Mahjong Scoring: Fan, Fu, Tai and Points

Why "how much is this hand worth" has four answers

Mahjong scoring is not one system. It is a family of systems built on different units, and each unit answers a different question. Fan and tai count patterns. Fu counts shape and structure. Points turn those counts into a number the table can pay. Once you know which unit a rule set uses, its scoring becomes readable.

Style	Unit	Minimum to win	What the unit measures
MCR (Chinese Official)	Fan	8 fan	Named patterns, 79 of them
Riichi	Fu and fan	At least one yaku	Shape (fu) and patterns (fan)
Hong Kong	Fan	3 fan or 8 fan, by table	Named patterns
Sichuan	Fan	One voided suit plus one fan	Patterns plus kong payments
Taiwanese	Tai	5 tai	Patterns and flowers
British (BMJA)	Points	None	Pattern points plus a flat base
American (NMJL)	Card value	Pattern must be on the card	Nothing — the card sets the value

Fan: counting named patterns

A fan is a point awarded for a specific pattern, and the patterns are listed in a table players are expected to know at least in part. Chinese Official is the strictest version of this idea: a hand must reach 8 fan before it can be declared, and a hand below that threshold is a false win with a penalty attached.

Fan adds up. Three small patterns can carry a hand over the line, which is why MCR players learn the two-fan patterns — a pair of identical runs, a voided suit, a terminal pung — as well as they learn the big ones. The full table is on the MCR fan list.

Fu: counting shape

Fu is a structural score. It rewards how a hand is built rather than what it contains: an open pung is worth less than a concealed one, a terminal pung is worth more than a middle pung, a closed hand earns a bonus, and the wait shape adds a small amount.

Riichi combines the two units in a single formula:

points = fu × 2^{(fan + 2)}

That exponent is why fan matters more than fu in Japanese play. Going from three fan to four doubles the hand; going from 30 fu to 40 fu does not. The formula is also capped: from five fan upward the hand pays a fixed amount — mangan, then higher tiers — so past that point extra fan sets the tier name rather than multiplying the score.

Tai: the Taiwanese unit

Tai works like fan but with two differences. The threshold is 5 tai rather than 8, and flower tiles score individually every time they are drawn: one tai per flower, collected as the tile arrives rather than counted at the end. A Taiwanese hand therefore starts accumulating value before it is anywhere near complete.

Points: the British approach

British scoring avoids the doubling structure entirely. Patterns are worth fixed points, a flat base of 20 is added for the hand, and an optional pre-declaration doubles the total. The result is a score that is easy to add up on paper and easy to explain to a new player, at the cost of the dramatic jumps that make riichi hands memorable.

Who pays, and how much

Whatever the unit, payment follows one of three patterns. Getting this wrong causes the most common scoring dispute at a mixed table.

Situation	Who pays	Typical total
Win on a discard	The discarder pays the full value alone	One payment
Self-draw	All three opponents pay	Three payments, often a smaller per-player value
Dealer win	As above, plus the dealer continues	Same value, extra hand played
Multiple winners, nearest rule	The player nearest anticlockwise takes it	One payment, others lose the hand
Multiple winners, all-pay rule	The discarder pays every claimant	Several payments from one player

The last two rows are the ones to agree before the first hand. Most clubs use the nearest-player rule; some use all-pay, which is considerably more punishing for the discarder.

Dealer rotation changes the total

In most styles a dealer who wins continues as dealer, and the hand is worth slightly more. Riichi adds dealer bonuses to the formula rather than a flat multiplier, which is why a dealer self-draw at mangan pays a different total from a non-dealer self-draw at the same tier. Sichuan play breaks the pattern entirely: the blood-battle round does not rotate the dealer on a win, and continues until three players have won or the wall is exhausted.

Sichuan kong payments run in parallel

Sichuan mahjong is the clearest example of scoring that is not a single number. Kongs pay immediately and separately from the hand: a melded kong collects one point from each opponent, a concealed kong two, and an added kong one. Those payments settle as they happen and are not folded into the final win value.

If you are learning Sichuan scoring, treat the kong ledger and the hand score as two separate accounts. Mixing them is the fastest way to lose an argument at the table.

The three numbers worth memorising

1. 8 fan — the Chinese Official threshold. Below it, you cannot declare.
2. 5 tai — the Taiwanese threshold, with flowers paying on top.
3. 2^(fan+2) — the riichi doubling structure, capped from five fan.

Everything else can be looked up. Those three decide whether you can call a win at all.

Quick answers

Is fan the same as tai?

They play the same role — counting patterns — but the thresholds and the extra payments differ. Taiwanese tai includes flower tiles, which Chinese fan does not count toward the minimum.

Do I need to know fu to play riichi?

You need it for small hands, which are the ones where fu changes the result. From five fan upward the hand pays a fixed tier and fu stops mattering.

Who pays when someone wins on my discard?

You do, and you pay the full value alone. On a self-draw the value is split across all three opponents instead.

Why does my score look wrong at a new table?

Usually a payment rule, not the hand value. Check whether the table uses the nearest-winner rule or the all-pay rule before recomputing your hand.