MAHJONG ORCHID
蘭花麻將
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Taiwanese 16-tile mahjong · the full rules

The rules of Taiwanese mahjong, on one page

Each section opens with the short version, then the detail. Where tables differ, the page says so and names the source. The app plays these rules; the calculator can switch the variants.

Contents
  1. How a hand goes
  2. The tiles: 144
  3. Seats, seat winds, the dealer
  4. Building the wall and the deal
  5. Flower replacement
  6. Play: draw, discard, chow, pung
  7. Kongs and robbing a kong
  8. Ready hands and 過水
  9. Winning
  10. Payment and the dealer
  11. The end of the wall
  12. 八仙過海 and 七搶一
  13. Tai
  14. Common house rules
  15. Sources

How a hand goes

In one lineEveryone holds 16 tiles; the dealer takes 17 and discards first. Draw one, discard one; you may chow from the player before you, pung from anyone, and kong from anyone but that player. Five sets and a pair (17 tiles) wins. Each payer pays base + tai × unit.
二萬2三萬3四萬4五萬5六萬6七萬7
333
678
南S南S南S
99
A winning hand: three chows, a pung, a wind pung and a pair. Seventeen tiles.

The tiles: 144

108 suited tiles (萬 characters, 筒 dots, 條 bamboo, 1 to 9, four of each), 28 honours (four winds and three dragons, four of each) and 8 flowers (four seasons and four plants, one of each).

萬 characters
一萬1二萬2三萬3四萬4五萬5六萬6七萬7八萬8九萬9
筒 dots
123456789
條 bamboo
123456789
honours
東E南S西W北N中發
flowers (the number is the seat: 1 East, 2 South, 3 West, 4 North)
1梅2蘭3菊4竹1春2夏3秋4冬
竹 and 菊

Most sources make 菊 3 and 竹 4; one app swaps them. Every flower in this app carries its number, so nobody has to remember.

The one of bamboo

Carries a bird; players call it 小鳥 or 么雞.

Sources: WB · GS · MJO · FW · SW

Seats, seat winds, the dealer

Taiwan-specificSeat winds follow the opened wall, not the dealer. The dealer rolls three dice and counts counterclockwise from themselves; the player reached opens the wall and is East for this hand (seat wind East, flower 1). The next player is South, then West, then North.
Seat draw

Each player draws one of the four wind tiles and sits accordingly, counterclockwise. Seats stay fixed for a 將 (four rounds).

Round wind

East, South, West, North; four rounds make a 將. In the East round an East pung scores for anyone.

The first hand

The player in the East chair rolls once to pick the first dealer; in that hand the dealer is also East. From then on the dice set East each hand.

The dealer

Takes one more tile (17) and discards first. Keeps the deal after a win or a drawn hand; the deal passes only when a non-dealer wins.

Sources: WB · GS · IGS · SF · SW · UC

Building the wall and the deal

Each player builds a wall of 18 stacks (36 tiles). From the opened wall, counted off by the dice, players take four tiles at a time until each has 16; the dealer takes one more (開門). The last 16 tiles of the wall are never drawn.

Sources: WB · GS · MJO · FW · SW · UC

Flower replacement

After the deal

The dealer lays out any flowers and draws the same number of replacements from the tail of the wall; then each player in turn. A flower drawn as a replacement waits for the next pass.

During play

A drawn flower goes face up at once and you replace it from the tail; this can chain. Winning on the replacement scores 槓上開花 (1).

The last tile is a flower

No replacement, no discard: the hand is drawn.

Sources: WB · GS · MJO · CML · SW · FW

Play: draw, discard, chow, pung

Play runs counterclockwise. The dealer discards first; everyone else draws one and discards one, unless they win. Between turns every hand holds sixteen tiles (flowers and the fourth tile of a kong do not count).

吃三萬3四萬4五萬5
碰中中中
kong8888
A chow only from the player before you; a pung from anyone; an exposed kong from anyone but that player.
吃 chow

Only from 上家, the player whose discard comes just before your turn. The claimed tile goes in the middle.

碰 pung

From anyone. If you pass a pung on a tile, you may not pung the same tile again until your next turn.

Priority

A win beats a pung or kong, which beats a chow. Only one player wins off a discard: the first after the discarder in turn order (截胡). Taiwan does not play multiple winners.

After a claim you may not discard

After a pung, not the same tile. After a chow, not the claimed tile nor the tile at the other end of the run (chow a 3 with 4-5: neither 3 nor 6).

Sources: GS · MJO · CML · MM · SW · FW · UC · WB

Kongs and robbing a kong

Three kinds

明槓: three in hand, the fourth from a discard. 暗槓: all four self-drawn, laid face down. 加槓: a self-drawn fourth added to a pung you already exposed. Every kong draws a replacement from the tail.

Limits

No exposed kong off 上家's discard. An added kong uses a self-drawn tile only. No kong right after a chow or pung. The replacement after an exposed kong cannot win by self-draw (after a concealed or added kong it can).

搶槓 robbing

Only an added kong can be robbed. Robbing scores 1 and counts as that player's discard: they pay alone, and there is no 自摸.

花槓 is not a kong

花槓 is the 2-tai bonus for all four seasons or all four plants, not a kong.

