14 tiles is short of the regular Taiwanese structure.
✓ Requirement met
▯▯▯▯▯▯▯▯▯▯▯▯▯▯▯+▯▯
5 sets + 1 pair
17 tiles in a regular complete shape, before extra kong tiles.
These diagrams explain one requirement at a time, not a complete winning-hand check.
These guides describe the rules played on mahjchina. Local Mahjong rules vary; check the room settings before you start. Learn to play →
A regular hand, explained
5 sets +1 pair =17 tiles
Sequence
Characters
Sequence
Characters
Sequence
Dots
Triplet
Bamboo
Sequence
Bamboo
Pair
Characters
This illustrates the tile structure only. A complete shape must also satisfy the winning requirements of the chosen game. Kongs count as sets but contain four tiles.
One turn, three decisions
01
→
Draw
Take a tile from the wall.
02
Choose
Keep useful groups together.
03
Chosen discard
Discard
Place one tile face up.
A cropped hand illustrates an ordinary draw-and-discard turn. Calls and replacement draws follow their own rules.
Four building blocks
Sequence
Three consecutive numbers, one suit.
Triplet
Three identical tiles.
Kong
Four identical tiles; draw a replacement.
Pair
Two identical tiles.
Why Taiwanese Mahjong uses 16 tiles
Start with 16 concealed tiles. A regular winning hand contains five sets and a pair, totalling 17 tiles at the winning moment before accounting for kongs. Do not use the four-set structure of 13-tile Mahjong.
Flowers and calls
Flowers are exposed and replaced; they do not form an ordinary set or pair. Chow, pung and kong help form sets, but exposing tiles can change which scoring patterns remain available.
Understanding tai
Tai depend on patterns, flowers and the winning method. This game also adjusts payments for the dealer and previous dealer wins; see the full table and formulas below. Tai are not a fixed coin amount.
A useful first practice hand
Build five valid sets and one pair, keeping each sequence within a single suit. After a flower or kong replacement, count the remaining hand carefully. Review the result to distinguish the hand’s tai from the final payment.
In mahjchina’s Taiwan profile, the three-concealed-pung entry gives 5 tai and the two-concealed-pung threshold also adds 2. This 7-tai subtotal is not the entire hand score. Concealed kongs qualify; a pung completed by the winning discard is not concealed. Other tables use different values or only the highest threshold.
How many tai is All Triplets?
mahjchina awards 10 tai for five pungs or kongs and a pair. Add other applicable awards and dealer conditions using this profile; do not copy this figure to a different Taiwan house table. A hand containing a chow does not qualify.
Why 16 tiles, but 17 in a winning hand?
An ordinary Taiwan hand has 16 tiles between turns and 17 when completed: five sets and a pair. Kongs add physical tiles; flowers are set aside. Special winning structures have their own conditions.
Winning conditions, calls, draws and settlement for this ruleset.
Sixteen tiles and flowers
Use 144 tiles: characters, dots, bamboo, honors and eight distinct flowers. Your hand normally has a structural count of 16, or 17 after drawing. An ordinary win has five chows, pungs or kongs and a pair; special structures include seven pairs plus a triplet. Reveal and replace flowers; they do not form ordinary groups. The extra tile in a kong does not change the structural count. Leave the final 16 wall tiles undrawn.
Turns, claims and multiple winners
Chow only takes the previous player’s discard. Winning takes priority over pung and kong, which outrank chow. Several players may win on one discard; the discarder pays each winner and the hand ends. Added kong can be robbed.
Passing a win and original ready
After declining a legal win, you cannot win on that tile type again until you discard, even by self-draw. Drawing alone does not clear this restriction. Original ready requires a declaration when offered and preservation of the initial 16-tile ready hand; an early win alone does not qualify.
Tai and combined patterns
Results show the winning hand’s scoring breakdown. Only explicitly stated inclusions are excluded; other qualifying patterns combine, including successive concealed-triplet thresholds. Fully concealed self-draw includes concealed hand and self-draw, so those are not added again. An exposed straight worth 5 and a concealed straight worth 10 are alternate values of one award. Do not apply another variant’s minimum winning score to Taiwan.
Immediate seven- and eight-flower wins
During opening replacements or later draws, seven flowers held by one player plus the last flower held by another immediately wins for the seven-flower holder. The last-flower holder alone pays 20 tai. If one player owns all eight, each of the other three pays 30 tai. Neither award adds dealer, continuation or other pattern tai, and neither needs an ordinary 17-tile winning structure.
Payments and consecutive dealer wins
The other three pay for a self-draw; only the discarder pays for a discard win. Settle each winner separately. A dealer win or dealer discard adds 1 dealer tai and 2 tai per prior consecutive dealer win. A nondealer self-draw has no dealer bonus, even from the dealer. Example: after two consecutive dealer wins, a dealer self-draw worth 5 pattern tai collects 5+1+4=10 from each opponent, 30 total. A winning dealer stays and increments the count. Otherwise a win moves the deal to the next seat and resets the count. A drawn hand keeps the dealer and count without incrementing it.
