Modern Japanese Mahjong
=======================

Scoring, Part 1 : Fan's and "Scoring Patterns"
----------------------------------------------
version 1.01
by Alan Shiu Ho Kwan

(version 1.0 contains corrected Japanese names and
kanji in JIS code)

(This article can be downloaded from 
http://home.netvigator.com/~tarot/Mahjong/mj_jap01.txt
)


Introduction
------------

This article describes the central aspect of scoring
in Modern Japanese Mahjong, the counting of fan's
(doubles).  Modern Japanese is a modern pattern-based system, 
with quite a number of scoring patterns ("special hands"),
many of them being worth more fans than the same pattern
in Classical Mahjong.  Although points are also counted
in Modern Japanese, the scoring is dominated by fans.

This article lists the most common patterns, and their
common values.  Unlike many other publications, I prefer
to organize the patterns by category, rather than by value.

Besides patterns and scoring, "abortive draws" are also
covered, in section 0.2.


0.0  Outline
------------

Only the hand that goes out is scored (as per most modern
scoring systems).  There is a 1 fan minimum limit for
going out.

Patterns with the same numbering in both first two components of
its index belong to the same series.  Only one pattern 
(and only one copy of it) from each
series can be counted in a single hand.  (The exception is 3.1,
where you can claim 1 fan for each set of scoring honors
in your hand, or 2 fans for a set of Double Wind.)  Modern
Japanese is a modern pattern-based system, which means that
multiple patterns (in different series) are often combined 
(in conjunction with /dora/ bonuses, too) to yield a more 
valuable hand.

The term "triplet" for the remainder of the article includes both
triplets (pongs) and quartets (kongs).

All the "patterns" listed here are merely scoring 'bonuses'; except 
for the hands listed in 10.0 Irregular Hands, you need a Regular Hand
with 4 sets and a pair, with a pattern which is worth at least
1 fan, to go out in the first place.

Like most other modern systems, there is no single definite
standard for Modern Japanese.  Many people play house rules
and uncommon patterns, many not described here.  There are
several "official" Mahjong associations in Japan, with their
sets of "official" rules.  There may be but minor differences
between these "official" rules sets.

I am trying to list all the commonly used patterns here.
I hope I have not left out anything important.  Note
that definitions and values may vary among groups of
players.

The rest of 0. describes other rules; the scoring patterns begin
with 1.0 .  You may want to skip ahead to 0.3 for the
moment and come back to 0. later, if that is what you're looking for
in this article.

I use the term "pattern" for the word /yaku/ in Japanese.


0.1  Dora bonus tiles
---------------------

At the start of each hand, a tile (i.e. 4 identical tiles
with the same name) is randomly specified as the /dora/
bonus tile.  A hand which goes out receives one bonus fan (double) 
for each dora tile it contains.  However, /dora/ does not fulfill 
the 1 fan minimum requirement for going out: if your hand does not
contain any patterns that are worth any fans, you cannot go out
regardless of how many /dora/ tiles you have.

/Ura-dora/ is a common optional rule (usually not recognized
officially) that states that whenever a player who has performed
/riichi/ goes out, yet another /dora/ tile is randomly selected,
and each occurrence(s) of that new /dora/ adds another fan to the
value of the hand.  Some experts show disdain for this rule.

/Kan-dora/ is a common optional rule that states that 
whenever a quartet (kong/kan) is declared, an extra /dora/ 
tile is 'immediately' randomly selected.
Different people play with different 'immediacy':
some players select the /kan-dora/ as soon as the kong
is declared, while others do not select it until (and unless) 
the player making the kong has drawn his supplement tile
and discarded without the discarded tile being claimed
for going out.

/Kan-ura-dora/ is an optional rule that states that when
/kan-dora/ has been generated, and a player who has performed
/riichi/ goes out, an /ura-dora/ is generated for each
existing /kan-dora/, in additional to the one for the 
original /dora/.  Some experts show much disdain for this rule.

The random selection is done by turning face-up a tile in the
dead wall.  That tile is called the /dora-indicator/;
the /dora/ tile is the 'following' tile in numerical sequence.
This is illustrated as follows:

	B1 -> B2 -> B3 -> ... -> B8 -> B9 -> B1
	C1 -> C2 -> C3 -> ... -> C8 -> C9 -> C1
	D1 -> D2 -> D3 -> ... -> D8 -> D9 -> D1
	E -> S -> W -> N -> E
	White -> Green -> Red -> White

For example, B5 indicates B6, and White indicates Green.

