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MAHJONG RULES

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After one player goes MahJong, the value of each player's hand is determined according to the following chart. Note that chows do not add any points to a hand by themselves, although they are often part of a MahJong.

A "concealed" pong is one that was obtained in the initial deal or by drawing a tile from the wall; a "melded" pong, also known as an "exposed" pong, is one that was formed by claiming another player's discard, in which case it was revealed to the other players at the time. A "concealed" kong is any kong that is obtained either in the initial deal or by drawing a tile from the wall; a "melded" kong, also known as an "exposed" kong, is one that was formed by claiming another player's discard (in conjunction with a previously concealed pong), or by drawing a tile from the wall and adding it to a previously melded kong.

(Note: Many players also recognize a "declared concealed kong"--a concealed kong that the holder declares to the other players. Since making this declaration eliminates the holder's option of using one of the kong tiles as part of a chow, it usually scores double. The Yahoo! version of MahJong, however, does not distinguish between declared and undeclared concealed kongs.)

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Scoring Chart

Going MahJong (going out):
Melded (exposed) pong of simples:
Concealed pong of simples:
Melded (exposed) pong of terminals:
Concealed pong of terminals:
Melded (exposed) pong of honors:
Concealed pong of honors:
Melded (exposed) kong of simples:
Concealed kong of simples:
Melded (exposed) kong of terminals::
Concealed kong of terminals:
Melded (exposed) kong of honors:
Concealed kong of honors:
Pair of prevailing wind:
Pair of own wind:
Pair of dragons:
Drawing winning tile from wall:
Winning with a one chance tile:
Pong of dragons:
Pong of prevailing wind:
Pong of own wind:
4 pongs:
Going out with last tile:
Going out with supplementary tile:
No-point hand:
Hand of all terminals and honors:
Hand with only one suit with honors:
Hand with only one suit:
Hand of all terminals:
Hand of all honors:
Flower or season:
Flower or season of own wind:
(see "Tiles")
All four flowers:
All four seasons:
+20
+2
+4
+4
+8
+4
+8
+16
+32
+16
+32
+16
+32
+2
+2
+2
+2
+2
x2
x2
x2
x2
x2
x2
x2
x2
x2
x8
limit
limit
+4
x2

x8
x8

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The scoring chart works as follows. First, the values of the scoring sets, as well as the value of going out, are added up. Second, the multipliers are taken into account. For example, suppose you are sitting South, with East the prevailing wind, and you go out by drawing a tile from the wall, ending up with the following hand:

chow of 3-4-5 of characters
pong of 3 of circles (melded)
pong of East winds (melded)
kong of 9 of bamboos (concealed)
pair of red dragons
one flower (number 2, matching your own wind)
Your hand scores as follows:

+20 for going out
+ 2 for drawing winning tile from wall
+0 for the chow
+2 for the melded pong of 3 of circles
x2 for the melded pong of the (prevailing) East wind
+32 for the concealed kong of 9 of bamboos
+2 for the pair of red dragons
x2 for flower of own wind
First add up the plus scores; the total is 58. Next multiply this by 4, for a total of 232.

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The limit
Because of the multipliers, MahJong scores can sometimes get out of hand--it's quite possible to score millions of points in one hand. To keep the scores reasonably close, players establish a limit on how many points a hand can be worth. A hand that would be worth more than the limit according to the scoring chart has its value reduced to the limit. A Yahoo!, players may establish a limit of anywhere from 1 to 65,536 points per hand, though the usual limit is 500 or 1,000.

Special hands
In many circles, a number of special hands, such as seven pairs, may be used to go MahJong. These are not currently part of the Yahoo! rules.

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