Paying Up

The Base Doubles With Each Tai

Every payment starts from a base set by the hand’s tai, and the base doubles with each tai up to the table’s limit:

• One tai: a base of 2 points.
• Two tai: 4 points.
• Three tai: 8 points.
• Four tai: 16 points.
• Five tai, the standard limit: 32 points.

A hand with more tai than the limit is paid at the limit, so a six-tai hand at a standard table pays exactly what a five-tai one does. A tai is a unit of value, not an amount of money; this game plays for practice points.

Winning On A Discard

When you win on someone’s discard, the shooter (the player who threw it) pays twice the base, and the other two pay the base each. You collect four times the base.

So a one-tai win is 4 points from the shooter and 2 points from each of the others, 8 points in all. Small, but every tai doubles it.

Winning By Zi Mo

Draw the winning tile yourself and all three pay twice the base. You collect six times the base, half as much again as the same hand on a discard. That’s one reason players sometimes pass on a discard and wait to draw.

There’s a second, quieter difference. On a discard, two of the three losers pay only the base, and the shooter takes the sting. On a Zi Mo nobody did anything wrong, so everyone pays the same. It’s why a strong player waiting on a good hand late in the game can be more frightening than one who has just claimed a set: you can’t defend against a tile they draw themselves.

Two Worked Examples

A Three-Tai Hand

Say your hand counts three tai: a half flush with a dragon Pong, perhaps. If West throws the winning tile, West pays 16 points, and North and East pay 8 points each. You collect 32 points.

Draw the same tile yourself and each of the three pays 16 points: 48 points in all.

A Limit Hand

Big Dragons pays the limit, 5 tai at a standard table. On a discard the shooter pays 64 points, the others 32 points each, and you collect 128 points. By Zi Mo it’s 64 points from each, 192 points in all. A bigger limit, if your table plays one, keeps doubling: see house rules.

Shooter Pays And Bao

Under the Shooter Pays house rule, the shooter pays the whole four times the base and the others pay nothing. A three-tai discard win is 32 points, all from the shooter. Zi Mo is unchanged.

Bao moves the whole bill onto one player without making it bigger. Throw the tile that wins a full flush for a player showing three sets of that suit, and you pay the whole discard bill: 64 points for a four-tai hand, all from you. Feed someone their third dragon set and watch them go on to win by Zi Mo, and you pay the whole Zi Mo bill: 48 points for a three-tai hand, while the other two pay nothing. The other cases are on the Singapore table page.

Kongs, Bites And Marriages

Some payments happen on the spot, win or no win, and they stand even if the hand ends in a draw. Each other player pays:

• A claimed or added Kong: 2 points.
• A concealed Kong: 4 points, twice the exposed one.
• A bite or a marriage: Cat with Rat, Rooster with Centipede, or your own flower with your own season. 2 points, or 4 points if both tiles were in your opening deal.
• A complete family of four flowers, four seasons or all four animals: 4 points, on top of any pair it holds.

A Kong that gets robbed pays nothing as a Kong. And late in the hand, with seven or fewer playable tiles left, a fresh tile claimed for a Kong makes its thrower pay the whole Kong payment.