Hong Kong Mahjong Scoring: all 30 faan, explained
Every hand the game scores, what it needs, and what it pays.
In Hong Kong Old Style (香港舊章) a hand is worth a number of faan (番). Faan are not points — they are doublings. A hand's faan total is looked up in a payout ladder, and the ladder roughly doubles for each faan, which is why one extra faan matters so much more than it sounds like it should.
Two numbers decide whether you can win at all:
- The table minimum — the faan you must reach before a winning shape is allowed to win. Below it, the hand is complete and still refused.
- The limit — 10 faan here. Everything at or above it pays the same, so there is no reward for overshooting.
The three tables, and what each one demands
The minimum is the single biggest difference between a table a beginner can enjoy and one that refuses them all evening. This game offers three:
| Table | Minimum | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 入門 Learner's Table | 0 faan | Every legal hand wins. Nothing is ever refused. |
| 新章 New Style | 2 faan | A real bar, low enough to clear while you are learning. |
| 舊章 Old Style | 3 faan | The authentic Hong Kong minimum. Around a quarter of hands draw. |
舊章 — 3 faan — is the authentic Hong Kong minimum and the game's default. It is also the reason the 入門 table exists: a beginner who cannot yet build 3 faan does not need a lesson about it, they need a table that lets them finish a hand.
All 30 scoring hands
Sorted by value. The Chinese name is the one used at a real table; the English is what this game shows in English mode.
| Faan | Hand | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 三元牌 Dragon Pung | a pung of any dragon — red, green or white. 1 faan each |
| 1 | 圈風 Round Wind Pung | a pung of the round's own wind (East pung in the East round) |
| 1 | 平糊 All Chows | 1-2-3 and 4-5-6 Characters, 7-8-9 Dots, 2-3-4 Bamboo + any pair |
| 1 | 搶槓 Rob the Kong | won by robbing the 4th tile someone added to their pung |
| 1 | 槓上開花 Win on Kong Replacement | won on the replacement tile drawn after your kong |
| 1 | 正花 Own Flower / Own Season | a bonus tile whose corner number matches your seat — 1 East, 2 South, 3 West, 4 North |
| 1 | 海底撈月 Win on Last Tile | won on the very last live tile of the wall |
| 1 | 無花 No Flowers | you finished holding no flower or season at all |
| 1 | 自摸 Self-Draw | won on a tile you drew yourself, not on a discard |
| 1 | 門前清 Fully Concealed | won on a discard with no melds exposed all hand |
| 1 | 門風 Seat Wind Pung | a pung of your own seat wind |
| 2 | 三暗刻 Three Concealed Triplets | three pungs you completed WITHOUT claiming anyone's discard |
| 3 | 一台花 Four Flowers / Four Seasons | all four flowers, or all four seasons |
| 3 | 七搶一 Seven Flowers, Robbing the Eighth | you hold seven flowers and rob the eighth as someone draws it |
| 3 | 對對糊 All Pungs | every set a pung, no runs at all, plus any pair |
| 3 | 混一色 Half Flush | one suit plus honours — say all Characters, with winds and dragons |
| 3 | 花糊 Flower Hand (all eight) | all eight flowers and seasons — wins immediately, on the tray |
| 5 | 四暗刻 Four Concealed Triplets | all four pungs concealed — the discard you win on does not count |
| 5 | 小三元 Small Three Dragons | two dragon pungs, and the third dragon as your pair |
| 7 | 清一色 Full Flush | every tile in a single suit, with no winds or dragons at all |
| 8 | 大三元 Great Three Dragons | all three dragon pungs — red, green and white |
| 10 limit | 九子連環 Nine Gates | concealed 1112345678999 of one suit, plus any tile of that suit |
| 10 limit | 字一色 All Honors | honours only: nothing but winds and dragons, in pungs and a pair |
| 10 limit | 小四喜 Small Four Winds | three wind pungs, and the fourth wind as your pair |
| 10 limit | 清老頭 All Terminals | nothing but 1s and 9s, in pungs, plus a pair of them |
| 13 limit | 十三么 Thirteen Orphans | one of every terminal and honour, with any one of them paired |
| 13 limit | 十八羅漢 Four Kongs | four kongs in a single hand |
| 13 limit | 地糊 Earthly Hand | a non-dealer wins on the dealer's very first discard |
| 13 limit | 大四喜 Great Four Winds | all four wind pungs — East, South, West and North |
| 13 limit | 天糊 Heavenly Hand | the dealer wins on the opening 14 tiles, before any discard |
The payout ladder
Faan are converted to chips by this table. The base value is what a discarder pays; a self-draw is paid by all three opponents, which is why winning off your own tile is worth so much more than the one faan 自摸 adds.
| Faan | Base value |
|---|---|
| 0 | 4 |
| 1 | 8 |
| 2 | 16 |
| 3 | 32 |
| 4 | 64 |
| 5 | 96 |
| 6 | 128 |
| 7 | 192 |
| 8 | 256 |
| 9 | 384 |
| 10+ | 512 |
Notice the shape: from 0 to 10 faan the base value goes 4 to 512, a factor of 128. That is the whole argument for playing for a bigger hand instead of the fastest one.
Work out a hand without trusting this page
Type it into the scoring calculator and the same engine that produced this table will score it — including whether it clears each of the three minimums. Useful mid-argument at a real table.
Or play: every hand ends by showing what each player was holding, what you were waiting on, and how many faan short you were — which is the part most mahjong software leaves out, and the part that actually teaches you the scoring.
Related
- Hong Kong mahjong rules — the full ruleset: the tiles, the deal, claiming, flowers and draws.
- Mahjong scoring calculator — score a specific hand and see whether it wins at each table.