Zung Jung Movement

The Kwan Series: Japanese games classical and modern

By

Nate Reynolds

This article is reproduced for archival purposes as part of the broader historical record surrounding Alan Kwan’s mahjong writing and the development context of Zung Jung Mahjong.

The article discusses Japanese Classical and Modern Japanese mahjong from a comparative rules perspective. The original text includes strong opinions about modern Japanese mahjong, gambling-parlor influence, dora, riichi, concealment requirements, and scoring complexity. These views are preserved as part of the document’s historical context and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of the Zung Jung Movement. The frustrations Alan Kwan expresses about Riichi Mahjong are historically important because many would later become design problems that Zung Jung Mahjong sought to address.

Original spelling, terminology, and formatting have been preserved where possible.

This article has been reformatted for modern web publication. Headings, tables, and layout elements have been reconstructed where necessary to improve readability, while preserving the original content and intent of the document.

Japanese games: Classical and Modern

written by Mr. ITO Kazuo
minor editing by Alan KWAN Shiu Ho

Part I Japanese Classical game

as played by
Japan Mahjong Association
(/Nihon Mahjong Renmei/).

The organisation has faithfully preserved the variant called er-shi-er, the prevailing form of the game in Japan before WWII and until mid 40’s, i.e. before the distortion by gambling parlours operated by gangs and professional gamblers. The only exception is the “discarder pays for all” scoring, which became widespread in early 30’s. The game can be considered as an in-between form of Classical and Modern, with its somewhat larger set of faan awarding patterns (larger than HKOS). By the way, what I called the distortion is not necessarily bad, as it introduced new patterns like seven pairs and three similar sequences, the latter being many players’ favourite.


faan (also spelt fan): Double(s). I use Cantonese transliteraltion thoroughout the document, because it doesn't look like any English words. The Mandarin sound for the word is almost identical to the Cantonese one. The Japanese one (/fan/) sounds like "fun".


In Japanese mahjong, the point exchange among losers in the Chinese Classical game has been dropped, both for the sake of simplicity and because it is no longer quite appropriate with the adoption of the “discarder pays for all” rule.

  • Use 136 tile set (i.e. Numbers and Honours only).
  • Each player has 2,000 points. If you use scoring sticks
    or chips, distribute
    values #
    10(black dots) x 10 = 100
    100(red dot) x 9 = 900
    500(five red) x 2 = 1000
    —————————
    2000
    to each player.
  • The game plays as per Classical variations or HKOS without flowers, except that
    • (dealer rotation)
      dealer moves when a hand ends in a draw, and
      (sacred discard)
      one cannot go out by claiming an identical tile with
      one that was discard by himself in the same hand before.
  • For those who know modern Japanese, you CAN go out by claiming when you hold a two way calling hand, say 2 and 5 of Characters with C-5 discarded by yourself and one of your opponents discards C-2.
  • There’s no minimum faan requirement.
  • Dead (loose) wall is always 14 tile long.

Scoring is different. Like modern systems, only winner scores points.

  • Triplet, pair, calling and self-pick points are added to the
    base of 20 points.
    • Base 20
      for any winning hands
    • Self-pick 2
    • One way calling 2
      • 12 + 3, 89 + 7, 24 + 3, claimed pair. You can get this point even when you have composite one way callings like 4567 + 4 or 7 (4-567 or 456-7) or 2223 + 3 (222-3), or in a case like 56789 + 7, since it can be interpreted as one way (567-89). In the last case, you also can forfeit 2 points if you are going to score 1 faan for No-point Hand.
    • A pair of dragon, (2) own or prevailing wind, except
    • A pair of double wind 4
    • An exposed triplet of 2-8, 2 for each
    • Other exposed triplet, 4 for each i.e. terminals and honours
    • A concealed trip. of 2-8, 4 for each
    • Other concealed trip. 8 for each
    • An exposed kong of 2-8, 8 for each
    • Other exposed kong, 16 for each
    • A concealed kong of 2-8, 16 for each
    • Other concealed kong, 32 for each
  • Bonus points
    • Concealed & claimed 10
      • You can obtain 1 faan for Pinghu and this 10 point bonus for a fully-concealed hand at the same time when your hand has no other points except the base and the pure bonus.
    • Pure hand 10
      • Hand made entirely of a number suit. (NB. Modern Japanese doesn’t have this bonus)

For those who are not familar with any variations of mahjong: It’s not enough to hold same four tiles in a hand for them to be recognised as a concealed kong. You should declare ‘Kong’ and have them melded as a concealed set, usually by showing all of them, turning two tiles in the middle face down to make it clear it’s concealed and drawing a supplement tile from the end of the Wall. Some keep them side by side with his/her hand, some lay them down just like a exposed set. Unlike in modern Chinese variants, we don’t put three tiles below and the remaining one above.

