The following article was written by Alan Kwan and originally distributed online as a plain-text document during the early years of internet mahjong communities. It is reproduced here for archival and educational purposes.

Long before the creation of the Zung Jung Mahjong Scoring System, Kwan spent years studying, comparing, and documenting mahjong variants from around the world. This article examines Modern Japanese Mahjong from a rules-and-scoring perspective, cataloging its major scoring patterns, special hands, the dora system, and abortive draw rules. It also provides insight into Kwan’s early thinking on mahjong design, variant comparison, and scoring philosophy. The reader can also see the development of Kwan’s categorical organization of scoring patterns which became a defining feature for Zung Jung Mahjong.

As many of Kwan’s early writings have become increasingly difficult to locate through their original sources, the Zung Jung Movement is preserving these materials to ensure they remain accessible to players, organizers, and researchers interested in the history and development of modern mahjong systems.

• original author: Alan Kwan
• Modern Japanese Mahjong
• Wayback Machine capture link
• Original spelling/formatting preserved

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.

Modern Japanese Mahjong

Scoring, Part 1 : Fan’s and “Scoring Patterns”

version 1.01
by Alan Shiu Ho Kwan

(version 1.0 contains corrected Japanese names and
kanji in JIS code)

(This article can be downloaded from
http://home.netvigator.com/~tarot/Mahjong/mj_jap01.txt
)

Introduction

This article describes the central aspect of scoring in Modern Japanese Mahjong, the counting of fan’s (doubles). Modern Japanese is a modern pattern-based system, with quite a number of scoring patterns (“special hands”), many of them being worth more fans than the same pattern in Classical Mahjong. Although points are also counted in Modern Japanese, the scoring is dominated by fans.

This article lists the most common patterns, and their common values. Unlike many other publications, I prefer to organize the patterns by category, rather than by value.

Besides patterns and scoring, “abortive draws” are also covered, in section 0.2.

0.0 Outline

Only the hand that goes out is scored (as per most modern scoring systems). There is a 1 fan minimum limit for going out.

Patterns with the same numbering in both first two components of its index belong to the same series. Only one pattern (and only one copy of it) from each series can be counted in a single hand. (The exception is 3.1, where you can claim 1 fan for each set of scoring honors in your hand, or 2 fans for a set of Double Wind.) Modern Japanese is a modern pattern-based system, which means that multiple patterns (in different series) are often combined (in conjunction with /dora/ bonuses, too) to yield a more valuable hand.

The term “triplet” for the remainder of the article includes both triplets (pongs) and quartets (kongs).

All the “patterns” listed here are merely scoring ‘bonuses’; except for the hands listed in 10.0 Irregular Hands, you need a Regular Hand with 4 sets and a pair, with a pattern which is worth at least 1 fan, to go out in the first place.

Like most other modern systems, there is no single definite standard for Modern Japanese. Many people play house rules and uncommon patterns, many not described here. There are several “official” Mahjong associations in Japan, with their sets of “official” rules. There may be but minor differences between these “official” rules sets.

I am trying to list all the commonly used patterns here. I hope I have not left out anything important. Note that definitions and values may vary among groups of players.

The rest of 0. describes other rules; the scoring patterns begin with 1.0 . You may want to skip ahead to 0.3 for the moment and come back to 0. later, if that is what you’re looking for in this article.

I use the term “pattern” for the word /yaku/ in Japanese.

0.1 Dora bonus tiles

At the start of each hand, a tile (i.e. 4 identical tiles with the same name) is randomly specified as the /dora/ bonus tile. A hand which goes out receives one bonus fan (double) for each dora tile it contains. However, /dora/ does not fulfill
the 1 fan minimum requirement for going out: if your hand does not contain any patterns that are worth any fans, you cannot go out regardless of how many /dora/ tiles you have.

/Ura-dora/ is a common optional rule (usually not recognized officially) that states that whenever a player who has performed /riichi/ goes out, yet another /dora/ tile is randomly selected, and each occurrence(s) of that new /dora/ adds another fan to the value of the hand. Some experts show disdain for this rule.

