Scoring

Points Tables

In Hong Kong style mahjong, Fan values are converted to points on an exponential scale to incentivize players to build rarer hands. These points can then be converted to money at different ratios (i.e. 100 points = $1).

Currently, half exponential (or half-spicy) scoring has become one of the more popular scoring systems, allowing for more comebacks compared to full exponential while still rewarding greedier plays.

Scoring Rules

To determine how points are paid out after a hand, Hong Kong style mahjong considers three main factors: the discarder, self draw, and the dealer.

Discarder Variants:

• Discarder Pays All: The player that discarded the winning tile pays the full points value to the winner. Other players are unaffected.
• Discarder Pays Extra: All players pay the winner the base value in points. The discarder pays double the base.

Self Draw:

The standard self draw bonus is for the winner to receive double the base points from every player, which in the Fan to Points Table above comes out to 1.5x the points value.

Dealer (East seat):

Some variants will modify scores if the winner or discarder is the dealer, often making it both riskier and more rewarding to play as the dealer.

• Dealer Wins Double: In addition to the rules above, if the dealer wins, they receive double the points.
• Dealer Loses Double: If the dealer loses by discard, they pay double the points. If the dealer loses by another player's self draw, they also owe double the points.

Limit Hands:

To prevent players from going bankrupt, most scoring systems set an upper limit for the amount of points you can earn from a single hand. In many systems, the limit is 13 fan, which is given for hands such as Thirteen Orphans .

Additional Scoring Tables

Full Exponential Scoring

Custom House Rules

The above table is one I use for custom games with Discarder Pays All and Self Draw Bonus rules, and the base point values are omitted.