Flower and season tiles are generally not used in Modern Japanese
Mahjong.


0.2  Abortive Draws
-------------------

There are several situations where the hand ends in a draw before
the wall is exhausted.  I call these situations abortive draws.
The hand ends immediately, and either the current dealer re-deals,
or the deal passes, depending on local rules.

0.2.1  9 Terminals Abortive Draw / kyuu shu yao kyuu tou pai
	$B6e<oVv6eE]GW(J
	If a player, immediately after his first draw in the hand,
	and without any Chi, Pon, or Kan before his turn, has 
	9 /different/ termial and honor tiles in his hand, he may 
	(at his discretion) reveal his hand and end the hand 
	immediately in an abortive draw.

0.2.2  4 Winds Abortive Draw / suu fon tsu ren da
	$B;MIw;RO"BG(J
	If, on the first round of discards in the hand,
	without any Chi, Pon, or Kan action, all 4 players
	discard exactly the /same/ /Wind/ tile, the hand
	ends immediately in an abortive draw.

0.2.3  4 Quartets Abortive Draw / suu kan nagare
	$B;M\J;RN.$l(J
	Whenever a total of 4 quartets have been declared by
	a plural number of players in a hand, the hand ends
	immediately in an abortive draw.

0.2.4  4 Players Riichi Abortive Draw / suu ka riichi
	$B;M2HN)D>(J
	Whenever all 4 players have declared /riichi/, the hand
	ends immediately in an abortive draw.  Some players
	void this rule.

0.2.5  3 Players Go out Abortive Draw / san ka agari
	$B;02HOB(J
	When 3 players claim the same discard to go out 
	simultaneously,	the hand ends in an abortive draw 
	and is not scored.  Some players void this rule, 
	instead scoring the hand normally.


0.3  Key
--------

[index number]  [English name] / [Japanese name] : [values] [status]
	[Japanese or Chinese name in new-JIS encoding]

I make up the English names myself, since I haven't found
a universially agreed "standard" for Modern Japanese.

Please ignore any discontinuity in the numbering of the index.
They mean nothing.

The Japanese names are spelled in /romaji/, and should be
pronounced accordingly.  (If you don't know the rules for
Japanese pronounciation, my suggestion is that you should not try
to read them as English words.)  I use capital letters for the 
part of the name that is often used as a short form by the Japanese.
Some of the incorrect readings in version 0.8 have been corrected.
Some names get multiple readings (a more "Chinese" one
and a more "Japanese" one, for example), but only one is
shown here.

The JIS encoding will show up as gibberish unless you have
the software to read it.  If it does, please just ignore
it.

There are two values listed for each pattern.  The first
value applies when the hand is concealed: no claimed discards
except for the final tile when going out.  The second value
apllies when the hand has claimed one or more discards before
going out.  Note that this discrepancy applies to each and every
pattern contained by the hand, so keeping the hand "concealed"
is a more important concept in Modern Japanese than in /any/
other version of Mahjong.

The values indicated herein are the common or official values.
Some players use different values for some patterns.

"Limit" under value means the "maximum limit" at quadruple Full House.
(Some players who play "double limit and beyond" optional
rule apply double limit to some instances of some limit patterns.)
"NA" stands for "not applicable".

The status is either "(UO)" for "(generally) unofficial" (usually
not recognized officially), or omitted for patterns usually
recognized officially.

The descriptions for some Classical Japanese patterns 
have been omitted.

Again, remember that these are all /scoring/ patters for
Regular Hands (4 sets and a pair), although some also apply 
to the "7 pairs" Irregular Hand.  You need either a Regular
Hand, or an Irregular Hand under 10.0, to be able to go out.


1.0  General patterns
---------------------

1.1  Valueless Hand / pin fu : 1/0
	$BJ?OB(J
	Hand contains no points from triplets, eyes, or final tile
	position.  Many players allow forfeiting the 2 points
	for self-draw (but not for final tile position) in order 
	to claim pinfu.  (The non-concealed hand scores no fans 
	and 10 points.)

1.2  Self-Draw in Concealed Hand / men zen chin TSU MO : 1/NA
	$BLgA0@6<+LN(J
	(A Concealed Hand which claims a discard to go out
	gets 10 points.)
	
1.3  No Terminals (All Simples) / tan yao : 1/1
	$BCGVv6e(J
	hand contains no terminals or honors, 
	only numeric tiles 2 to 8.  Some plays require
	the hand to be Concealed, but most don't.