Friend rooms and replays
Friend rooms use the selected number of hands; draws count too. Hand scores add to the match total. Review your games in history and replays.
Value
mahjchina Taiwan profile: a base win is 2 tai, concealed-triplet awards can stack, and All Triplets is 10 tai. Agree on the table’s tai schedule before using these values elsewhere. Rule choices & sources →
A normal win has 17 tiles: five sets and a pair; seven pairs plus a pung also qualifies. Base win is 2 tai. Each flower gives 1 tai; no flowers gives 1. Concealed self-draw gives 3 instead of separate 1+1 awards.
This profile accumulates the two/three/four/five concealed-pung thresholds. No Honors/Flowers stacks with No Honors. Pure Straight is 5, or 10 when all three used chows count as concealed. Other Taiwanese house tables may differ.
Discard: one payer; self-draw: all three. When winner or discarder is dealer, add 1 dealer tai plus 2 per previous dealer win. Otherwise add none. Seven-flower robbery pays 20 from the eighth-flower holder; eight flowers pays 30 from each opponent, without dealer bonuses.
Hand scoring calculator
Choose concealed tiles and melds. The last concealed tile is the winning tile. Patterns are detected using the game’s scoring engine.
Calculated on this device. The scoring engine downloads on first use.
Calculates one winner. Earlier kong payments, simultaneous winners, draw penalties and competitive points are not included. This is not server authorization to win.
Calculators show rule scores, not competitive points or rank stars.
Rule units, not coins
Regular hands and useful comparisons
Compare a regular self-draw, the same hand missing one tile, and the same complete hand won on a discard. Load any example to inspect or change its settings.
Regular self-draw
Called sets are shown separately. All other settings start at the calculator defaults.
This is the same hand and default settings used by Load example. The last tile shown is the winning tile. Load it above and calculate to check the result.
No exposed sets; self-draw; East seat; no flowers or special events. Other special options are off. No previous dealer wins; 20 discards; no original-ready or flower-win condition.
These are this game’s rules. Exclusions, repeated sets and concealed-hand conditions affect combinations: do not simply add table values. The calculator selects a valid interpretation.
Detected patterns
Value · tai
Requirement
Winning hand
2
Base tai for a valid Taiwanese 17-tile win.
No flowers
1
No flower tiles.
Flowers
1 × N
One tai per flower tile.
Honor triplet
1
One tai per honor pung or kong.
Melded kong
1
An exposed kong claimed from a discard or added to a pung.
Concealed kong
2
Four identical tiles declared as a concealed kong.
Fully concealed self draw
3
Concealed self-draw; replaces separate concealed-hand and self-draw awards.
Concealed hand
1
No exposed sets, winning on another player’s discard.
Self draw
1
Draw the winning tile yourself.
Exposed hand
10
Five exposed sets, with the pair completed by discard.
Pair wait
1
The winning tile completes the pair.
Closed or edge wait
1
Complete a chow on a closed or edge wait.
No honors
1
No winds or dragons.
No honors or flowers
3
No honors or flowers; this profile also counts No Honors.
Half flush
10
One numbered suit and honors; both must be present.
Full flush
40
Only one numbered suit, with no honors.
Seven pairs and a triplet
30
Seven pairs plus a pung, totaling 17 tiles.
Chow hand
3
Five chows and a pair.
Pure chow hand without flowers
10
Five chows, a numbered pair and no flowers; stacks with Chow Hand.
All triplets
10
Every set is a pung or kong, plus a pair.
Little dragons
15
Two dragon pungs/kongs and a pair of the third dragon.
Big dragons
30
A pung or kong of each dragon.
Little three winds
5
At least two wind pungs/kongs and a pair of another wind.
Big three winds
15
Pungs/kongs of three different winds.
Little four winds
30
Three wind pungs/kongs and a pair of the fourth wind.
Big four winds
40
A pung or kong of each of the four winds.
Two concealed triplets
2
At least 2 concealed pungs/kongs; lower thresholds also accumulate in this profile.
Three concealed triplets
5
At least 3 concealed pungs/kongs; lower thresholds also accumulate in this profile.
Four concealed triplets
15
At least 4 concealed pungs/kongs; lower thresholds also accumulate in this profile.
Five concealed triplets
40
At least 5 concealed pungs/kongs; lower thresholds also accumulate in this profile.
Pure straight
5 / 10
Same-suit 123/456/789: 5 tai, or 10 if all three used chows count as concealed.
Last wall draw
1
Win on the final draw from the live wall.
Last discard
1
Win on the discard after the final live-wall draw.
Robbing a kong
1
Win by claiming another player’s added-kong tile.
Very early win
10
Win after 0–5 total table discards.
Early win
5
Win after 6–9 total table discards.
Original ready
15
An eligible original ready hand, with no melds.
Heavenly hand
40
Dealer’s initial winning hand, before any call or kong.
Earthly hand
40
Non-dealer wins on the dealer’s first discard: exactly one total discard and no melds.
Seven-flower capture
20
Hold seven flowers and claim the eighth held by another player; that player pays.
Eight flowers
30
Collect all eight flowers; each opponent pays 30 tai.