  • Doubles applied to sum of points, THEN result is rounded to nearest tens (i.e. banker’s round).
  • In case of a self-picked hand, non-winner pays winner the point calculated. Payment to and from dealer is doubled. This doubling is done after the rounding.
  • In case of a claimed hand, discarder pays all the points by him/herself. Hence,
    • For a hand claimed by dealer: rounded point x 6
      For a hand claimed by non-dealer: rounded point x 4.
  • Limit is 2,000 points for non-dealer and 3,000 points for dealer
    (500 x 2 + 1,000 and 1,000 x 3 in case of self-pick).
  • The following patterns are recognised.

Patterns | Faan(Doubles)

No Point Hand | 1 (pinghu)

  • A mahjong hand with no extra points but the base, fully concealed and claimed, or pure. Or,
  • (1) Claimed
  • (2) two way calling (e.g. 45 + 3 or 6, 23456 + 1 or 4 or 7)
  • (3) all sequences hand
  • (4) with a zero-point pair (numbers or non faan awarding honours)

Triplet of Own Wind | 1

Triplet of Prevailing Wind | 1

  • If a triplet is of own wind AND prevailing wind (e.g. E of E-E), you can score both faan.

Triplet of a Dragon | 1

Self-pick Fully Concealed | 1

All Pungs | 1

Semi-pure | 1

  • A hand consists of a number suit (i.e. Characters, Bamboos or Dots/Circles) and honours.

Semi Pure-terminals | 1

  • A hand consists entirely of ones, nines and honours.
  • You can score 1 faan for All Pungs as well although it always goes with this pattern. You cannot score 1 faan for “All Sets Containing Terminals or Honours”.

No Terminals or Honours | 1

Terminals or Honours in Each Set | 1

  • A pair also must be of a terminal or a honour.

Three Concealed Triplets | 1

  • You can count a concealed kong as a concealed triplet here.
  • The same applies for Four Concealed Triplets.

Lesser Three Dragons | 1

  • You can add 2 faan from Dragon pungs.

Bottom of the Sea | 1

  • Going out by self-picking the last tile in the Wall.
  • Note that there are always 14 dead tiles.

Bottom of the River | 1

  • Going out by claiming discard from the one who draw the last tile in the Wall.

Kong pick | 1

  • Going out by a Kong supplement tile.
  • This hand is always recognised as self-pick.


Robbing a Kong | 1

One thru nine of a suit | 1

  • Straight Flush. Holding three sequences of 123 456 789 of a suit.


Pure | 3

  • See also the point table above.
  • You cannot score additional 1 faan for Semi-pure.
  • At the time of Whitney, it was 4 faan (without 10 bonus point).
  • Another witness says the hand was recognised as 3 faan in mid 40’s.
  • It seems that the organisation raised the faan value at some time
  • in fifties and reduced it again later.


Heavenly Hand | Limit

  • Dealer goes out with just dealt hand.

Earthly Hand | Limit

  • The definition is different from Chinese one.
  • Non-dealer goes out by his first tile from the Wall.
  • There must not be a pung, chow, or kong before his/her turn.

Greater Three Dragons | Limit

Lesser Four Winds | Limit

Greater Four Winds | Limit

All Honours | Limit

Pure Terminals | Limit

  • A Hand made entirely of ones and nines.

Four Concealed Triplets | Limit


Thirteen Orphans | Limit

  • Each one tile of Winds, Dragons, Ones and Nines, with one of them making a pair. If you haven’t got a pair, it becomes 13-way(!) calling hand. If you do, it’s calling a missing tile.

Nine Gates | Limit

  • A nine-way calling hand of 1112345678999.
  • Modern Japanese extended the definition to include any hand that looks like 1112345678999 plus one of the nine tiles (e.g. 1122345678999 + 1), but I don’t believe such an authentic ruleset like this allows modern extentions.

