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Japanese Mahjong Scoring Rules
Japanese Mahjong Scoring Rules
Japanese Mahjong Scoring Rules
Japanese Mahjong scoring rules are used for Japanese 1.1 Counting han
Mahjong, a game for four players common in Japan. The
rules were organized in the Taishō to Showa period as the The total number of han ( ) of all the kinds of yaku ( ;
game became popular. winning hand) in the hand is summed up. Each dora ( )
increases the han value of a hand. Dora are not regarded
The scoring system uses structural criteria as well as
as yaku, and no hand can be won without a yaku even if
bonuses. Players start with 20,000 to 30,000 points.
there are some dora tiles.
Scores are counted using sticks of 10,000 points, 5,000
points, 1,000 points and 100 points. A game often ends If there is more than one way to arrange the winning hand,
when all the points of a player are lost, which is a situation the arrangement with the highest han is used. For exam-
called hakoten,[nb 1] dobon,[nb 2] buttobi,[nb 3] etc. ple, a hand could be either ryanpeikou ( ) or chītoitsu
( ), but since ryanpeikou is three han where chītoitsu
There are two criteria in determining the winning points:
is two han, ryanpeikou should prevail. Some yaku have
han and fu, which correspond to a points table. Han is the
their han value reduced by one if the hand is not closed.
unit for the value of yaku, which are particular patterns
or conditions of a hand. Fu is the value of melds, waits If a hand has five han or more, it is always counted by
and “going out”. mangan ( ) as a unit and it is not necessary to calculate
fu ( ) or basic points.
1
2 3 SCORING TABLES
7. As an exception, if one wins by claiming a discard Example 2: The same player goes out by the same hand,
with an open hand with melds and waits to which no except this time the winning tile was discarded by the
fu is awarded, the hand is not 20 fu but counted as player on the right. The resulting hand has one han of
a total of 30 fu. This is the fu for an open pinfu. honor tiles. The number of fu is 20 (fūtei) + 10 (ron with
a closed hand) + 8 (a closed triplet of Souths) + 2 (the
pair of Whites) + 2 (pair wait) = 42 fu, rounded up to 50
1.2.1 Fu of melds fu.
The list for the third step: The basic point is thus 50 × 2(2+1) = 400. The discarder
pays the winner 400 × 4 = 1,600 points. The other two
players pay the winner nothing.
1.2.2 Fu of waits
The list for the fourth step: 2.1 One han 110 fu
closed, it makes winning via a self-drawn tile automati- • (1) one player is in a state of tenpai, the player gets
cally add 1 han yaku of self pick to the hand. Therefore, 1,000 points from each of the other three players and
a 1 han 20 fu hand cannot exist. receives total of 3,000.
As stated above, a seven pairs hand is worth 25 fu. Since • (2) two players are tenpai, they get 1,500 each and
the hand is always closed, it adds 1 han yaku of self pick the other two players pay 1,500 each.
when won by self-draw.
• (3) three players are tenpai, they get 1,000 each and
the other player pays 3,000.
4 Mangan • (4) the players are all tenpai or all nōten, no payment
is made.
When it is clear that a hand reaches basic points of more
than 2,000, it is limited to full basic points of 2,000 and In most rules when a dealer’s hand is nōten, the dealer
called mangan ( ). A hand of five han or more is always changes and the game wind may change. But if it’s the
counted as a multiple of mangan. In those cases there is last hand of the last round, in some rules, a game does
no need to calculate basic points. not end if the dealer declares nōten.[1]
One han cannot reach mangan because 110 fu × 2(2+1) =
880 < 2,000. (With one han, 110 fu is the maximum.)
Two han cannot reach mangan because 110 fu × 2(2+2) = 6 Counters
1,760 < 2,000. (With two han, 110 fu is also the maxi-
mum.) When there are counter sticks (honba) on the table, win-
ners get bonus points calculated by multiplying 300 by
When a hand has 120 fu or more, it always has some yaku
the number of those counters. Honba ( ) is a unit of
of three han or more.
continuous dealer wins and draws, and to be exact, hon
( ) is a unit of numbers of some bars and so on, and ba
( ) means a scene or a situation.
5 Exhaustive draws The dealer keeps count of the number of continuous
dealer wins and draws by placing point sticks on the ta-
In plenty of occasions, a hand ends with all tiles drawn ble. While point sticks are usually used for scoring, here
and the 14-tiles in the dead wall remain. Yet, no player they are used merely as counters, a visual aid. The initial
wins the hand. This is the exhaustive draw. In this case, count is zero. The number of counters increases by one
points may be exchanged barring any tenpai hands vs when:
nōten hands. After each exhaustive draw, the counter in-
creases by one. • (1) the dealer wins a hand
a discard (ron, ), the player gets a bonus of n × 300 from • Having more tiles than allowed (depending on the
the discarder. rules)[5]
There is a rule in which players must have two han or
• Crashing the wall so that it cannot be recovered[5]
more from yaku when the count is five or more, which is
called ryanhan-shibari ( ; literally “two-han bind-
ing”). Note that false rīchi and invalid kan after rīchi are caught
There may be some variation of the rules. only after draws or winning declarations by players who
declared the rīchi.
