Rules guide

Vietnamese Mahjong Rules Guide

Learn Classic 160-tile Vietnamese Mahjong online: flowers, seven true jokers, No Flowers No Leaves, liability, four rounds, and Phán/Mủn settlement.

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Rules at a Glance

Quick Fact	Details
Tile Set	160 tiles (136 suited/honors + 16 numbered flowers + 7 true jokers + Đại Hoa)
Hand Size	13 tiles held, win with 14
Special Tiles	7 true jokers plus the non-wild Big Flower
Win Gate	No minimum Phán; a legal zero-Phán Mosquito Hand can win
Flower Wall	The final 26 tiles move as replacements are taken and are never live draws
Game Length	East, South, West, and North rounds; at least 16 hands

Setup

160 tiles: 136 suited/honor tiles, 16 numbered flowers, seven true jokers, and Đại Hoa (Big Flower). The dealer starts with 14 playable tiles; others start with 13. Each player starts with 300 points.
The final 26 tiles form a moving flower wall reserved for replacements. Each replacement moves the live-wall boundary; ordinary draws never enter those reserved tiles.
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.
Normally expose and replace flowers immediately, including Đại Hoa. A true joker may stay concealed as a wildcard or be exposed for a bonus and replacement. Repeat mandatory flower replacements.
While eligible for No Flowers, No Leaves, immediately discard flowers/jokers instead of exposing them. Exposing a bonus or making a call abandons that eligibility.
A win or live-wall exhaustion ends the hand. The dealer repeats after a dealer win or a draw; otherwise the dealer advances. The match completes East, South, West, and North rounds, ending when North rotates back to East.

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.
Jokers substitute only within their printed domains (see reference). Kongs require four natural identical tiles; jokers cannot form a kong. For a joker claim, choose the represented tile when multiple interpretations are legal.
Discarded flowers/special tiles may be claimed only to win: the final tile acts as Tổng. They cannot form an ordinary meld claim.
Tied Pongs prefer fewer, then less-versatile jokers, then turn order. Tied wins use head-bump. Passing a Pong or win blocks that tile type until after your next draw and discard.
Joker bounce replaces a joker in your own exposed Pong with its matching natural tile. The joker moves to the bonus area and you draw a replacement. Chows and Kongs cannot be bounced; the bounce cannot be robbed.

Winning

Complete four sets and one pair, Thirteen Orphans, or seven distinct pairs. Seven Pairs is concealed and self-draw only. Eligible jokers can form sets and pairs, never kongs.
There is no minimum Phán: a legal zero-Phán Mosquito Hand wins for 1 point from each loser.
No Flowers, No Leaves requires an eligible all-number standard hand with no flowers, jokers, or honors. Its three-safe-discard and enabled immediate forms are listed in the reference.

Scoring

Through 5 Phán, each Phán doubles the half-point base (with zero Phán paying 1). Every 6 Phán converts to 1 Mủn: 32 single or 64 double points. Each remaining Phán adds 6 to both rates.
On a discard win, the discarder pays double and the other two pay single. On self-draw, all three pay double. Apply progressive counting to qualifying hand patterns before situational and bonus-tile Phán.
Liability can make one opponent cover all losers. A discarded flower/joker win also adds 1 Mủn before liability settlement. Robbing a promoted kong has a separate reimbursement rule; see reference.

Scoring patterns and winning structures

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

Phán & Mủn Scoring Table

All Sets (Ù Tui Tui)

All four sets are triplets or quads

3 Phán

Half Flush (Ù Lai Hàng)

One numbered suit combined with honors

3 Phán

Full Flush (Ù Toàn Hàng)

One numbered suit only, no honors

1 Mủn

Seven Pairs (Ù Pe Pe)

Enabled Classic option; concealed and self-draw only

1 Mủn

Thirteen Orphans (Ù Thập Tam Yêu)

All 13 terminals and honors plus one duplicate

13 Phán

All Honors (Toàn Chữ)

All tiles in hand and melds are Winds or Dragons

4 Mủn

All Terminals (Toàn Yêu)

All sets are 1s and 9s

4 Mủn

Bonuses and scoring conditions

Rule	Value	Condition
Seat Flower	+1 Phán	Only a flower numbered for the winner’s seat
Bouquet	1 Mủn	All four flowers in one quartet; included seat flower is absorbed
All Four Seat Flowers	2 Mủn	The same seat number across all four quartets
Big Flower (Đại Hoa)	+2 Phán	Mandatory flower; never a wildcard
Replaced Joker	+1 to +3 Phán	Depends on kind, seat, and opening replacement timing
Self-Draw (Tự Rút)	Doubles payout	All three opponents pay double

Joker substitution domains

Special tile	Substitution	Allowed use
Tổng	Any suited tile or honor	Chow, Pong, or pair.
Thùng / Soọc / Màn	Dots / Bamboo / Characters	Chow, Pong, or pair in the named suit.
Hỉ / Nguyên	Winds / Dragons	Pong or pair only.
Hợp	Any suited tile	Chow, Pong, or pair; never honors.
Đại Hoa	Never a wildcard	Mandatory replacement flower, worth 2 Phán.