Banker’s Round Scoring Charts

NB. 20 points and 0 faan is impossible because a 20 point hand is always awarded 1 faan for Pinghu.

Claimed, from discarder to non-dealer
p\f 0 1 2 3 4 5
20 80 160 320 640 1280 2000
22 80 160 360 720 1400 2000
24 80 200 400 760 1520 2000
26 120 200 400 840 1680 2000
28 120 240 440 880 1800 2000
30 120 240 480 960 1920 2000
32 120 240 520 1040 2000 2000
34 120 280 560 1080 2000 2000
36 160 280 560 1160 2000 2000
38 160 320 600 1200 2000 2000
40 160 320 640 1280 2000 2000
42 160 320 680 1360 2000 2000
44 160 360 720 1400 2000 2000
46 200 360 720 1480 2000 2000
48 200 400 760 1520 2000 2000
50 200 400 800 1600 2000 2000

Claimed, from discarder to dealer
p\f 0 1 2 3 4 5
20 120 240 480 960 1920 3000
22 120 240 540 1080 2100 3000
24 120 300 600 1140 2280 3000
26 180 300 600 1260 2520 3000
28 180 360 660 1320 2700 3000
30 180 360 720 1440 2880 3000
32 180 360 780 1560 3000 3000
34 180 420 840 1620 3000 3000
36 240 420 840 1740 3000 3000
38 240 480 900 1800 3000 3000
40 240 480 960 1920 3000 3000
42 240 480 1020 2040 3000 3000
44 240 540 1080 2100 3000 3000
46 300 540 1080 2220 3000 3000
48 300 600 1140 2280 3000 3000
50 300 600 1200 2400 3000 3000

Self-pick, transactions not involving dealer
p\f 0 1 2 3 4 5
20 20 40 80 160 320 500
22 20 40 90 180 350 500
24 20 50 100 190 380 500
26 30 50 100 210 420 500
28 30 60 110 220 450 500
30 30 60 120 240 480 500
32 30 60 130 260 500 500
34 30 70 140 270 500 500
36 40 70 140 290 500 500
38 40 80 150 300 500 500
40 40 80 160 320 500 500
42 40 80 170 340 500 500
44 40 90 180 350 500 500
46 50 90 180 370 500 500
48 50 100 190 380 500 500
50 50 100 200 400 500 500

Self-pick, to/from dealer
p\f 0 1 2 3 4 5
20 40 80 160 320 640 1000
22 40 80 180 360 700 1000
24 40 100 200 380 760 1000
26 60 100 200 420 840 1000
28 60 120 220 440 900 1000
30 60 120 240 480 960 1000
32 60 120 260 520 1000 1000
34 60 140 280 540 1000 1000
36 80 140 280 580 1000 1000
38 80 160 300 600 1000 1000
40 80 160 320 640 1000 1000
42 80 160 340 680 1000 1000
44 80 180 360 700 1000 1000
46 100 180 360 740 1000 1000
48 100 200 380 760 1000 1000
50 100 200 400 800 1000 1000
(end)

Part II Rules and Scoring of Modern Japanese

Rules

I’m reluctant to describe rules of modern Japanese because I feel it is bit too chance-driven and complicated to be a good game, even for experienced local players. Unless you are going to play in Japan, Classical Japanese presented in full by Whitney or rule described by Nannete without ready declaration (You have to guess! It’s one of the most important skill in playing mahjong) is the best bet, IMHO.

Here are the major differences between modern Japanese and Classical games:

