, valued at 500 points (marked either with 6 red and 6 black dots or more commonly, with 5 red dots), 100 points (marked either with 2 red dots, or more commonly with 1 red dot), 10 points (marked either with 8 black dots or more commonly, with 10 black dots) and 2 points (marked either with 1 red and 3 black dots or more commonly, with 2 black dots). If scoring accessories are used, players naturally exchange them at the time of payments.

Related topics:
Introduction
Tiles
Preliminaries
Playing
Miscellaneous
Payments