Hong Kong Mahjong Scoring — Faan Explained

01Faan — scoring doubles

Hong Kong hands are scored in faan (番), or "doubles". Each scoring pattern your hand contains is worth a number of faan; add them up for the total, which sets the payout.

02Where faan come from

The most common scoring patterns, roughly from small to large:

• All sequences (平和): a hand of four runs and a valueless pair — 1 faan.
• Dragon / wind triplets: a pung of a dragon, your seat wind, or the round wind — 1 faan each.
• All triplets (對對糊): four pungs/kongs and a pair — 3 faan.
• Half flush (混一色): one suit plus honors — 3 faan.
• Full flush (清一色): a single suit, no honors — 7 faan.
• Self-draw, last tile, robbing the kong, win off a kong: 1 faan each.
• Flowers (花): a flower matching your seat is 1 faan each; a complete set of four seasons or four flowers is 2 faan; no flowers at all is 1 faan. Collect all eight and you win outright (八仙過海) — and seven flowers may even rob the eighth.

Rare limit hands — great dragons, the four winds, thirteen orphans, all honors, nine gates — score the table's maximum on their own.

03The minimum & the limit

Two house numbers shape every game. A minimum (often 3 faan) means a hand with no real patterns can't win — it keeps games competitive. A limit (commonly around 10 faan) caps how much any single hand can pay, so one monster hand can't end the night.

04How it pays

The faan total converts to points by doubling, scaled by the table's base stake (底). Then how you won decides who pays:

• Won on a discard: the player who threw the tile pays the hand.
• Self-draw (自摸): all three opponents pay — so a self-drawn hand is worth roughly three times as much.

05Let the calculator do the math

You do not need to memorise the faan table to enjoy the game — win first, learn the scoring as you go. When you want an exact total, tick the patterns in your hand in the Hong Kong scoring calculator and it returns the faan and the payout for both a self-draw and a win on discard.

06Frequently asked questions