  • Addition of Reach, or Ready Call
    When one has a fully concealed ready hand, declares “reach” (or “ready”) on his/her turn, deposits 1000 points and freezes his/her hand, he/she receives 1 faan for doing so. It is customary to place your discard horizontally when you call Ready, to make it clear when you made the declaration later in the hand. The deposit belongs to a player who goes out in the same hand. When it is a draw, the points are carried over to the next hand. If the last hand is a draw, it belongs to a winner of a game. When another player goes out claiming a tile discarded by caller immediately after a ready call, the call is nullified and the deposit is returned to the caller. A ready call with a not-ready hand is an irregularity, treated just like an invalid mahjong. It is OK to call Ready with a sacred discard hand, though you may not wish to do so in most cases. It is a matter of dispute whether a calling player is allow to declare concealed kongs. My suggestion is not to allow them at all.
  • Addition of Dora, or Double Tiles
    Dora is selected after opening of the wall, by turning up the third tile from the end of the wall. The tile is called Dora indicator. Any tile following it in the numeric order becomes Dora (C1->C2, D9->D1, E->S->W->N->E, White->Green->Red->White). Common optional rules bring in more and more Doras:
    • (Optional)Reverse Dora. A player who goes out by Reach can use the tile beneath the Dora indicator as another Dora indicator.
    • (Optional)Kong Dora. When a player declares a Kong, a tile next to the last Dora indicator (clockwise) becomes another Dora indicator, in addition to the original one(s). It is a matter of dispute when new indicator becomes effective. I believe the most widely accepted ruling is that a Kong Dora becomes effective simultaneously with a Kong declaration unless another player robs it.
    • (Optional) Reverse Kong Dora. A player who goes out by Reach
      can use tiles beneath Kong Dora indicator(s) as Dora indicator(s)
    • (Optional, not very common in friendly games) Fixed Dora, or Red Fives. Some play with five tiles all plainted in red. They are always recognised as Doras, regardless of current indicators. With plethora of Doras, some dare to state that the best strategy in modern Japanese is “quick ready, immediate Reach, and no defence
      at all”.
  • Additional patterns and inflated faan for existing ones.
  • Excessive favour for fully-concealed hands. It has a dark historical background – professional gamblers, also professionals of various kinds of cheats, didn’t like many pungs and chows for obvious reasons. The tragedy was that they played major role in the propagation of the game. Those days are gone with many mahjong publications, video games and dealing machines (developed to kill certain types of cheats), but disrespect for pungs and chows still remains in the form of exposure devaluation and reverse Dora madness.
  • A game is two round, East and South.
  • Dealer moves in case of non-abortive draws in East wind round, but he/she stays when he/she is ready for out in South wind round.
  • Ante. Each player offers 5,000 points out of the par of 30,000 points as ante, which winner of the game adds to his/her final score.
    • Denomination of scoring sticks (or chips) are:
      Many dots = 10,000 x 1
      Five red dots = 5,000 x 2
      Red dot = 1,000 x 9
      Black dots = 100 x 10
  • Positional bonus. Upon negotiation, predetermined amount of bonus is paid to first place player by fourth and to second by third.
  • There is mininum faan requirement of one faan. It is raised to two faan when the extra hand counter is equal to or larger than five (see Extra Hand Bonus).
  • Extended Sacred Discard. A player cannot go out by claiming any tiles when he/she discarded at least one of his/her calling tiles before in the same hand. The restriction is not applied to outs by self-pick. An commonly adopted exception is regarding 13-way calling Thirteen Orphans – one can claim any tiles not discarded by him/herself with this hand.
  • Not-ready Penalty. Because of annoyingly frequent exhaustive draws, the following rule has been universally adopted in modern Japanese: a net amount of 3,000 points are exchanged between not-ready players and ready players. Ready does not mean Ready Call here, or a ready hand does not have to meet any going out requirements, including minimum faan and sacred discard.
Not ready 1,000-+
Not ready 1,000-+->Ready
Not ready 1,000-+
Not ready 1,500-->Ready
Not ready 1,500-->Ready
       +->1,000 Ready
Not ready -+->1,000 Ready
       +->1,000 Ready

If the last hand end is an exhaustive draw, some choose to give
the penalty points to a winner of a game.

