Check Hong Kong mahjong faan, pattern combinations and point payments with worked examples. Compare the HKMA reference with our browser game’s 8-faan house rules.
UNDERSTAND THE SCORE
Faan (also written fan) measures the scoring features of a winning hand. Find the patterns, apply the combination rules, check the minimum and cap, then convert the final faan to points. A hand’s faan is not the number of points each player pays.
Reference: the Hong Kong Mahjong Association (HKMA) rules, checked 15 October 2026. This is one identified ruleset; agree on your table’s rules before playing. Our browser game differs and has its own table below. Read the source ↗
Values below follow the HKMA reference. They are pattern values, before other eligible bonuses and the agreed limit. The full reference includes additional patterns and separate flower / no-flower provisions.
| Pattern | Faan | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| All Chows | 1 | Four sequences and a pair; the HKMA reference permits a value-tile pair. |
| Dragon Pung / Kong | 1 | One for each group of Red, Green or White Dragons. |
| Seat / round wind | 1 + 1 | A group matching your seat or the round; both score when the winds match. |
| Self-draw | 1 | Complete the hand with your own draw. |
| All Pungs | 3 | Four triplets or Kongs and a pair. |
| Half Flush | 3 | One numbered suit together with honours. |
| Little Three Dragons | 3 + 1 + 1 | Two dragon groups and the third dragon as the pair: 5 faan including the two dragon bonuses. |
| Full Flush | 7 | A winning hand in one numbered suit, with no honours. |
| Thirteen Orphans | 10 | All 13 terminal and honour types, with one repeated as a pair; a limit hand in this reference. |
Concealed Hand is especially rule-dependent: HKMA awards 1 faan in its no-flower rules and excludes any Kong. Our game allows a concealed Kong. Flowers and concealed-hand bonuses should therefore never be copied from one table to another without checking.
Add compatible patterns only. A Full Flush cannot also be a Half Flush. In the reference, Little Three Dragons is 3 plus its two dragon bonuses; calling it “5 faan” already includes those bonuses. Adding them again would count the same groups twice.
The two dragon triplets are exposed; the win is from a discard, with no flowers or other bonuses. The pair is White Dragon and both Chows use Characters. Count 3 + 1 + 1 for the dragons, then 3 for Half Flush: 8 in total. Our game records the same dragon combination as an inclusive 5, so this example also totals 8 there.
With the 1-Character triplet exposed, a discard win and no flowers or other bonuses, the pattern sum is 7 + 3 = 10 faan. It reaches 10 in the HKMA reference. Our browser game caps the same ordinary total at 8. The hand has not changed; the ruleset has.
First fix the final faan, including any self-draw bonus. The selected rows below come from HKMA’s published half-laak table for ordinary wins, without special liability such as a responsibility payment or robbing a Kong.
| Final faan | Discarder pays | Self-draw: each opponent pays |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 32 | 16 |
| 5 | 96 | 48 |
| 8 | 256 | 128 |
| 10 | 512 | 256 |
For example, at 3 final faan the ordinary discard payment is 32 points; a self-draw pays 16 from each opponent, 48 in total. Our game instead pays 24 or 8 from each opponent. Changing a real hand from a discard win to self-draw may also change its faan, so recalculate before comparing payments.
Compare point payments — house rules or half-laak preset →The hand calculator and linked pattern lessons use our house rules. The half-laak preset changes point settlement only; it does not replace the hand calculator with the full HKMA rules, including penalties or special liability.
Read the beginner rules →More about table differences →Learn with interactive lessons →
No. Hand structure and the winning minimum are separate checks. The HKMA reference and our standard game require at least 3 faan. Practice removes that minimum so beginners can learn the turn flow.
In the HKMA reference it is a 3-faan pattern plus 1 for each of its two dragon groups, making 5 before any other bonuses. Our game displays an inclusive 5. Read how the number is composed before adding anything else.
Check the ruleset, exposed sets, flowers, seat and round winds, winning method and cap. A different result does not by itself show an error. Compare the same hand and circumstances under an explicitly named ruleset.
Sources and scope: HKMA’s rules directory and Hong Kong Mahjong Rules, checked 15 October 2026. The table and examples above are our explanations of selected rules, not the complete competition regulations. Rules directory · Reference rules
The browser table uses sc_hk13_v1_2: a standard game requires 3 faan to win, ordinary patterns add together up to 8 faan, and a limit pattern scores 8 directly. A practice table may lower the minimum, but it does not change how patterns are recognised.
