Hong Kong Mahjong
Tiles
There are four copies of every suited and honour tile.
| Number | Character |
|---|---|
| 1 | 一 |
| 2 | 二 |
| 3 | 三 |
| 4 | 四 |
| 5 | 五 |
| 6 | 六 |
| 7 | 七 |
| 8 | 八 |
| 9 | 九 |
- Characters / Cracks / Maan: the Chinese number plus 萬
- Bamboo / Sticks / Sou: pictures of 1–9 sticks; the 1 is usually a bird
- Circles / Dots / Wheel / Pin: pictures of 1–9 circles
- Honours: all winds and dragons
Winds and Dragons
| Tile | Character |
|---|---|
| East | 東 |
| South | 南 |
| West | 西 |
| North | 北 |
| Red Dragon | 中 |
| Green Dragon | 發 |
| White Dragon | 白 |
The Goal
A normal winning hand is four melds and one pair:
- Chow: three consecutive tiles in one suit, like 4-5-6 bamboo
- Pung: three identical tiles
- Kong: four identical tiles; expose it and draw a replacement from the back
- Pair: two identical tiles
Only the next player may claim a discard for a chow. Anyone may claim one for a pung, kong, or win. A winning claim takes priority, then pung/kong, then chow.
On a turn: draw one, then discard one.
Faan
Add every pattern that applies unless it is a limit hand.
Tiles in the Hand
| Hand | Faan | Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| All chows | 1 | Four chows and a pair |
| Mixed terminals and honours | 1 | Only pungs/kongs of terminals and honours, plus a pair of one of them; also scores all pungs |
| All pungs | 3 | Four pungs/kongs and a pair |
| Half flush | 3 | One suit plus honours |
| Little three dragons | 5 | Two dragon pungs/kongs and a pair of the third dragon; includes the two dragon faan |
| Little four winds | 6 | Three wind pungs/kongs and a pair of the fourth; wind and half-flush faan may also apply |
| Full flush | 7 | One suit and no honours |
| Big three dragons | 8 | A pung/kong of every dragon; includes the three dragon faan, and scores all pungs if the fourth meld is also a pung/kong |
Honours and the Win
| Pattern | Faan |
|---|---|
| Pung/kong of your seat wind | 1 |
| Pung/kong of the round wind | 1 |
| Pung/kong of any dragon | 1 |
| Self-drawn win | 1 |
| Fully concealed hand | 1 |
| Win on the last draw or last discard | 1 |
| Win on a kong replacement tile | 1 |
| Rob an added kong to win | 1 |
A wind that is both your seat wind and the round wind is worth 2 faan.
Limit Hands
| Hand | Faan | Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| All honours | 10 | Only winds and dragons |
| All terminals | 10 | Only 1s and 9s |
| Four concealed pungs | 10 | Four concealed pungs/kongs; win by self-draw or complete the pair from a discard |
| Nine gates | 10 | Concealed 1112345678999 in one suit, plus any tile of that suit |
| Big four winds | 13 | A pung/kong of every wind |
| Four kongs | 13 | Four kongs and a pair |
| Thirteen orphans | 13 | One of each wind, dragon, and suited 1 and 9, plus a duplicate of any one |
| Heavenly hand | 13 | East wins with the original deal |
| Earthly hand | 13 | A non-East player wins on East’s first discard, with no earlier calls |
Limit hands do not also collect ordinary hand or honour faan. Winning-condition faan may apply, but the total stays at the agreed cap.
Dealing
Seats, turns, and dealing proceed East → South → West → North, counterclockwise. Tiles are taken from the wall in the opposite direction, clockwise. East starts with 14 tiles and discards first; everyone else starts with 13.
Shuffle all 136 tiles. Each player builds a wall 17 stacks long and 2 tiles high; push the four walls together into an offset square, with counter-clockwise tails.
- East rolls dice and sums them
- Count walls by starting with East as 1, then count players counterclockwise to the total
- Count stacks clockwise on that player’s wall, and count the same total again. Break after that stack
- The stacks counterclockwise from the break are the dead wall. Draw from the live wall
- Starting with East, each player takes four tiles at a time, in counter-clockwise player order, but clockwise tile order. Repeat until everyone has 12
- Deal one more tile to everyone, then one extra to East