  • Abortive Draws (much rarer than exhaustive draws).
    • Nine kinds of Terminals or Honours. When dealer is dealt nine kinds of terminals or honours or more, or non-dealer find them on the first turn (without any preceding pung/chow/kongs), he/she can show them to make the hand end in an abortive draw.
    • Four Same Wind Discards. When four players discarded the same Wind tiles in the first turn, the hand ends in an abortive draw.
    • Four Kongs. As a result of the position of (the first) Dora indicator, there cannot be more than four Kongs in a hand. When more than one players makes four Kongs, a hand ends in an abortive draw. When a player makes four Kongs alone, a hand continues but no one can declare additional Kongs. Alternatively, some allow fifth Kong declaration in the latter case, when the hand ends in an abortive draw at the moment of fifth declaration.
    • [Optional] Four Reaches, or Ready Calls. When three players made Ready calls and the remaining one does so successfully, the hand ends in an abortive draw.
    • [Optional] Three Outs. When three players declare “out” simultaneously on the same discard, the hands ends in an abortive draw. Another common ruling for this situation is to allow the player nearest to the discarder to supercede the other mahjongs.
  • Double Outs. Those who recognise Three Outs as an abortive draw allow two players declare “out” simultaneously on the same discard. Others allow a player nearest to the discarder to take precedence.
  • Abortive termination. When a player loose all the chips/scoring sticks and more, a game ends abortively. A player who made the victim bankrupt received 10,000 point bonus from default player. [upon negotiation]
  • Liability. It’s similar to that of Hong Kong Old Style, but only applicable to Greater Three Dragons and Greater Four Winds. A player who lets another meld the last triplet(kong) constituting these hands (e.g. Red Dragon when White and Green are melded) has to pay all the points if the latter goes out by self-pick, and a half if by claiming.
  • There are hordes of restrictive/speculative house rules in addition to minimum faan, sacred discard and Dora proliferation, but you don’t have to care about them unless you are determined to play in mahjong parlours. If you do, don’t hasitate to say you are a newcomer, and parlour staffs will explain house rules until you feel confident.
  • Examples:
    • [pung/chow restriction] One cannot pung/chow a tile and discard the identical tile. Some elaborated this to prohibit chowing 4 to 56 and discarding 7, or something like that.
    • [/kui-tan-nashi/ (no exposed All Simples)] Outside of the Tokyo metropolitan area, some do not count 1 faan for All Simples with exposed sets for the purpose of minimum faan requirement, or do not recognise it as a faan awarding pattern.
    • [/saki-dsuke-nasi/ or /kanzen-saki-dsuke/ (minimum faan first)] Since I learned the game in in the Tokyo metropolitan area, I really don’t understand how it works. It usually means, I guess, a faan awarding pattern must be completed before one goes out. It also seems to introduce some pung/chow restrictions, but I don’t know.

The game is almost always played for money although growing number of players play it for pure intellectual enjoyment. Common stakes are:

  • no rate (/no re-to/) = gambling prohibited. It never means “no fixed rate”. You’ll be thrown out of door if you start to discuss stakes in such parlours.
  • 0.3 (/ten san/) = 30 yen for 1,000 points
  • 0.5 (/ten go/) = 50 yen for 1,000 points
  • 1 (/pin/) = 100 yen for 1,000 points

Parlours displaying exchange rates above /pin/ are generally considered dangerous places. Although private gambling is illegal in Japan (state-run ones are, of course, legal, because they can collect money 🙁 ), low stakes like these do not draw attention of enforcement officers.

Scoring

Only winner counts score. Scoring consists of three parts, point count,
faan count, and multiplication.

1.0 Point Count

Sum up all points applicable to a mahjong hand.

1.1 Base

All mahjong hands automatically receive the base of 20 points.

1.2 Self-pick point

One receives 2 points when he/she goes out by self-pick.

1.3 Fully-concealed and claimed point

If a mahjong hand is fully-concealed and claimed, it receives
10 point bonus.

1.4 Calling point

If self-pick or claimed tile completes the following, a mahjong
hand receives 2 points.

  • a pair
  • a middle calling sequence (e.g 24 + 3)
  • a one-side calling sequence (12 + 3 or 89 + 7)

You can count these 2 points if there is more than one interpretation
of callings and at least one of them is one way.
e.g 56789 + 7. It can be considered 567 89+7 as well as 56+7 789.
Or you can forfeit calling point in this case if you are going to score
1 faan for No Point Hand.

1.5 Pair point (see also 1.7 Exceptions)

Pair of Dragons 2 points
Pair of Own Wind 2 points
Pair of Prevailing Wind 2 points
Pair of Double Wind 2 points / 4 points

Different group of people give double wind pair different points.
I think 4 is older and 2 is rationalised correction.

1.6 Triplet/Kong point

For each triplet/kong
2-8 | others
Exposed triplet 2 | 4
Concealed triplet 4 | 8
Exposed kong 8 | 16
Concealed kong 16 | 32

1.7 Exceptions

(1) Seven Pairs
A seven pair is considered to be a 25 point 2 faan hand when it is above a Limit (see 3.4 Limit System), or 50 point 1 faan for easier look-up of score tables. You cannot count any other points including the base and 2 points for pair calling.