/Kan-dora/ is a common optional rule that states that whenever a quartet (kong/kan) is declared, an extra /dora/ tile is ‘immediately’ randomly selected. Different people play with different ‘immediacy’: some players select the /kan-dora/ as soon as the kong is declared, while others do not select it until (and unless) the player making the kong has drawn his supplement tile and discarded without the discarded tile being claimed for going out.

/Kan-ura-dora/ is an optional rule that states that when /kan-dora/ has been generated, and a player who has performed /riichi/ goes out, an /ura-dora/ is generated for each existing /kan-dora/, in additional to the one for the original /dora/. Some experts show much disdain for this rule.

The random selection is done by turning face-up a tile in the dead wall. That tile is called the /dora-indicator/; the /dora/ tile is the ‘following’ tile in numerical sequence. This is illustrated as follows:

B1 -> B2 -> B3 -> ... -> B8 -> B9 -> B1
C1 -> C2 -> C3 -> ... -> C8 -> C9 -> C1
D1 -> D2 -> D3 -> ... -> D8 -> D9 -> D1
E -> S -> W -> N -> E
White -> Green -> Red -> White

For example, B5 indicates B6, and White indicates Green.

Flower and season tiles are generally not used in Modern Japanese
Mahjong.

0.2 Abortive Draws

There are several situations where the hand ends in a draw before the wall is exhausted. I call these situations abortive draws. The hand ends immediately, and either the current dealer re-deals, or the deal passes, depending on local rules.

0.2.1 9 Terminals Abortive Draw / kyuu shu yao kyuu tou pai
If a player, immediately after his first draw in the hand, and without any Chi, Pon, or Kan before his turn, has 9 /different/ termial and honor tiles in his hand, he may (at his discretion) reveal his hand and end the hand immediately in an abortive draw.

0.2.2 4 Winds Abortive Draw / suu fon tsu ren da
If, on the first round of discards in the hand, without any Chi, Pon, or Kan action, all 4 players discard exactly the /same/ /Wind/ tile, the hand ends immediately in an abortive draw.

0.2.3 4 Quartets Abortive Draw / suu kan nagare
Whenever a total of 4 quartets have been declared by a plural number of players in a hand, the hand ends immediately in an abortive draw.

0.2.4 4 Players Riichi Abortive Draw / suu ka riichi
Whenever all 4 players have declared /riichi/, the hand ends immediately in an abortive draw. Some players void this rule.

0.2.5 3 Players Go out Abortive Draw / san ka agari
When 3 players claim the same discard to go out simultaneously, the hand ends in an abortive draw and is not scored. Some players void this rule, instead scoring the hand normally.

0.3 Key

[index number] [English name] / [Japanese name] : [values] [status]
[Japanese or Chinese name in new-JIS encoding]

I make up the English names myself, since I haven’t found a universially agreed “standard” for Modern Japanese.

Please ignore any discontinuity in the numbering of the index. They mean nothing.

The Japanese names are spelled in /romaji/, and should be pronounced accordingly. (If you don’t know the rules for Japanese pronounciation, my suggestion is that you should not try to read them as English words.) I use capital letters for the part of the name that is often used as a short form by the Japanese. Some of the incorrect readings in version 0.8 have been corrected. Some names get multiple readings (a more “Chinese” one and a more “Japanese” one, for example), but only one is shown here.

The JIS encoding will show up as gibberish unless you have the software to read it. If it does, please just ignore it.

There are two values listed for each pattern. The first value applies when the hand is concealed: no claimed discards except for the final tile when going out. The second value apllies when the hand has claimed one or more discards before going out. Note that this discrepancy applies to each and every pattern contained by the hand, so keeping the hand “concealed” is a more important concept in Modern Japanese than in /any/ other version of Mahjong.

The values indicated herein are the common or official values. Some players use different values for some patterns.

“Limit” under value means the “maximum limit” at quadruple Full House. (Some players who play “double limit and beyond” optional rule apply double limit to some instances of some limit patterns.) “NA” stands for “not applicable”.

