MCR Mahjong Rules Guide

Rules at a Glance

Setup

• 144 tiles: three numbered suits, Winds, Dragons, and eight Flower/Season tiles. The dealer starts with 14 playable tiles; others start with 13.
• 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.
• Reveal flowers and seasons and take replacements immediately. A win or wall exhaustion ends the hand. The dealer advances after every hand, including draws; 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.
• Calls change eligibility for concealed-only patterns. Competing discard wins use head-bump.

Winning

• Complete four sets and one pair, or a supported special hand. Each kong adds one physical tile.
• A legal win needs at least 8 non-flower points. Flowers are bonus only: 1–7 non-flower points cannot win even with flowers. Chicken Hand awards 8 points only when the completed hand has no other non-flower scoring pattern.

Scoring

• Add compatible pattern values after applying exclusions. Do not count patterns implied by a higher pattern; for example, Nine Gates excludes Full Flush, Concealed Hand, No Honors, and its terminal/honor triplet components.
• After legal eligibility is established, add 1 point per flower. On a discard win, the discarder pays the final score plus 8; each other opponent pays 8. On self-draw, each opponent pays the final score plus 8. Draws transfer no win points.

Scoring patterns and winning structures

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

88-Point Hands (Limit)

Thirteen Orphans

One each of all 13 terminal/honor tiles + 1 duplicate

88

Big Four Winds

PONG/Kong of all 4 wind tiles

88

Big Three Dragons

PONG/Kong of all 3 dragon tiles

88

All Green

Only green tiles: Bamboo 2,3,4,6,8 and Green Dragon

88

Nine Gates

Concealed single-suit: 1112345678999 + any same suit

88

Four Kongs

All 4 sets are Kongs

88

Seven Shifted Pairs

Seven consecutive pairs in one numbered suit

88

64-Point Hands

Little Four Winds

3 wind PONGs + pair of 4th wind

64

Little Three Dragons

2 dragon PONGs + pair of 3rd dragon

64

All Terminals

Every tile is a terminal (1 or 9)

64

Four Concealed PONGs

All 4 sets are concealed PONGs, no open melds

64

All Honors

Every tile is a wind or dragon

64

Pure Terminal Chows

Two 123 chows, two 789 chows, and a pair of 5s in one suit

64

32-Point Hands

Four Pure Shifted Chows

Four chows in one suit shifted by 1 or by 2

32

All Terminals and Honors

Every tile is a terminal or honor (mixed)

32

Three Kongs

3 of 4 sets are Kongs

32

24-Point Hands

Seven Pairs

7 pairs, concealed. 4-of-a-kind counts as 2 pairs

24

Greater Honors and Knitted

Knitted hand with 7+ honor tiles

24

All Even PONGs

All suited tiles are even (2,4,6,8), all sets are PONGs

24

Full Flush

Single numbered suit only, no honors

24

Pure Triple Chow

Three identical chows in the same suit

24

Pure Shifted PONGs

Three same-suit PONGs/Kongs shifted by 1

24

Upper Tiles

All tiles are values 7, 8, 9 only

24

Middle Tiles

All tiles are values 4, 5, 6 only

24

Lower Tiles

All tiles are values 1, 2, 3 only

24

16-Point Hands

Pure Straight

123 + 456 + 789 in the same suit

16

Three Suited Terminal Chows

123 and 789 in two suits plus a pair of 5s in the third suit

16

Pure Shifted Chows

Three same-suit chows shifted by 1 or by 2

16

All Fives

Every set and pair contains a 5

16

Triple PONG

Three PONGs/Kongs of the same number in all 3 suits

16

Three Concealed PONGs

Three PONGs/Kongs concealed in the winning hand

16

12-Point Hands

Lesser Honors and Knitted

Knitted hand not qualifying for Greater

12

Knitted Straight

3 knitted chows spanning 1-9

12

Upper Four

All numbered tiles are values 6 through 9 only

12

Lower Four

All numbered tiles are values 1 through 4 only

12

Big Three Winds

PONG/Kong of three wind tiles

12

8-Point Hands

Mixed Straight

123, 456, 789 in three different suits

8

Reversible Tiles

All tiles look the same upside-down

8

Two Concealed Kongs

2 concealed Kongs in hand

8

6-Point Patterns

All PONGs

All 4 sets are PONGs/Kongs

6

Half Flush

One numbered suit + honor tiles

6

Mixed Shifted PONGs

3 PONGs in 3 suits, shifted by 1 (e.g. 5,6,7)

6

Mixed Shifted Chows

3 Chows in 3 suits, shifted by 1 (e.g. 123, 234, 345)

6

All Types

Hand contains Dots, Bamboo, Characters, Winds, and Dragons

6

Melded Hand

All 4 sets are exposed melds, win by discard

6

Two Dragon PONGs

PONG/Kong of 2 different dragons

6

4-Point and Below

Outside Hand

Every set contains a terminal or honor

4

Fully Concealed Hand

No open melds + Zimo (self-drawn win)

4

Two Melded Kongs

2 exposed Kongs

4

Dragon PONG

PONG/Kong of any dragon (each)

2

Prevalent Wind

PONG/Kong of the current round wind

2

Seat Wind

PONG/Kong of your seat wind

2

All Simples

No terminals or honors

2

Concealed Hand

No open melds, win by discard

2

All Chows

All 4 sets are sequences (No PONGs)

2

Tile Hog

All 4 copies of a tile used in hand (each)

2

Double PONG

Two PONGs of same number in different suits

2

Two Concealed PONGs

Two PONGs that are concealed

2

Concealed Kong

One concealed Kong

2

Pure Double Chow

Two identical Chows in same suit

1

Mixed Double Chow

Two same-numbered Chows in different suits

1

Short Straight

Two Chows forming 6-tile run (e.g. 1-6)

1

Two Terminal Chows

123 and 789 Chows in same suit

1

PONG of Terminals/Honors

PONG of 1, 9, or Wind (non-scoring)

1

Melded Kong

Any exposed Kong

1

One Voided Suit

Only 2 of 3 numbered suits used

1

No Honors

No wind or dragon tiles

1

Bonuses and scoring conditions

Pattern exclusions

Rules used in tsumo

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

• tsumo MCR rules

• World Mahjong Organization competition rules