Hong Kong Mahjong Payouts: Faan to Money

Convert the faan into shares, then multiply by the price of one share. Zero faan is 1 share, and each extra faan doubles it, so 4 faan is 16 shares. Above 4 faan it depends on whether the table plays full-spicy or half-spicy.

They’re identical up to 4 faan. Above that:

• Full-spicy (辣辣上) doubles on every faan. Players often just call it 全辣.
• Half-spicy (半辣上) doubles every two faan and adds half in between: 5 faan is 1.5× the 4-faan amount, 6 faan is 2×, 7 faan adds half again, and so on.

Half-spicy climbs more slowly, so big hands don’t dwarf small ones, which is why most friendly games use it. Under full-spicy, a 10-faan share is already 64 times a 4-faan share.

These names are the stake: the price of one share at 0 faan. 二五雞 is $0.25, 五一 is $0.50 and 一二蚊 is $1. Here is one share under half-spicy, from the usual 3-faan minimum to 10 faan:

Under full-spicy, 二五雞 runs $2, $4, $8, $16, $32, $64, $128 and $256 from 3 to 10 faan; multiply by 2 for 五一 and by 4 for 一二蚊.

The tables show one share. How many shares each player pays depends on whether the table plays half-discard (半銃) or full-discard (全銃):

Half-discard is the traditional Hong Kong way; under full-discard the discarder covers everything. The winner collects the same total either way. Only who pays changes.

The cap is the most a hand can be paid, usually set at 8, 10 or 13 faan when the table starts. Anything above it pays the capped amount. Most tables also need at least 3 faan to win.

Rare limit hands, such as Thirteen Orphans (十三么), are paid at the cap at most tables.

包 means one player pays for everyone. If an opponent already has three melds laid down (九章落地) or four (十二章落地), whoever fed them can be made responsible. The common saying is 九章落地包出銃、十二章落地包自摸: at four melds, if the opponent then self-draws, the responsible player pays all three shares alone. Big Three Dragons and Big Four Winds often carry a 包 rule too. The details vary a lot, so agree on them first.

You sit South. You punged 8 Dots, drew three concealed pungs of 2, 5 and 9 Dots yourself, hold a pair of East Winds, drew your seat flower (Summer), and won off a discard.

Mahjong Versus uses points, never real money, and its settlement differs from the cash tables above:

• Win off a discard: only the discarder pays the amount above. The other two pay nothing.
• Self-draw: add the 1 self-draw faan, then each of the three pays the amount above.
• Cap: 10 faan or more pays 64; limit hands such as Thirteen Orphans and All Honors pay 64 too.

For the 7-faan hand above, winning off a discard earns 24 points in the app, and a self-draw (8 faan) earns 3 × 32 = 96. So the gap between a self-draw and a discard win is bigger in Mahjong Versus than at a typical cash table: about 4× in the app against about 2× at a half-discard table.

The full list of patterns and rules is in How to Play, and the faan calculator scores any hand you build.

This guide explains common conventions for friendly games. Every table has its own house rules, so agree on them before you play, and follow your local laws.