Example:
Any rīchi bets are returned to the players after the end of
a chombo hand.
• East round, 4th rotation with 0 counters ( 4 0 ).
The dealer (East) wins the hand. The seat winds
don't rotate. Dealer puts 1 counter on the table.
9 Final points and place
• East round, 4th rotation with 1 counter ( 4 1 ).
Hand is a draw with the dealer not declaring tenpai.
The seat winds rotate. The former dealer retrieves After the game is finished, the points of each of the three
the 1 counter and the new dealer places 2 counters. players other than the winner is rounded off to the nearest
1,000. The winner’s points are the difference between
• South round, 1st rotation with 2 counters ( 1 2 ). 120,000 (30,000 × 4) and the total of these three players’
North wins by ron (claiming a discard), getting a points. The number of points is divided by 1,000, and 30
bonus of 600 points from the discarder. The seat is finally subtracted from it. The sum of these final points
winds rotate and the former dealer retrieves the 2 is always zero. In most cases there are additional points
counters. transferred based on the players’ final places (uma). (For
example: 1st gets +20, 2nd gets +10, 3rd gets −10 and
• South round, 2nd rotation with 0 counters 4th gets −20)
( 2 0 ).
Example: The initial points are 25,000 each. A (winner):
43,600, B: 14,500, C: 15,400, D: 26,500, and rounded
off to B:15,000, C:15,000, D:27,000. The number of
7 Wareme the winner’s points is calculated as follows irrespective
of initial points: 120,000 − (15,000 + 15,000 + 27,000)
In the optional rule wareme ( , ; fissure, split), the = 63,000 (There sometimes happens the case like this.
player in front of whom the wall was split to indicate the The result of the winner differs from 64,000 that was
end of the dead wall, acquires and pays double the normal counted rounding 43,600 off and adding 4 × 5,000 (dif-
points. They are doubled after the points for counters ference between 30,000 and initial points)). The final
are added.[2] It is often especially called oya-ware ( ; points and place: A:+33 (1st), D:−3 (2nd), C:−15 (3rd),
parent’s wareme) when the player is the dealer. B:−15 (4th). The 1st place is also counted like: (30 − 15)
+ (30 − 15) + (30 − 27) = +33.
8 Chombo
10 See also
Under the rule of chombo ( , or ), a player
pays a penalty of the same amount as mangan to other
players in most rules. A non-dealer pays 4,000 to East and • Scoring in Mahjong
2,000 to the other two players, while a dealer pays 4,000
to each.[3][4] Chombo occurs for any of the following: • Japanese Mahjong yaku
• Closed kan after rīchi if the kan changes the hand [2] Sound of something heavy like a stone falling into water.
structure (in other words a kan of a tile after rīchi is (Japanese: )
not allowed if the hand can be interpreted such that
the tile is a part of a sequence) [3] (Japanese: )
5
12 References
[1] Wikipedia contributors, " ,” Wikipedia: Japanese
language version, February 23, 2011, 20:37 UTC, re-
trieved June 15, 2011.
[3] http://japanese-mahjong.com/riichi-mahjong.html
[4] http://mahjong-europe.org/rules/downloads/riichisheet_
EN.pdf
13 External links
• European Mahjong Association’s Riichi Ruleset
• Japanese rules
6 14 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES
14.2 Images
• File:MJd3.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/MJd3.png License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Orig-
inal artist: ?
• File:MJf1.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/MJf1.png License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Drawn
by Jerry Crimson Mann. Original artist:
Re-uploaded by ChibaRagi.
• File:MJs1bird.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/MJs1bird.png License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors:
Made with Image:MJs1.png, this version uploaded by Mcyjerry and Image:MJs1plane.png, this version uploaded by Nazki rhetorica. Orig-
inal artist: Drawn by ChibaRagi
• File:MJt3.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/MJt3.png License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Drawn
by Jerry Crimson Mann. Original artist:
Re-uploaded by ChibaRagi.
• File:MJt4.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/MJt4.png License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Origi-
nal artist: ?
• File:MJt5.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/MJt5.png License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Origi-
nal artist: ?
• File:MJw1.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/MJw1.png License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Orig-
inal artist: ?