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The Scoring System

The scoring system used in Mahjong Australia has been developed for international mahjong competitions with these goals: rules simplicity and ease of learning, international fairness, and game playability (competition of skill). At its core are the scoring "patterns".

Basic Rules

• Only the winning hand is scored. The winning player collects points corresponding to the value of his hand, from the other three players according to the "payoff scheme".
• The 44 "patterns" are listed below. Each pattern specifies a certain condition; for fulfilling the specified condition, the winning hand scores the specified point value. There are no "basic points" added for winning the hand itself; a hand scores only for the patterns it contains.
• The patterns are organized into categories and series. In the numbering, the first number indicates the category, and the second number indicates the series (within that category). For example, "3.3" indicates the "Honour Tiles" category and the "Winds" series.
• Additive Rule: When the winning hand fulfils the conditions for multiple patterns, the value of the hand is generally the sum of the values of the relevant patterns. (The multiplicative "Faan" system is not used.) You can count all patterns contained in the hand (even if one of them "implies" another), provided that they belong to different series. You cannot count multiple patterns from the same series, nor can you count the same pattern more than once. ("3.1 Value Honour" is an exception: you can add 10 points for each set of value honours in your hand.) As an example, a hand with "Four Concealed Triplets" is always also a "Concealed Hand" and an "All Triplets" hand, so such hand always scores at least 125+5+30=160 points
• 5-point Minimum Requirement: A hand must contain at least 5 points (i.e. any one pattern) in order to win. A regular hand which does not contain any patterns (called a "chicken hand") is not allowed to win; such would be treated as a "false win".
• Maximum Limit: There is a "limit" of 320 points. If the hand contains multiple patterns of which values add up to 320 or more, the hand scores 320 points (called a "Compound Limit Hand"). But if the hand contains a pattern which has a listed value of 320 or more (called a "Listed Limit Hand"), it scores the single highest-valued pattern in the hand. (It scores for one single pattern only).
• For some basic rules on winning and scoring, please see the section on "Scoring the Winning Hand" in the "Mahjong Rules" chapter, in particular the rule on "Freedom of Count".

Payoff Scheme

• Fixed Income Principle: The total income of the winning player is determined solely by the total value of the patterns in his hand: the income is always 3 times the pattern value. It will not fluctuate just because the player luckily self-draws. The payoff scheme here specifies how this payment should be split among the three other players.
• Everybody pays for self-draw: When the winner self-draws, no one is "responsible". When no one is responsible, the payment is split equally among the three other players: each player pays the winner 1 time the total pattern value of his hand.
• Discarder pays for big hands: When the winner wins on discard, in general the discarder is "responsible" (exception explained below). 30 points is taken to be the standard score value; for small hands of 30 points or less, the three players split the payment equally (regardless of who is responsible), and each player pays the winner 1 time the total hand value. For a big hand of over 30 points, each player first pays the winner 30 points, and then the responsible player pays the rest. For example, if the winning hand is 70 points, the two non-responsible players each pay 30 points, and the responsible player pays the remaining 150 points. The winner gets in total 210 points, which is exactly 3 times 70 points.
• Rule of Same-Turn Immunity: When the winner wins on discard, if in the same turn (starting from and including the winner's previous discarded tile, until before the win) another player has just discarded the same tile as the winning tile, then the discarder will not be "responsible" for having followed with the same discard. The player who first discarded the winning tile in the same turn (after the winner's previous discard) will be considered responsible. But if the winner has just discarded the winning tile, then no one will be considered responsible (and the payment split equally among the three players just like a self-draw win)

The Pattern

There are a total of 44 patterns in 10 categories.