Additional hand and method patterns

Rule	Value	Condition
Nine Gates	3 Mủn	Concealed nine-gates structure; excludes Full Flush.
Terminals and Honors	1 Mủn	Only terminals and honors; excludes All Sets.
Four closed quads / four quads / four closed sets	5 / 4 / 3 Mủn	Use the highest applicable pattern; Four Closed Sets requires self-draw.
All Runs	1 Phán	Four sequences and a pair that is neither a Dragon nor the seat/round Wind. Domain-valid jokers are allowed.
All Called	3 Phán	All four sets exposed and a discard completes the pair.
Fully Closed	1 Phán	Self-draw with no open groups; concealed kongs are allowed.
Single / Pair Wait	1 Phán	A closed/edge sequence wait or pair wait; not both.
Quad	1 Phán each	Natural kongs, unless absorbed by a four-quad pattern.
Big / Little Three Dragons	9 Phán / 1 Mủn	Three Dragon sets, or two Dragon sets and a Dragon pair; individual Dragon sets are absorbed.
Dragon Set	1 Phán each	Dragon triplet/quad when no higher Dragon pattern applies.
Big / Little Four Winds	8 / 4 Mủn	Four Wind sets, or three Wind sets and a Wind pair; value-wind awards are absorbed.
Seat / Round Wind Set	1 Phán each	Matching Wind triplet/quad when no higher Wind pattern applies.
Robbing kong / replacement win / last tile	1 Phán	The applicable win method adds its bonus after progressive counting.
Blessing of Heaven / Earth / Man	2 Mủn	Dealer opening win / uninterrupted first-turn non-dealer self-draw / opening discard win.
No Jokers	+1 Mủn	Eligible high-value hands without shape jokers; All Sets alone instead adds 1 Phán. A zero-pattern no-joker Mosquito Hand is 1 Mủn.

Flowers, exposed jokers, and progressive counting

Rule	Value	Condition
Seat flowers / Bouquet / all four seat flowers	1 Phán / 1 Mủn / 2 Mủn	A completed quartet absorbs its seat flower; all four matching seat flowers absorb those individual flowers.
Exposed Tổng / Hợp	2 or 3 Phán	3 during opening replacement; later Tổng is 3 for East, Hợp is 3 for North, otherwise 2.
Exposed Thùng or Hỉ / Soọc or Nguyên / Màn	1 or 2 Phán	2 for South / West / North respectively; otherwise 1.
Matching Tổng and Hợp in one batch	9 Phán at opening; 1 Mủn later	Replaces their individual bonuses.
Complete blue or red special set	1 or 2 Mủn	1 when every tile of the color is held or exposed; 2 when all are exposed. Includes Đại Hoa for the red set.
Big Three Dragons with a 3-Phán pattern	2 Mủn; +1 per further pattern	Replaces the 9 Phán and qualifying 3-Phán awards.
Two-Mủn hand with wait and Fully Closed	+1 Mủn	Replaces the two 1-Phán wait and Fully Closed awards.
Progressive counting	Two 3-Phán patterns → 1 Mủn	Each further qualifying 3-Phán pattern adds 1 Mủn. With an eligible Mủn hand pattern, each such pattern adds 1 Mủn; bonus-tile and situational Phán are excluded.

No Flowers, No Leaves

Rule	Value	Condition
True form	1 Mủn	Eligible standard all-number hand with no flowers, jokers, or honors.
Three safe bonus discards	1 Mủn; 2 with five or more	After three eligible bonus discards pass unclaimed, the next ordinary numbered tile can complete the mixed special form.
Immediate blue-joker / flowers-only form	1 Mủn at three; +1 for each extra	Three safe blue-joker discards with no other bonus discards, or three safe flower discards with no jokers. Hợp counts as blue here.
Immediate mixed form	2 Mủn	Six safe flower/joker discards.
Immediate forms	Enabled flowers-only form	Eight Flowers, same-number Bouquet, and Six Consecutive Wins are disabled in this profile.

Liability and reimbursement

Rule	Value	Condition
Dangerous feeds	Feeder covers all losers	Qualifying ninth/twelfth suit, terminal, or honor feeds; third-Dragon or fourth-Wind feeds; or a new discard in the last four live tiles.
Discarded flower or joker win	+1 Mủn, feeder pays all	The bonus is added before the discarder covers all losers.
Robbing promoted kong	Quad owner initially covers all	The other two losers reimburse their single rate calculated without the robbing bonus.

Rules used in tsumo

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

Vietnamese Mahjong Guide