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Chinese Official mahjong

Build a hand worth at least 8 points.

This is Mahjong Competition Rules (MCR), the standardised international Chinese format. It is one Chinese ruleset; it does not describe every regional or family game.

Set up and take a turn

Shuffle, build four walls and deal 13 tiles to each player; East starts with 14 and discards first. On a normal turn, draw one tile, then discard one. Flowers and seasons are shown and replaced. Each is worth 1 bonus point, but none counts towards the 8-point minimum.

Build sets, then check the whole hand

Most hands have four sets and a pair. A Chow is a run in one suit, a Pung is three matching tiles, and a Kong is four matching tiles with a replacement draw. Chow only from the previous player; Pung or Kong may use any player’s current discard. A legal winning claim takes priority. Seven pairs, thirteen orphans and knitted hands are special alternatives.

Count patterns, not just matching tiles

MCR has 81 scoring patterns. Add compatible patterns, follow exclusions and do not score the same structure twice where the rules forbid it. First reach 8 without flowers; then add flower points. All Pungs is only 6 — a Dragon Pung adds another 2, with any other compatible awards counted separately.

Who pays?

Let S be the final hand score, including flowers after the minimum is met. On a discard win, the discarder pays S + 8; the other two pay 8 each. On self-draw, all three pay S + 8 each. If S is 8, that is 16 + 8 + 8 = 32 on a discard, or 16 each = 48 on self-draw.

When does play move on?

The dealer advances after each hand, including a dealer win or an exhausted wall. A full four-wind game has 16 hands. An exhausted hand has no winning-hand payment.

Keep it handy

Chinese Official scoring cheat sheet

The 8-point minimum, common MCR patterns and the 8-point base-payment rule. This is a starter reference, not all 81 patterns.

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