Hong Kong Old Style

The Table At A Glance

Hong Kong plays with 144 tiles: the three suits, winds and dragons, plus four flowers and four seasons. There are no animals. Four players, East deals and starts with 14 tiles, and everyone else takes 13.

The words change too. A Chi is a Sheung, a Pong a Pung, the pair is just the Pair, and a win is Sik Wu. A Sheung still comes only from the player on your left; a Pung or Kong from anyone.

Nothing is kept back at the end of the wall: play runs to the very last tile. Its drawer discards, and only a win may claim that final discard. If nobody wins it, the hand is drawn and the Dealer deals again, which also happens whenever the Dealer wins.

Counting Faan

Hong Kong counts faan, which add up much as tai do. A hand needs at least 3 faan to win, and the limit is 10 faan. The big limit hands score the limit outright and don’t stack with anything else.

That minimum matters. A single dragon Pung is 1 faan, nowhere near enough on its own, so you need a shape or a stack of smaller faan before you can call Sik Wu. Some of the everyday sources:

• Ping Wu, four Sheung and any Pair: 1 faan.
• Zi Mo, drawing the winning tile yourself, with any hand: 1 faan.
• No flowers at all: 1 faan. Your own flower or season is worth 1 faan.
• Dui Dui Wu, all Pungs: 3 faan. Wan Yat Sik, one suit with honours: 3 faan.
• Ching Yat Sik, one suit and nothing else: 7 faan.

A win on a Kong’s replacement tile scores 1 faan, but a flower’s replacement earns nothing extra. A hand with nothing claimed isn’t scored on its own either.

How It Differs From Singapore

• No animals, and flowers don’t spoil Ping Wu. Singapore’s Ping Hu dies at the first flower.
• A higher minimum. One faan won’t do; plan for a shape from the start.
• Flushes pay big. A full flush sits close to the limit, where in Singapore every tai doubles the bill instead.
• Nothing is paid until someone wins. Kongs and flowers earn no instant payments.
• Concealed Kongs are shown and count as sets on the table.
• Four Concealed Pungs won on a discard counts only if the discard finishes the Pair. Singapore’s Kam Kam Hu needs a self-drawn win.
• Passing a win blocks only a win on that tile until your next turn. You may still Pung or Sheung it.
• No swapping back: straight after a Pung you can’t throw the claimed tile, and after a Sheung neither the claimed tile nor the other end of the run.

The Shooter Pays

This is the big one. When you win on a discard, the shooter (Cheut Chung) pays the whole amount; the other two pay nothing. Win by Zi Mo and each of the other three pays half of it. There’s no extra for the Dealer.

Payments climb a ladder rather than doubling every faan: steady steps from the minimum, then doubling roughly every two faan towards the limit. The practical upshot is simple. One careless discard can cost you a whole hand’s bill, so defence matters more here than at a Singapore table.

Robbing a Kong counts as a discard from the Kong’s maker, who pays the whole Zi Mo total. And Baau (包) catches the player who feeds someone their fourth set on the table, or their third dragon set: if that player then wins by Zi Mo, the feeder pays the whole total. A later win on someone else’s discard is still paid by that discarder alone.

Every Hand Hong Kong Pays

Here is every hand, set, bonus and win this game’s Hong Kong table counts, with an example of each and its faan.

• Ping Wu

  1 faan

  Four Sheung and any Pair. Flowers don’t spoil it.

• Wan Yat Sik

  3 faan

  One suit with winds or dragons. Also said half colour, Ban Se.

• Ching Yat Sik

  7 faan

  One suit and nothing else. Also said full colour.

• Dui Dui Wu

  3 faan

  Four Pungs or Kongs and a Pair. Also said Peng Peng Hu, Dui Dui Hu.

• Terminals & Honours

  1 faan

  Only 1s, 9s, winds and dragons, with some of each.

• Siu Saam Yuen

  5 faan

  Two dragon sets and the third dragon as the Pair, the sets included.

• Daai Saam Yuen

  8 faan

  A set of each of the three dragons, the sets included.

• Dragon Set

  1 faan

  Each Pung or Kong of dragons.

• Seat Wind Set

  1 faan

  A Pung or Kong of your Seat Wind.

• Round Wind Set

  1 faan

  A Pung or Kong of the Round Wind.

• No Flowers

  1 faan

  No flowers or seasons at all.

• Your Own Flower Or Season

  1 faan

  The flower or season with your seat’s number.

• All Four Flowers Or Seasons

  2 faan

  All four flowers, or all four seasons.

• Seven Flowers

  3 faan

  Seven of the eight flowers and seasons: you may call it a win.

• Eight Flowers

  8 faan

  All eight flowers and seasons win at once.

• Zi Mo

  1 faan

  You draw the winning tile yourself.

• Gong Seung Hoi Fa

  1 faan

  Winning on the tile drawn after a Kong.

• Hoi Dai Lo Yuet

  1 faan

  Winning on the last tile there is to draw.

• Cheung Gong

  1 faan

  Winning on the tile someone adds to their Pung.

• Sap Saam Yiu

  Limit · 10 faan

  Every 1, 9, wind and dragon, and one of them twice.

• Daai Sei Hei

  Limit · 10 faan

  A set of each of the four winds.

• Siu Sei Hei

  Limit · 10 faan

  Three wind sets, and the fourth wind as the Pair.

• Zi Yat Sik

  Limit · 10 faan

  Only winds and dragons.

• All Terminals

  Limit · 10 faan

  Only 1s and 9s.

• Four Concealed Pungs

  Limit · 10 faan

  Four Pungs made in your hand, nothing claimed.

• Nine Gates

  Limit · 10 faan

  1112345678999 of one suit and one more of it, nothing claimed.

• Sap Baat Lo Hon

  Limit · 10 faan

  Four Kongs.

• Tin Wu

  Limit · 10 faan

  The Dealer wins on the dealt tiles.

• Dei Wu

  Limit · 10 faan

  Winning on the Dealer’s first discard.

• Kong Upon Kong

  Limit · 10 faan

  A Kong, another Kong on its replacement, then the win.