1.4  Nine Connected Sacred Lamps (Nine Gates) / 
	kyuu ren poo too : Limit/NA
	$B6eO"JuEt(J
	a concealed hand with 1112345678999 in one suit

1.5.1  riichi : 1/NA
	$BN)D>!J%j!<%A!K(J
1.5.2  Double Riichi / daburu riichi : 2/NA
	$B%@%V%kN)D>(J
	If a player declares riichi on his first turn in the hand,
	this is called a double riichi, and is worth 2 fans instead
	of 1.

1.6  Hitting with One Shot / ip patsu : 1/NA (UO)
	$B0lH/(J
	Going out within one round (without any Chi, Pon, Kan
	action) of /riichi/.  If you go out exactly on your next
	draw after riichi, you get riichi, ippatsu and 
	self-draw, for a nice 3 fans just for that. 


2.0  One-Suit patterns		$B0l?'7O(J
----------------------

2.1.1  Mixed One-Suit / HON i chi : 3/2
	$B:.0l?'(J
2.1.2  Pure One-Suit / CHIN i chi : 6/5 
	$B@60l?'(J

2.2  All Green / ryuu ii soo : Limit/Limit
	$BNP0l?'(J
	A hand consisting of only 23468 (no 1579) of Bamboos, and
	Green Dragon.  Some players require the presence
	of the Green Dragon.  For a good reference on whether
	the Green Dragon 'should' be required, please see
	http://www.mahjong.or.jp/rule/ans/ans97.html


3.0  Honor Tiles		$B;zGW7O(J
----------------

3.1  each triplet of scoring honors / (yaku hai) : 1/1 
	$BLrGW(J
	Dragons, seat wind, round wind.
	Instead of saying "yaku pai", Japanese players often
	read out the name of the tile, such as "ton"
	for East.

3.2.1  Small Three Dragons / shou san gen : 2/2 
	$B>.;085(J
3.2.2  Big Three Dragons / dai san gen : Limit/Limit 
	$BBg;085(J

3.3.1  Small Four Winds / shou suu shii : Limit/Limit
	$B>.;M4n(J
3.3.2  Big Four Winds / dai suu shii : Limit/Limit
	$BBg;M4n(J

3.4  All Honors / tsuu ii soo : Limit/Limit
	$B;z0l?'(J


4.0  Triplets and Quartets		$B9o;R!"\J;R7O(J
--------------------------

4.1  All Triplets / toi toi : 2/2
	$BBP!9OB(J

4.2.1  Three Concealed Triplets / san an ko : 2/2
	$B;00E9o(J
4.2.2  Four Concealed Triplets / shuu an ko : Limit/NA
	$B;M0E9o(J

4.3.3  Three Quartets / san kan tsu : 2/2
	$B;0\J;R(J
4.3.4  Four Quartets / suu kan tsu : Limit/Limit
	$B;M\J;R(J
	Some players play that a player goes out immediately when
	he declares his 4th quartet (thus an Irregular Hand)
	without matching the pair of eyes, 
	as per very old Chinese Classical rules.  
	Others play that he has to fish for his eyes;
	some of them play that no other players can make
	a 5th quartet then, while others play that the
	hand ends in an abortive draw if any other player
	makes a quartet.  (see 0.2.3)


5.0  Identical Sets		$BF1=g7O(J
-------------------

5.1.1  Two Identical Sequences / ii pee koo : 1/0
	$B0lHL9b!J0lGV8}!K(J
	e.g.  C-345 C-345
	(Note:  The first kanji writing is the original
	Chinese writing.  However, historically that has been
	lost in Japan, so the writing in parenthesis has become 
	the commonly accepted substitute in Japan.)
5.1.2  Double of Two Identical Sequences / ryan pee kou : 3/0
	e.g.  C-345 C-345 D-789 D-789
	$BFsGV8}(J
	Some players count this for only 2 fans.
5.1.3  Three Identical Sequences / ?? : 2/2 (UO)
	$B0l?';0=g(J
	e.g.  C-345 C-345 C-345
5.1.4  Four Identical Sequences / ?? : 4/4 (UO)
	$B0l?';M=g(J
	e.g.  C-345 C-345 C-345 C-345


6.0  Similar Sets		$B;0?'7O(J
-----------------

I call sets in the same numbers across 3 different suits "similar
sets".  I use that name because it is shorter than "sets in the
same numbers in 3 different suits".

6.1  Three Similar Sequences / SAN SHOKU dou jyun : 2/1
	$B;0?'F1=g(J
	e.g.  B-345 C-345 D-345

6.2.2  Three Similar Triplets / san shoku dou ko : 2/2
	$B;0?'F19o(J
	e.g.  B-444 C-444 D-444


7.0  Consecutive Sets		$BO"B3LL;R7O(J
---------------------

Consecutive Sets must be in the same suit.