Sources: GS · MJO · CML · ZSY · SF · IGS · WB · MM

Ready hands and 過水

聽牌 ready

One tile from a win. Declaring is optional; a declared ready hand is an app convention worth 1, and after declaring you may only discard the tile you draw.

過水 passing a win

If you could have won and did not, you may not win at all, self-draw included, until you discard a non-winning tile or make an added or concealed kong.

天聽 · 地聽

天聽 (8): ready on the dealt tiles, declared with the first discard. 地聽 (4): a non-dealer keeps the first draw and declares with that discard; the dealer declares with the second discard. Both require that nobody has called. Sources define them in different ways.

Sources: WB · GS · IGS · MJO · MM · CML · ZSY · SF

Winning

The shape

Five sets and a pair, 17 tiles (more with kongs). A set is a chow (three in a row of one suit, no wrapping), a pung or a kong.

Ways to win

Self-draw (from the wall or a replacement), on a discard, by robbing a kong, or with flowers (八仙過海, 七搶一).

No minimum

A zero-tai hand (屁胡) still wins, and takes the base.

Not Taiwanese

Seven pairs, thirteen orphans, nine gates and 嚦咕嚦咕 are not part of Taiwanese 16-tile.

Sources: WB · GS · MJO · CML · SW · FW

Payment and the dealer

The formulaEach payer pays base + tai × unit. On a self-draw all three pay; on a discard the discarder alone; after a robbed kong, the kong-maker. Between the dealer and the payer, add 1 + 2N tai.
Example

At 100/20, South self-draws a concealed hand with a pung of their seat wind: 4 tai. The dealer (East) is on 連1拉1. The dealer pays 100 + (4 + 3) × 20 = 240, the other two 180 each, and South collects 600.

The streak

See the dealer streak page, with a settle-up tool.

Between losers

No payments.

Sources: WB · GS · MJO · EW · SF · MM

The end of the wall

The reserve

The last 16 tiles are never drawn; each kong adds one more to the reserve.

海底 · 河底

The last drawable tile is 海底; self-drawing it is 海底撈月 (1). Whoever drew it still discards, and winning on that discard is 河底撈魚 (1).

No claims at the end

With 3 or fewer tiles left, no chow, pung or exposed kong (concealed and added kongs are fine).

流局 a draw

Nobody wins: no payment, and the dealer keeps the deal. There are no special draws for four winds or four kongs.

Sources: WB · GS · MJO · CML · SW · FW

八仙過海 and 七搶一

1梅2蘭3菊4竹1春2夏3秋4冬
All eight flowers: an instant win.
八仙過海

All eight flowers: an instant win worth 8, each of the three paying base + 8 tai (dealer tai apply). If the replacement also completes the hand, its tai add. Eight flowers in the dealt hand: 12.

七搶一

You hold seven flowers and another player lays out the eighth: take it and win. The robbed player pays base + 8 tai alone. The same applies when your seventh arrives while another player already shows the eighth. The two Taipei tournaments do not play it; this app does by default.

Sources: GS · IGS · MJO · MM · WB · SF · SW · CML

Tai

Every pattern's value, its conditions and the variants are on the tai table. To score your own hand use the calculator.

Stacking

Everything adds; a big hand does not wipe out the other lines (only the few under Replacements drop out), and there is no cap. "16-tai scale" means the biggest single pattern is 16, not that 16 is a ceiling.

門清一摸三

A concealed self-draw is 3 in total (門清, 自摸, 不求), never 1 + 1.

Replacements

大三元 and 小三元 replace 三元台; 大四喜 replaces 圈風 and 門風 (小四喜 does not); 四暗刻 replaces 三暗刻; 天胡, 地胡 and 人胡 replace 門清, 自摸, 不求, 天聽 and 地聽.

Common house rules

Tables differ on these points. The app's default follows the majority of Taiwan-domestic sources, with ties going to the most-played app. The calculator can switch the ones that change the tai.

RuleDefaultAlso played
Flowers and winds正花正字見花見字 (明星3缺1's in-game default)
一炮多響No; first in turn winsOverseas rules
過水 releaseDiscard a non-winning tile, or an added or concealed kongDraw a non-winning tile (MJO)
天聽 / 地聽8 / 416 / 8(WB);no 天聽 at 神來也
七搶一Played, 8Not played (MM, CML)
字一色8,no 碰碰胡 on top16 and everything stacks (MM)
天胡2416 · 32 · 36
Streak cap109(神來也);none at a table
Reserve16 + 1 per kongalways 16 (tournaments)

Sources

Taiwan-domestic: zh Wikibooks 臺灣麻將 (WB), Gamesofa 神來也 rules (GS), IGS 明星3缺1 tai pages (IGS), MJOnline 戲谷 rules (MJO), 宅神爺 tai page (ZSY), Mahjong Masters tournament rules (MM), CML tournament rules (CML), the Shifu article (SF). English: English Wikipedia (EW), Mahjong Wiki (WD), Willoughby 1998 (SW), Four Winds (FW), UChicago (UC), Sloperama (SL). Where overseas sources contradict the domestic ones, the domestic reading wins. Links are on the tai table page.