The status is either “(UO)” for “(generally) unofficial” (usually not recognized officially), or omitted for patterns usually recognized officially.

The descriptions for some Classical Japanese patterns have been omitted.

Again, remember that these are all /scoring/ patters for Regular Hands (4 sets and a pair), although some also apply to the “7 pairs” Irregular Hand. You need either a Regular Hand, or an Irregular Hand under 10.0, to be able to go out.

1.0 General patterns

1.1 Valueless Hand / pin fu : 1/0
Hand contains no points from triplets, eyes, or final tile position. Many players allow forfeiting the 2 points for self-draw (but not for final tile position) in order
to claim pinfu. (The non-concealed hand scores no fans and 10 points.)

1.2 Self-Draw in Concealed Hand / men zen chin TSU MO : 1/NA
(A Concealed Hand which claims a discard to go out gets 10 points.)

1.3 No Terminals (All Simples) / tan yao : 1/1
hand contains no terminals or honors, only numeric tiles 2 to 8. Some plays require the hand to be Concealed, but most don’t.

1.4 Nine Connected Sacred Lamps (Nine Gates) /
kyuu ren poo too : Limit/NA
a concealed hand with 1112345678999 in one suit

1.5.1 riichi : 1/NA
If a player declares riichi on his first turn in the hand, this is called a double riichi, and is worth 2 fans instead of 1.

1.6 Hitting with One Shot / ip patsu : 1/NA (UO)
Going out within one round (without any Chi, Pon, Kan action) of /riichi/. If you go out exactly on your next draw after riichi, you get riichi, ippatsu and self-draw, for a nice 3 fans just for that.

2.0 One-Suit patterns

2.1.1 Mixed One-Suit / HON i chi : 3/2

2.1.2 Pure One-Suit / CHIN i chi : 6/5

2.2 All Green / ryuu ii soo : Limit/Limit
A hand consisting of only 23468 (no 1579) of Bamboos, and Green Dragon. Some players require the presence of the Green Dragon. For a good reference on whether the Green Dragon ‘should’ be required, please see
http://www.mahjong.or.jp/rule/ans/ans97.html

3.0 Honor Tiles

3.1 each triplet of scoring honors / (yaku hai) : 1/1
Dragons, seat wind, round wind. Instead of saying “yaku pai”, Japanese players often read out the name of the tile, such as “ton” for East.

3.2.1 Small Three Dragons / shou san gen : 2/2

3.2.2 Big Three Dragons / dai san gen : Limit/Limit

3.3.1 Small Four Winds / shou suu shii : Limit/Limit

3.3.2 Big Four Winds / dai suu shii : Limit/Limit

3.4 All Honors / tsuu ii soo : Limit/Limit

4.0 Triplets and Quartets

4.1 All Triplets / toi toi : 2/2

4.2.1 Three Concealed Triplets / san an ko : 2/2

4.2.2 Four Concealed Triplets / shuu an ko : Limit/NA

4.3.3 Three Quartets / san kan tsu : 2/2

4.3.4 Four Quartets / suu kan tsu : Limit/Limit

Some players play that a player goes out immediately when he declares his 4th quartet (thus an Irregular Hand) without matching the pair of eyes, as per very old Chinese Classical rules. Others play that he has to fish for his eyes; some of them play that no other players can make a 5th quartet then, while others play that the hand ends in an abortive draw if any other player makes a quartet. (see 0.2.3)

5.0 Identical Sets

5.1.1 Two Identical Sequences / ii pee koo : 1/0
e.g. C-345 C-345
(Note: The first kanji writing is the original Chinese writing. However, historically that has been lost in Japan, so the writing in parenthesis has become the commonly accepted substitute in Japan.)

5.1.2 Double of Two Identical Sequences / ryan pee kou : 3/0
e.g. C-345 C-345 D-789 D-789
Some players count this for only 2 fans.