7.1  Nine-Tile Straight / IK ki TSUU kan : 2/1
	$B0l5$DL4S(J
	This pattern must be a 123 sequence, a 456, and a 789
	in the same suit, as in the example below.
	e.g.  C-123 C-456 C-789
	
7.2.1  Three Consecutive Triplets / san ren ko : 2/2 (UO)
	$B;0O"9o(J
	e.g.  C-444 C-555 C-666
7.2.2  Four Consecutive Triplets / suu ren ko : Limit/Limit (UO)
	$B;MO"9o(J
	e.g.  C-444 C-555 C-666 C-777
	Some players require that the eyes be in the same suit,
	or be consecutive too (i.e. C3 or C8 in the above example).


8.0  Terminals		$BVv6e7O(J
--------------

Terminals are the 1 and 9 number tiles.

8.1.1  Every Set Including Mixed Terminals / hon CHAN TAa yao : 2/1
	$B:.A4BSVv(J
	a 1, 9, or Honor tile in each set, and also the eyes
	e.g.  B-111 C-123 D-789 RRR C-99 
8.1.2  Every Set Including Terminals / JYUN CHAN taa yao : 3/2
	$B=cA4BSVv(J
8.1.3  Mixed Terminals / hon roo too : 2/2
	$B:.O7F,(J
8.1.4  Pure Terminals / chin roo too : Limit/Limit
	$B@6O7F,(J


9.0  Incidental bonuses
-----------------------

9.1  Catching the Moon from the Bottom of the Sea / 
	HAI TEI moo yue : 1/1
	$B3$DlLN7n(J

9.2  Catching the Fish from the Bottom of the River /
	HOO TEI roo yui : 1/1
	$B2ODlY}5{(J
	going out on the last discarded tile in the hand,
	when the wall is exhausted of playable tiles

9.3.1  Blossom on the Hill / rin shan kai hoo : 1/1
	$BNf>e3+2V(J
	going out on the replacement tile drawn for a quartet

9.4  Robbing a Kong / chan kan : 1/1
	$BYo\J(J

(Note: The patterns in 9.5 require that no Chi, Pon, Kan action
has been performed by any player.  The same is true for 1.5.2,
Double Riichi, before the Riichi action.)
9.5.2  Blessing of Heaven / ten hoo : Limit/NA
	$BE7OB(J
	the dealer going out on his first turn
9.5.3  Blessing of Earth / chi hoo : Limit/NA
	$BCOOB(J
	a non-dealer going out on the dealer's first discard, or
	on his first turn
9.5.4  Blessing of Man / ren hoo : Full House/NA
	$B?MOB(J
	A non-dealer going out before his first turn, on
	a discard by someone other than the dealer.)
(Note: The definitions and distinctions of these three may
vary.  Also, the values may vary: some players play that
Blessing of Man gets Limit.)

9.6  kan buri : 1/1 (UO)
	$B\J$V$j(J
	Going out on the tile discarded by a player who has just made
	a kong and drawn a supplement tile.


10.0  Irregular Hands
---------------------

Irregular Hands are hands that do not consist of 4 sets and a pair.

10.1  Thirteen Orphans / koku shi mu sou : Limit/NA
	$B9q;NL5AP!!!?!!==;0Vv6e(J

10.2  7 Pairs / chi toi tsu : 2/NA
	$B<7BP;R(J
	7 /different/ pairs.  Some players allow identical
	pairs, but they are usually not allowed in "official"
	games.  The hand is actually scored as 1 fan and 50 points
	(or 0 fans and 100 points, or 2 fans and 25 points), 
	which is really slightly less than 2 fans.  It is counted 
	as 2 fans for above-Full-House hands.


11.0  Garbage Discards		$BN.$7K~4S(J
----------------------

11.1  Garbage Discards / nagashi mangan : Full House/NA
	$BN.$7K~4S(J
	If the hand ends in an /exhaustive/ (not abortive) draw, and
	a player's discards consists of only terminals and honors, and
	none of his discards have been claimed, and he has not
	taken any Chi, Pon, Kan action himself, the hand is scored
	as if he has gone out with a Full House.  The contents of
	his hand are immaterial.


END OF DOCUMENT

"Live life with Heart."
Alan Kwan / tarot@netvigator.com
http://home.netvigator.com/~tarot (hard-core game reviews)

