Mahjong Rules — How to Play and Keep Score
Mahjong is the tile game every rummy descends from: draw a tile, discard a tile, and build fourteen tiles into four sets and a pair. What makes scorekeeping hard is that "how much is this hand worth" is a genuinely different question in each region. Keep Score does not try to compute hand values from the tiles; it records the agreed value of each hand and enforces the one rule every version shares, which is that the money has to come from somewhere.
Overview
Mahjong is the tile game every rummy descends from: draw a tile, discard a tile, and build fourteen tiles into four sets and a pair. What makes scorekeeping hard is that "how much is this hand worth" is a genuinely different question in each region. Keep Score does not try to compute hand values from the tiles; it records the agreed value of each hand and enforces the one rule every version shares, which is that the money has to come from somewhere.
Setup
Four players sit at the compass points. Build the wall, roll for the dealer, and deal thirteen tiles each with the dealer taking a fourteenth. The dealer is East and keeps the seat as long as they keep winning. Set each player's starting stack in the app before the first hand so the running totals mean something.
How to play
Draw and discard in turn, anticlockwise. You may claim another player's discard to complete a run, a set, or your winning hand, and claiming out of turn skips the players in between. A hand ends when somebody declares mahjong, either on their own draw or on a discard, or when the wall runs out and the hand is a draw.
Scoring
Every hand produces one positive entry and two or three negative ones, and they must sum to zero. Under riichi, the basic value is fu multiplied by 2 raised to the power of (2 + han), where fu starts at 20 and is rounded up to the nearest ten. From that base:
- A non-dealer winning on a discard takes 4 times the base from the discarder; a dealer takes 6 times.
- A non-dealer winning on their own draw takes 2 times the base from the dealer and 1 times from each other player.
- A dealer winning on their own draw takes 2 times the base from all three players.
- All payments round up to the nearest 100.
With the caps on, the ceilings are: mangan at 5 han pays 8,000 to a non-dealer and 12,000 to a dealer; haneman at 6 to 7 han pays 12,000 and 18,000; baiman at 8 to 10 han pays 16,000 and 24,000; sanbaiman at 11 to 12 han pays 24,000 and 36,000; and yakuman from 13 han pays 32,000 and 48,000. Each repeat counter adds 300 to the win, paid entirely by the discarder or split 100 each on a self-draw. Riichi sticks on the table go to the winner on top of everything else.
Chinese Official pays a flat 8 plus the hand's point value. On a discard the discarder pays 8 plus the hand value and the other two pay 8 each; on a self-draw all three pay 8 plus the hand value.
Hong Kong uses a doubling table capped at a house limit, most often 13 faan, and the tables vary enough between houses that the app records the agreed figure rather than deriving it. American hands carry a printed value; a discarder commonly pays double while the other two pay face value, and everyone pays double on a self-drawn win.
Ending the game
Play the agreed number of wind rounds, or stop early if someone is bankrupted. Add the placement bonus to each final stack, measure against the return target, and the highest settlement wins.
Common variations
Table rules multiply endlessly. Common switches include whether repeated dealerships are allowed to stack indefinitely, whether a bankrupt player may keep playing, and whether the last discard of an exhausted wall carries a penalty.
Scoring at a glance
| Who wins | Highest score |
|---|---|
| Rounds | 8 fixed |
| Score sheet | One number per player per round, with a running total |
| Typical round score | -12000 – 48000 |
| Negative scores | Possible |
| Worth knowing | Quick values are riichi point payments. Every hand must sum to zero across the table once riichi sticks and honba counters are included, and that balance check is the app's main job. |
Mahjong — score sheet
House rules and settings
Every table plays Mahjong a little differently. These are the 11 rules groups argue about. Each one is a setting in the app — and changing it recalculates a match that is already in progress, which is the thing no other score keeper does.
Rule set: what are the options in Mahjong?
Which family of rules the table is using. Each one values winning hands differently and pays them out differently, so pick this before the first hand.
Default: Riichi (Japanese). Four options:
In the app: “Rule set”.
Game length: what are the options in Mahjong?
How long the session runs. The dealership passes round the table once per wind round, and repeats when the dealer wins, so the actual number of hands is usually higher than the headline figure.
Default: East and South (eight dealerships). Four options:
In the app: “Game length”.
Starting points each: what is the default in Mahjong?
The stack of point sticks every player begins with. Japanese play normally starts at 25,000.
Default: 25000. Adjustable from 0 to 50000 in steps of 1000.
In the app: “Starting points each”.
Return target: what is the default in Mahjong?
The figure each player's final stack is measured against when settling up. The difference between this and the starting stack is a pot that the overall winner scoops.
Default: 30000. Adjustable from 0 to 60000 in steps of 1000.
In the app: “Return target”.
Placement bonus: what are the options in Mahjong?
A fixed bonus or penalty applied at the end based purely on finishing position, measured in thousands of points. It rewards coming first rather than merely collecting points.
Default: +20 / +10 / -10 / -20. Four options:
In the app: “Placement bonus”.
Cap big hands: on or off in Mahjong?
Applies the standard ceilings so an enormous hand pays a fixed maximum instead of an unbounded amount. Turning this off lets rare monster hands pay their raw calculated value.
Default: on.
In the app: “Cap big hands”.
Round borderline hands up: on or off in Mahjong?
Treats the two values that land just short of the first ceiling as if they had reached it, which simplifies the two most awkward numbers on the payment table.
Default: off.
In the app: “Round borderline hands up”.
Riichi declaration bets: on or off in Mahjong?
A player who commits to a closed hand puts 1,000 points on the table. Whoever wins the next hand collects everything sitting there.
Default: on.
In the app: “Riichi declaration bets”.
Repeat counter value: what is the default in Mahjong?
Extra points added to the winner's payout for each repeat marker on the table. Markers build up when the dealer wins or when a hand ends with no winner.
Default: 300. Adjustable from 0 to 500 in steps of 100.
In the app: “Repeat counter value”.
End if someone goes below zero: on or off in Mahjong?
Stops the session immediately when any player's stack falls below zero rather than letting them play on in debt.
Default: on.
In the app: “End if someone goes below zero”.
Money per 1,000 points: what is the default in Mahjong?
If the table is settling in cash, the amount one thousand points is worth. Leave at 0 to keep the game purely on points.
Default: 0. Adjustable from 0 to 100 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Money per 1,000 points”.
Variants of Mahjong
Three-player riichi
The 2 to 8 characters are removed and stacks usually start at 35,000. The player to the dealer's right takes the absent seat's tsumo payment.
East-only game
A single wind round, roughly half the length. Popular for lunch breaks and for online play.
American mahjong
Hands are taken from a card reissued each year, jokers are used freely, and every hand has a printed value rather than a calculated one.
Mahjong is also known as
Mah-jongg, Majiang, Riichi, Hong Kong Mahjong, NMJL. These are the same game — the rules and the score sheet above apply to all of them.
Keep score offline
The sheet above works in your browser. Cardzo for iPhone remembers your players, survives a closed tab, and works in a field with no signal.
Coming to the App Store.