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Rules guide

Filipino Mahjong Rules Guide

Learn Filipino Mahjong online with Philippine 16-tile rules, flower-replaced Winds and Dragons, Secret Kong, Siete Pares, Todas, Bunot, and tutorials.

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Rules at a Glance

Quick FactDetails
Tile Set144 tiles; Winds and Dragons act as bonus flowers
Hand SizeHold 16 tiles; win with 17
What Makes A Win LegalAny complete 16-tile hand — no minimum score
Win TypesTodas (discard win) or Bunot (self-draw win)

Setup

  • 144 tiles, but only the 108 suited tiles form sets and pairs. All Winds, Dragons, Flowers, and Seasons are bonus flowers. The dealer starts with 17 playable tiles; others start with 16.
  • A sequence is three consecutive tiles of one suit; a triplet is three identical tiles. Honors cannot form sequences. A kong is four identical tiles and counts as one set.

Turns

  • Play proceeds counter-clockwise: draw one tile, then discard one, unless you declare a legal win or kong. A meld claim skips the draw and is followed by a discard; a kong requires a replacement draw.
  • Expose any non-suited tile and replace it from the back of the wall. Repeat replacements until a suited tile is drawn. After a normal discard, hold 16 playable tiles.
  • The dealer repeats after a dealer win or a draw; a non-dealer win moves the dealer to the next seat. The prevailing wind advances after four dealer changes.

Calls

  • CHOW takes a sequence from the player on your left. PONG takes a triplet from any opponent. KONG takes a quad from a discard or your own hand. Claim priority is WIN > KONG > PONG > CHOW.
  • A concealed Secret Kong pays 1 unit from each opponent immediately, then draws a replacement. Competing discard wins use head-bump.

Winning

  • Win with five sets and one pair, or Siete Pares (seven suited pairs and one three-tile set). The winning structure totals 17 tiles before adding one extra physical tile per kong.
  • No score minimum applies. Todas wins from a discard; Bunot wins from your own draw. A win ends the hand; wall exhaustion ends a draw.

Five sets and one pair (17 tiles)

Five three-tile sets and one identical pair.

dot 1dot 1dot 1dot 4dot 4dot 4bamboo 1bamboo 1bamboo 1bamboo 4bamboo 4bamboo 4character 1character 1character 1character 5character 5

Scoring

  • Start at a 1× base multiplier and add applicable bonuses. On Todas, the discarder pays 2× the total multiplier and the other two opponents pay 1×. On Bunot, each opponent pays 2×.
  • Draws transfer no win points; completed Secret Kong side payments remain.

Scoring patterns and winning structures

Supported hand patterns, their values, and tile examples. Bonus and payment rules appear in the companion references.

Scoring & Bonuses

Base Win

Every valid win starts at 1 unit

1×

bamboo 1bamboo 2bamboo 3bamboo 5bamboo 5bamboo 5dot 3dot 4dot 5character 7character 7character 7dot 9dot 9dot 9character 2character 2

Flush (Isa-isa)

All suited tiles from a single suit

+1×

dot 1dot 2dot 3dot 4dot 5dot 6dot 7dot 8dot 9dot 3dot 3dot 3dot 6dot 6dot 6dot 9dot 9

Puro Pong

All sets are PONGs or KONGs

+1×

dot 2dot 2dot 2bamboo 6bamboo 6bamboo 6character 9character 9character 9dot 7dot 7dot 7bamboo 3bamboo 3bamboo 3character 5character 5

Siete Pares

7 pairs + 1 set winning shape

+2×

dot 1dot 1dot 3dot 3bamboo 2bamboo 2bamboo 6bamboo 6character 4character 4character 8character 8dot 7dot 7bamboo 9bamboo 9bamboo 9

Bonuses and scoring conditions

RuleValueCondition
Concealed Hand (Lihim)+1×No melds taken from discards
No Flowers (Walang Bulaklak)+1×No flower tiles held at win
Last Tile (Huli sa Bunot)+1×Self-draw win on the last drawable tile
Secret Kong (Sekretong Kong)+1 side payEach opponent pays immediately on a concealed kong

Additional scoring patterns

RuleValueCondition
Escalera+1×A complete 1–9 straight in one suit.

Rules used in tsumo

These are the rules used in tsumo. Regional and house rules may differ.

  • tsumo Filipino Mahjong rules