When gambling with mahjong, these scores are typically directly translated into sums of money paid between players. The points obtained may be translated into scores for each player using some (typically exponential) function. Some of these criteria may be subsets of other criteria (for example, having a meld of one dragon versus having a meld of all of them), and in these cases, only the criteria with the tighter requirements is scored.

Criteria can include particular melds or other tiles held, how the (winning) hand was completed, possession of various special combinations, etc.

Points are obtained for a hand by matching it against various criteria, with different criteria scoring different values. As with gameplay, many attempts have been made to create an international standard of scoring, but most are not widely accepted. American mahjong generally has greatly divergent scoring rules (as well as greatly divergent gameplay rules).īecause of the large differences between the various systems of scoring (especially for Chinese variants), groups of players will often need to agree on particular scoring rules before a game, in order to eliminate possible disputes during the game. Like the gameplay, there is a generalized system of scoring, based on the method of winning and the winning hand, from which Chinese and Japanese (among notable systems) base their roots. While the basic gameplay is more or less the same throughout mahjong, the greatest divergence between variations lies in the scoring systems. Although in many variations scoreless hands (推倒胡 tui dao hu in Mandarin, 雞糊 gai wu in Cantonese) are possible, many require that hands be of some point value in order to win the round. The points are given a monetary value agreed by the players. Scoring in Mahjong, a game for four players that originated in China, involves the players obtaining points for their hand of tiles, then paying each other based on the differences in their score and who obtained mahjong (won the hand).

Microsoft mahjong recorded scoring