| Hand size | 13 tiles |
|---|---|
| Winning shape | Four sets and a pair |
| Scoring | Base points, then doublings, capped at the limit |
| Minimum | None — any complete hand may declare |
| Signature | East pays and collects double |
This is the classical game — the one the others came from. Thirteen tiles, four sets and a pair, and a two-stage scoring system that every later variant simplified in a different direction.
Base points, then doublings
First you count base points: small values for your sets, your pair, the way the hand was finished, your flowers. Then you apply doublings — each one multiplies the whole total by two. A flush, all pungs, a dragon set, your own seat wind: each doubles again. The total is capped at the limit.
Because doublings multiply rather than add, classical scoring is volatile. Two hands with similar base points can be worth wildly different amounts. Hong Kong's faan is essentially this system, streamlined.
East pays and collects double
The dealer is not just first — the dealer is financially exposed. A losing East pays twice what the other seats pay. A winning East collects twice from everybody. It makes the deal a genuine position of risk rather than a mild advantage, and it is the classical game's most distinctive feature.
Settlement is winner-collects: the losing seats pay the winner and never each other. Whether the win came from a self-draw or a discard doesn't change who pays — a self-draw just adds to the base.
The opening
Classical mahjong has the most ceremonial deal in the family. Two dice are thrown twice and the results summed to find the break point in the wall, and the dealer takes a whole extra stack rather than a single tile. There is no minimum to declare a win — any complete hand may go out, however cheap.
What the app enforces
- Two-stage scoring — base points, then doublings, capped at the limit
- Limit hands (天胡, 大三元, 十三幺 and the rest) set to the limit outright
- East paying double and collecting double, as unequal per-seat amounts
- Winner-collects settlement, with losing seats never paying each other
- The two-throws-and-sum opening, and the dealer's whole-stack pickup
- No minimum to declare
- Nine Gates and Thirteen Orphans detected correctly
Table language is Mandarin throughout — Peng 碰, Chi 吃, Gang 槓, Zhuang 莊, Zimo 自摸, Lianzhuang 連莊 — romanized first with the characters beside it.
