House Rules

Agree Before The First Tile

Every argument at a mahjong table starts with a rule nobody agreed. The fix is boring and works every time: settle the minimum, the limit, who pays and the odd cases before anyone touches a tile.

In this game, Scored Hand and Full Match open with a House Rules panel for the Singapore table. Leave it alone and you play the standard rules, which most tables use and which Learn teaches. Change something and the hand records it, so a replay always shows the rules it was dealt with.

Minimum Tai And The Limit

The standard minimum is 1 tai: a hand with no tai can’t win. Some tables ask for 2, and a few for 3. A higher minimum slows the game down and rewards building, but it bites harder than it sounds: claim a set and lose Men Qing, and a hand you thought was fine may fall short.

The standard limit is 5 tai, and the base keeps doubling up to it. Raise it to 6 or 10 and big hands are paid closer to their real size. Doubling is steep, though: on a discard win a six-tai hand collects 256 points and a ten-tai hand 4,096 points, against 128 points at the standard limit. A higher limit suits a table that loves chasing big hands; the standard keeps one bad hand from ruining your night.

Shooter Pays

Normally everyone chips in on a discard win: the shooter pays double and the others the base. Under Shooter Pays, whoever throws the winning tile pays the whole bill, four times the base, and the others pay nothing. The winner collects the same total either way; a three-tai win still brings in 32 points, all from one player. A Zi Mo is paid by everyone as usual.

Tables choose it because it’s fairer to the innocent: you only pay for your own mistakes. It also makes defence count, which is why the in-game Hint leans towards safer tiles at a Shooter Pays table.

Men Qing: The Concealed Hand

A win with nothing claimed earns 1 tai. As standard it only counts on a Zi Mo (Men Qing Zi Mo); some tables give it on any win, and some not at all. Bonus tiles don’t break a concealed hand.

Giving it on any win rewards patience; dropping it keeps scoring simple. Whatever you choose, it matters most with a higher minimum, where that one tai can decide whether you’re allowed to win.

Kong Rules

• A concealed Kong face up or face down. Most tables lay it face up: everyone pays for it, so everyone sees what it is. Face down keeps your secret.
• Who may rob a concealed Kong. As standard, only a hand waiting on 13 Wonders may win on its tile. A table can let any winning hand rob it (face up only, since nobody can rob what they can’t see) or let nobody.
• Whether a concealed Kong opens the hand. Most published rules say it doesn’t, so you keep Men Qing and Kam Kam Hu. Some tables count it as a set shown.

Claims And The Four Winds

No Swapping Back (食換): straight after a Chi or Pong you may not throw the tile you claimed, nor the other end of the Chi (claim a 5 with 6 and 7, then no 5 or 8). It stops a player using a claim just to swap tiles around.

Claim Back Your Last Discard: most tables won’t let you win, Pong or Chi on a copy of the tile you just threw until you draw again. Some do.

Four Winds Redeal: when all four players throw the same wind on the first go-round, with no claims or Kongs between, the hand ends as a draw and is dealt again. Bonus payments already made stand, and the deal stays. Rare, but nobody forgets it when it happens.