(2) No Point Hand with exposed sets
There is an implicit assumption that lowest possible score should be 1,000, because a 20 point hand was always award 1 faan for being No Point Hand, historically. As a result of the full-concealment restriction of No Point Hand, mahjong hands like two way calling All Simples with exposed sets and all sequences could be scored as 700, if we followed the scoring procedure strictly. To circumvent the problem, No Point Hand with exposed sets is treated as if it were 30 point hand.

2.0 Faan (Doubles)

Sum up all faan applicable to a mahjong hand.

Any legitimate mahjong hands (usually that has minimum of 1 faan, excluding this base faan and faan from /dora/) are automatically awarded 2 faan. Because it has been more than 20 years since the introduction of the base faan, younger players no longer count these 2 faan explicitly.

If you do not play with Japanese players, I’d recommend to avoid enforcing concealment requirement on all the patterns but Reach, to remove /dora/ and /Ippatsu/ or First Round, and not to devalue pattern values for exposure. It might be better to abolish Reach, because it introduces many rule complications.

All Sequences – 1 faan
Unlike all the other variations, it needs to be fully concealed in modern, or Reach Japanese. You will notice excessive concealment orientation in the following paragraphs. Mahjong Master Millions and IMS adopt this attitude without careful examination, which I do not think is a wise decision, affecting game play in a negative fashion.

The original definition of this pattern is a 20 point hand (or
30 point hand, when fully concealed).  That is, two-way calling
All Sequences with a zero-point pair.  Requirement for concealment
is very Reach specific and not adopted in certain regional variants.
In the eastern part of the country represented by Tokyo, one can
forfeit 2 points for self-pick to score All Sequences, while in
the west represented by Osaka a hand must be claimed to be All
Sequences.

No Terminals or Honours (All Simples) – 1 faan
Some impose full concealment requirement for this pattern also, but they seldom do so in Tokyo.

Same Sequences – 1 faan
Need to be fully concealed, again. Two same sequences in a hand.

Self-pick Fully Concealed – 1 faan

Reach, or Ready Call – 1 faan
Need to be fully concealed, again. When one has a fully concealed calling hand, declares “Reach” (or “Ready”) on his/her turn, deposits 1000 points and freezes his/her hand, he/she receives 1 faan for doing so.

/Ippatsu/, or First Round – 1 faan
Need to be fully concealed because it requires Ready Call. When one goes out on the same round (including his/her next draw from the wall) of the ready call without interrupted by a Pung, a Chow or a Kong (exposed or concealed), he/she receives extra 1 faan.

/Dora/, or Double Tile – 1 faan
For each /dora/ tile in a mahjong hand. Faan from /dora/ are not counted for minimum faan requirement.

Robbing a Kong – 1 faan

Bottom of the Sea – 1 faan
Going out by self-picking the last tile in the Wall.
Note that there are always 14 dead tiles.

Bottom of the River – 1 faan
Going out by claiming discard from the one who draw the last tile in the Wall.

Kong Pick – 1 faan
Going out by a Kong supplement tile. Some let discarder pay for all when a Kong is made by claiming a discarded tile, but many don’t, I suppose.

Dragon Triplet(Kong) – 1 faan

Own Wind Triplet(Kong) – 1 faan

Prevailing Wind Triplet(Kong) – 1 faan
If one’s own wind and prevailing wind are the same, one can score both faan out of a triplet(kong) of the wind.

Terminals or Honours in Each Set – 2 faan, 1 faan when exposed.
Another case of really excessive concealment orientation. Many patterns lose their values when they have exposed set(s). This devaluation applies even if a exposed set is not a part of a pattern.

Three Similar Sequences – 2 faan, 1 faan when exposed.
e.g. C2C3C4 B2B3B4 D2D3D4

Three Similar Triplets(Kongs) – 2 faan

Straight Sequence – 2 faan, 1 faan when exposed.
Three sequences of one through nine of the same suit.
e.g. C1C2C3C4C5C6C7C8C9

Lesser Three Dragons – 2 faan
You can also count 2 faan for two Dragon Triplets

Three Concealed Triplets(Kongs) – 2 faan

Three Kongs – 2 faan

All Triplets – 2 faan

Seven Pairs – 2 faan (See also 3.3 Seven Pairs)

Mixed Pure Terminals – 2 faan
A mahjong hand consisting entirely of ones, nines and honours. You can always count 2 faan for All Triplets in addition.