5.1.3 Three Identical Sequences / ?? : 2/2 (UO)
e.g. C-345 C-345 C-345

5.1.4 Four Identical Sequences / ?? : 4/4 (UO)
e.g. C-345 C-345 C-345 C-345

6.0 Similar Sets

I call sets in the same numbers across 3 different suits “similar sets”. I use that name because it is shorter than “sets in the same numbers in 3 different suits”.

6.1 Three Similar Sequences / SAN SHOKU dou jyun : 2/1
e.g. B-345 C-345 D-345

6.2.2 Three Similar Triplets / san shoku dou ko : 2/2
e.g. B-444 C-444 D-444

7.0 Consecutive Sets

Consecutive Sets must be in the same suit.

7.1 Nine-Tile Straight / IK ki TSUU kan : 2/1
This pattern must be a 123 sequence, a 456, and a 789 in the same suit, as in the example below.
e.g. C-123 C-456 C-789

7.2.1 Three Consecutive Triplets / san ren ko : 2/2 (UO)
e.g. C-444 C-555 C-666

7.2.2 Four Consecutive Triplets / suu ren ko : Limit/Limit (UO)
e.g. C-444 C-555 C-666 C-777
Some players require that the eyes be in the same suit, or be consecutive too (i.e. C3 or C8 in the above example).

8.0 Terminals

Terminals are the 1 and 9 number tiles.

8.1.1 Every Set Including Mixed Terminals / hon CHAN TAa yao : 2/1
a 1, 9, or Honor tile in each set, and also the eyes e.g. B-111 C-123 D-789 RRR C-99

8.1.2 Every Set Including Terminals / JYUN CHAN taa yao : 3/2

8.1.3 Mixed Terminals / hon roo too : 2/2

8.1.4 Pure Terminals / chin roo too : Limit/Limit

9.0 Incidental bonuses

9.1 Catching the Moon from the Bottom of the Sea /
HAI TEI moo yue : 1/1

9.2 Catching the Fish from the Bottom of the River /
HOO TEI roo yui : 1/1
going out on the last discarded tile in the hand, when the wall is exhausted of playable tiles

9.3.1 Blossom on the Hill / rin shan kai hoo : 1/1
going out on the replacement tile drawn for a quartet

9.4 Robbing a Kong / chan kan : 1/1

(Note: The patterns in 9.5 require that no Chi, Pon, Kan action has been performed by any player. The same is true for 1.5.2, Double Riichi, before the Riichi action.)

9.5.2 Blessing of Heaven / ten hoo : Limit/NA
the dealer going out on his first turn

9.5.3 Blessing of Earth / chi hoo : Limit/NA
a non-dealer going out on the dealer’s first discard, or on his first turn

9.5.4 Blessing of Man / ren hoo : Full House/NA
A non-dealer going out before his first turn, on a discard by someone other than the dealer.)
(Note: The definitions and distinctions of these three may
vary. Also, the values may vary: some players play that
Blessing of Man gets Limit.)

9.6 kan buri : 1/1 (UO)
Going out on the tile discarded by a player who has just made a kong and drawn a supplement tile.

10.0 Irregular Hands

Irregular Hands are hands that do not consist of 4 sets and a pair.

10.1 Thirteen Orphans / koku shi mu sou : Limit/NA

10.2 7 Pairs / chi toi tsu : 2/NA
7 /different/ pairs. Some players allow identical pairs, but they are usually not allowed in “official” games. The hand is actually scored as 1 fan and 50 points (or 0 fans and 100 points, or 2 fans and 25 points), which is really slightly less than 2 fans. It is counted as 2 fans for above-Full-House hands.

11.0 Garbage Discards

11.1 Garbage Discards / nagashi mangan : Full House/NA
If the hand ends in an /exhaustive/ (not abortive) draw, and a player’s discards consists of only terminals and honors, and none of his discards have been claimed, and he has not taken any Chi, Pon, Kan action himself, the hand is scored as if he has gone out with a Full House. The contents of his hand are immaterial.

END OF DOCUMENT

“Live life with Heart.”
Alan Kwan / tarot@netvigator.com
http://home.netvigator.com/~tarot (hard-core game reviews)