No pattern matches this filter.
| Pattern | Faan | Condition | Stacking note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken hand ↗Basic and flowers | 0 | Four melds and a pair with no other scoring pattern. | Only wins at a 0-faan minimum. |
| Seat flower ↗Basic and flowers | 1 | Each flower matching the player’s seat scores 1 faan. | May combine with a complete flower set. |
| Complete flower set ↗Basic and flowers | 1 | All four seasons or all four plants; each complete set scores 1. | Two complete sets may both score. |
| Concealed hand ↗Hand shape | 1 | No Chow, Pung, exposed Kong or added Kong; a concealed Kong is allowed. | A discard win does not break it. |
| Self-draw ↗Winning event | 1 | The player’s own draw or legal replacement draw completes the hand. | Does not apply to a discard win or robbing an added Kong. |
| Dragon Pung ↗Honour tiles | 1 | Each Pung or Kong of Red, Green or White Dragon scores 1. | The two Pungs inside Little Three Dragons are not counted again. |
| Seat wind ↗Honour tiles | 1 | A Pung or Kong matching the player’s current seat wind. | May also score Round Wind when both winds match. |
| Round wind ↗Honour tiles | 1 | A Pung or Kong matching the current round wind. | A pair does not score this pattern. |
| All Chows ↗Hand shape | 1 | Four Chows and a pair that is not a dragon, seat wind or round wind. | Wait shape is unrestricted; mutually exclusive with All Pungs. |
| All Pungs ↗Hand shape | 3 | Four Pungs or Kongs and one pair. | Mixed Terminals replaces it when that pattern qualifies. |
| Half Flush ↗Hand shape | 3 | Exactly one numbered suit together with at least one honour tile. | Mutually exclusive with Full Flush and All Honours. |
| Mixed Terminals ↗Hand shape | 4 | Every tile is a terminal or honour, and both kinds appear. | Replaces All Pungs; mutually exclusive with the two pure limit forms. |
| Little Three Dragons ↗Hand shape | 5 | Two dragon Pungs or Kongs and the third dragon as the pair. | Its two dragon groups are not scored separately. |
| Full Flush ↗Hand shape | 7 | Only one numbered suit, with no honour tiles. | Ordinary totals still stop at 8 faan. |
| Kong Draw ↗Winning event | 1 | A legal Kong replacement tile completes a self-draw. | Combines with Self-draw; excludes Last Draw. |
| Last Draw ↗Winning event | 1 | The final normal wall draw completes a self-draw. | Combines with Self-draw; replacement draws do not qualify. |
| Last Discard ↗Winning event | 1 | Win on the discard immediately after the final normal wall draw. | Does not apply to robbing an added Kong. |
| Thirteen Orphans ↗8-faan limits | 8 | All thirteen terminal and honour types, plus a pair of one of them. | Limit pattern; ordinary patterns are not added. |
| All Honours ↗8-faan limits | 8 | A standard winning hand made entirely from winds and dragons. | Limit pattern; only one 8-faan settlement. |
| Pure Terminals ↗8-faan limits | 8 | A standard winning hand using only suited 1 and 9 tiles. | No honours; ordinary patterns are not added. |
| Big Three Dragons ↗8-faan limits | 8 | Red, Green and White Dragons are all Pungs or Kongs. | Replaces dragon and other ordinary fan. |
| Little Four Winds ↗8-faan limits | 8 | Three wind Pungs or Kongs and the fourth wind as the pair. | Seat and round wind are not added. |
| Big Four Winds ↗8-faan limits | 8 | All four winds are Pungs or Kongs. | May also fit All Honours, but settles only once at 8. |
| Nine Gates ↗8-faan limits | 8 | Concealed 1112345678999 in one suit, plus any extra tile of that suit. | No nine-sided-wait requirement in this ruleset. |
Under our house rules, compatible ordinary patterns add together. Mixed Terminals replaces All Pungs, while Little Three Dragons already includes its two dragon groups. Half Flush and Full Flush cannot both score.
If any limit pattern qualifies, the evaluator returns the limit pattern or patterns at 8 final faan and does not add ordinary fan. When a hand has several legal decompositions, the evaluator chooses the result with the higher final faan, then the higher uncapped ordinary total.
Table rules and custom estimates →All Kongs: what our rules actually count →Voided Suit: a table-rule difference →Heavenly and Earthly Hands: opening-win rules →
With no exposed melds or flowers, and East as both seat and round wind: All Chows 1 + Concealed Hand 1 = 2 faan on a discard win. Self-draw adds 1 for a total of 3. On a 3-faan table only the self-drawn version may win.
Change the win method in the calculator →No. Check both the shape and the selected minimum. The example above is complete but its 2-faan discard version is below a 3-faan minimum.
Only compatible conditions add together. A full flush cannot also be a half flush. A limit pattern settles at 8 faan without adding ordinary patterns. Read the stacking note for each row.
Hong Kong tables use different house rules. Agree on the minimum, flowers, cap and payment formula before playing. This table describes the rules used by our browser game.
Base points are B = 2^min(faan, 8). At 3 final faan, B is 8.
This compares settlement after the final faan is fixed at 3. In an actual hand, changing a discard win to self-draw usually adds the Self-draw pattern before settlement.
The two tools keep hand recognition and settlement separate, making the selected rules visible at each step.
The score calculator also includes a separately labelled half-laak comparison preset: it has a 10-faan cap, a discard payment of 4B and a self-draw payment of 2B from each opponent. It is provided for comparison and is not used by the browser game.