First Turn Ready Call – 2 faan
Ready Call in the first turn. There cannot be preceding pungs, chows or kongs by the other players.

Three Consequetive Triplets – 3 faan

Two Similar Sequences – 3 faan
Need to be fully concealed, all over again.

Terminals in Each Set – 3 faan, 2 faan when exposed.

Semi-Pure – 3 faan, 2 faan when exposed.

Pure – 6 faan, 5 faan when exposed.

See also 4. Special and Limit Hands

3.0 Multiplication

3.1 Claimed hands

(1) Round up sum of points to tens.
(2) Double the result faan times.
(3) Multiply it by 6 for dealer and 4 for non-dealer.
(4) Round up the result to hundreds.
(5) Discarder pays the resulting amount to winner.

Because of its complexity, we just remember these figures instead. Many even don’t know the underlying formula.

Non-dealer’s 20 and 40 points: 13, 26, 52, Limit.
Non-dealer’s 30 points and dealer’s 20 and 40 points: 10, 20, 39, 77, Limit.
Dealer’s 30 points: 15, 29, 58, 116, Limit.
Non-dealer’s 50 point: 16, 32, 64, Limit.
Dealer’s 50 point: 24, 48, 96, Limit.

Point counts over 50 are rare, and you can easily count 60 point and 80 point hands by shifting the values of 30 points and 40 points, respectively.

Non-dealer
p\f 3 4 5 6 7
20 – 1300 2600 5200 Limit
30 1000 2000 3900 7700 Limit
40 1300 2600 5200 Limit
50 1600 3200 6400 Limit
60 2000 3900 7700 Limit
70 2300 4500 Limit

(subtract 2 from the faan values if you do not bother to count the base faan)

Dealer
p\f 3 4 5 6 7
20 – 2000 3900 7700 Limit
30 1500 2900 5800 11600 Limit
40 2000 3900 7700 Limit
50 2400 4800 9600 Limit
60 2900 5800 11600 Limit
70 3400 6800 Limit

3.2 Self-pick hands

(1) Round up sum of points to tens.
(2) Double the result faan times.
(3) Double the result again to calculate transaction to and from
dealer.
(4) Round up the results to hundreds.
(5) All non-winner pay the resulting amount to winner.

There are less to be remembered here—
20 and 40 points: 4/7, 7/13, 13/26, 20/40
30 points: 3/5, 5/10, 10/20, 20/39, 20/40
50 points: 4/8, 8/16, 16/32, 20/40

Non-dealer
p\f 3 4 5 6 7
20 400/700 700/1300 1300/2600 2000/4000
30 300/500 500/1000 1000/2000 2000/3900 2000/4000
40 400/700 700/1300 1300/2600 2000/4000
50 400/800 800/1600 1600/3200 2000/4000
60 500/1000 1000/2000 2000/3900 2000/4000
70 600/1200 1200/2300 2000/4000

Dealer
p\f 3 4 5 6 7
20 – 700×3 1300×3 2600×3 4000×3
30 500×3 1000×3 2000×3 3900×3 4000×3
40 700×3 1300×3 2600×3 4000×3
50 800×3 1600×3 3200×3 4000×3
60 1000×3 2000×3 3900×3 4000×3
70 1200×3 2300×3 4000×3

3.3 Seven Pairs

Historically speaking, Seven Pairs was a 100 point hand. For the purpose of the Limit System (see below), count Seven Pairs as 2 faan. If a Seven Pair hand has less than 3 extra faan but the base faan, treat it as a 50 point 1 faan.

3.4 Limit system

This is somewhat similar to the limit system of Hong Kong Old Style.

When a calculated score exceeds the Limit of 8,000 point for non-dealer and 12,000 points for dealer (or 2,000/4,000 and 4,000 x 3 in case of self-pick), it is scored as a Limit. This usually occurs at 6 or 7 faan (4 or 5 faan if you do not count the base).

When you score more than 8 faan, use this table instead of that complex formula.

Faan Name Non-dealer Dealer
8 – 9 A Limit and Half 12,000(3,000/6,000) 18,000(6,000×3)
10 – 12 Double Limit 16,000(4,000/8,000) 24,000(8,000×3)
13 – 14 Triple Limit 24,000(6,000/12,000) 36,000(12,000×3)
15+ Quadruple Limit 32,000(8,000/16,000) 48,000(16,000×3)

If you don’t count the base faan (like most contemporary mahjong publications and video games in Japan), this becomes
6 – 7 A Limit and Half
8 -10 Double Limit
11 -12 Triple Limit
13+ Quadruple Limit(=Maximum)

A Limit Hand worths Quadruple Limit. Some reserve Quadruple Limit for Limit Hands only as it used to be.

4.0 Special and Limit Hands

4.1 Special Hand

Humanly Hand – A Limit
Going out by claiming before the first turn, without preceding
pungs, chows or kongs by anyone.

4.2 Limit Hands

Those who recognise Double Quadruple Limits also tend to count multiple
Limit Patterns. E.g.
GG EEE SSS WWW NNN
Greater Four Winds = Double Quadruple Limit
All Honours = Quadruple Limit
——————————————-
Triple Quadruple Limit
If it’s fully concealed, you can add another Quadruple Limit
for Four Concealed Triplets, making it Quadruple Quadruple Limit(!!!)

Four Concealed Triplets – Quadruple Limit
It occurs really often, maybe more frequently than Triple Limits, because of the concealment obsession in modern Japanese. I myself do not remember how many times I made it. Some recoginise pair calling Four Concealed Triplets as Double Quadruple Limit.

Thirteen Orphans – Quadruple Limit
Supposed to be the second easiest Limit Hand. It enjoys great popularity because of its unique shape and cool Japanese (Chinese?) name. I’m not very good at it, though. Some (or many) recoginise thirteen-way calling Thirteen Orphans as Double Quadruple Limit.

Greater Three Dragons – Quadruple Limit
Another candidate for the second easiest Limit Hand.

All Honours – Quadruple Limit

Lesser Four Winds – Quadruple Limit

Greater Four Winds – Quadruple Limit
Many recognise it as Double Quadruple Limit.

Great Wheel – Quadruple Limit
A Seven Pairs made of 2 through 8 of Circles. I believe this is a recent addition, but widely accepted. Some do not recognise it.

All Green – Quadruple Limit
A mahjong hand consists entirely of all green tiles, i.e. B23468 and/or Green Dragon.

Heavenly Hand – Quadruple Limit

Earthly Hand – Quadruple Limit
Unlike Chinese games, it is self-pick mahjong on the first turn, without preceding pungs, chows or kongs by any players.

Four Kongs – Quadruple Limit
Supposed-to-be the hardest limit hand. Because it’s so rare, I’ve never heard anyone discussing if it’s worth Double Quadruple Limit.

Pure Terminals – Quadruple Limit
A mahjong hand consists entirely of ones and nines. Another extremely hard one.

Nine Gates – Quadruple Limit.
It doesn’t have to be nine-way calling hand, despite its original definition. When your mahjong hand looks like 1112345678999 plus one of 1-9 all in one suit, it is recoginised as Nine Gates in modern Japanese. Many recognise true, or nine-way calling Nine Gates as Double Quadruple Limit. It is considered to be the Limit Hand of Limit Hands. I saw a big billboard celebrating a student
who made (true) Nine Gates in the nation’s most prestigeous university in mid 80’s.

(Optional)Dealer’s Eighth Extra Hand – Quadruple Limit.
If dealer makes eight mahjongs in his/her extra hands (not counting draws), the eighth mahjong is scored as Quadruple Limit, regardless of his/her hand. Dealer moves to the former South in that case. Some allow dealer to stay, in which case all further mahjongs by dealer are scored as Quadruple Limit as long as he/she stays.

5.0 Extra Hand Bonus

For each dealer’s extra hand, add 300 points to the final score. It is payed alone when a hand is claimed, and each payes 100 points per extra hand when a hand is self-picked.

There’s another complication to this caused by the alteration of dealer rotation rule – extra hand counter is incremented by one when a hand ends in a draw, regardless of dealer rotation.

(end)

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