Chapter 8 of 12
All 16 steps of this chapter, written out on one page. The pictures and activities aren’t included: to see them, open a step in the lesson.
Your goal: Work out what each player pays, which doubles apply and what the winner collects, and keep score from game to game.
Each winning line on the agreed card has a value printed beside it, such as 25. This printed value is where every payment starts, but it isn’t always what each player pays. Read it after the hand has been checked.
Category: Consecutive Run · a teaching row, not a line from an NMJL card
FF
Pair
111
Pung
222
Pung
3333
Kong
DD
Pair
(Any 3 Suits · Any 3 Consec. Nos.) X 25
Chapter 3’s teaching line. Its printed value, 25, has a gold ring.
The winner’s 14 tiles, laid out in groups
Every group matches the row, and the Joker is in a pung. Now the 25 counts.
All these activities use points. If your table agrees that 1 point is worth 1 cent, 25 points means 25¢. You don’t need money to practice.
What is a point worth?
Points only: no money is paid
25 points
Only if everyone agrees: 1 point = 1¢
25¢
In the standard 4-player game, the 3 other players pay the winner.
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When a win comes from a discard, the discarder pays 2 times the printed value. The other 2 players pay the printed value each.
Left discards a 3 Dot. It completes your hand, so you say “Mah Jongg.”
Left, the discarder, pays 2 × 25 = 50. Across and Right pay 25 each.
For a 25-point hand with a Joker in it, the winner collects 50 + 25 + 25 = 100 points. That is 100 in total, not 100 from each player. A hand with no Jokers pays more, as step 5 shows.
Across says “Mah Jongg” on your 5 Dot. Across’s hand has a Joker, and its printed value is 30.
A 30-point hand with a Joker in it wins on your discard. How much do you pay?
If you draw your winning tile from the wall, it is a self-draw. Then each of the 3 other players pays 2 times the printed value.
You draw a 3 Dot from the wall. It completes your hand: Mah Jongg.
Nobody discarded the tile, so Left, Across and Right each pay 2 × 25 = 50.
For a 25-point hand with a Joker in it, the winner collects 50 + 50 + 50 = 150 points.
A win completed by a legal Joker exchange counts as a self-draw too, even if your turn began by calling a discard. Then the player who discarded that tile pays the same as everyone else.
Your turn began by calling Left’s 2 Crak. Then you gave Right an 8 Bam for the Joker in Right’s exposure, and that Joker completed your hand.
It counts as a self-draw: Left, Across and Right each pay 50. Left pays no extra for the 2 Crak you called.
If the winning hand has no Jokers at all, it is Jokerless, and every payment doubles. Count all 14 tiles of the final hand, exposures included. A Joker that someone exchanged out of your exposure earlier doesn’t count, because it is no longer in your hand.
Hand A: a Joker in the 1 Bam pung
It has a Joker, so there is no Jokerless bonus. On a discard: 50 + 25 + 25 = 100.
Hand B: all natural tiles
No Joker anywhere, so every payment doubles. On a discard: 100 + 50 + 50 = 200.
Hand C, earlier: your exposed pung
Hand C at Mah Jongg
Another player gave you a 2 Crak for that Joker, so it no longer counts. With no other Joker in your 14 tiles, the bonus applies.
Hand D: your exposure
Hand D: your concealed tiles
No Joker shows in your exposure, but one is among your concealed tiles. The hand still has a Joker: no bonus.
With a printed value of 25, a Jokerless discard win pays 100 + 50 + 50 = 200. A Jokerless self-draw pays 100 from each of the 3 other players, 300 in all. A win by Joker exchange always holds that Joker, so it never gets the Jokerless bonus.
Singles & Pairs hands don’t get this bonus. A Joker can’t fill a single or a pair, so these hands never hold one; their printed value already allows for that. The discard and self-draw doubles still apply.
Category: Singles & Pairs · a teaching row, not a line from an NMJL card
FF
Pair
11
Pair
33
Pair
55
Pair
77
Pair
99
Pair
N
Single
S
Single
(Any 1 Suit · These Nos. Only) C 50
This row has only singles and pairs, so no Joker can fill any of its places: no Jokerless double.
Left
100
2 × 50
Across
100
2 × 50
Right
100
2 × 50
You collect 300
A self-draw with this 50-point hand: each of the 3 other players pays 2 × 50 = 100.
Across says “Mah Jongg” on your 3 Dot. All 14 tiles are natural, and the printed value is 25.
Your discard is the winning tile for a Jokerless 25-point hand outside Singles & Pairs. What do you pay?
Here are the 4 standard results for a 25-point hand, with you as the winner. In a discard win, Left is the discarder. Each box is a seat, and the discarder’s box has a gold edge.
Left
discarder
50
2 × 25
Across
25
1 × 25
Right
25
1 × 25
You collect 100
Left
50
2 × 25
Across
50
2 × 25
Right
50
2 × 25
You collect 150
Left
discarder
100
4 × 25
Across
50
2 × 25
Right
50
2 × 25
You collect 200
Left
100
4 × 25
Across
100
4 × 25
Right
100
4 × 25
You collect 300
A Singles & Pairs hand has no Jokers, but it never gets the Jokerless double. It pays like the 2 cards for a hand with a Joker.
Each player pays their own amount. “Across and Right pay 25 each” means 25 from Across and 25 from Right, not 25 between them.
You are the winner. Change one setting, say what each player will pay, then press Show the payments.
Try 30 points, a wall draw and a hand with no Jokers. Then change only the hand to Singles & Pairs.
Say what Left, Across and Right will pay. Then check.
A concealed hand is worth its printed value, like any other line; the C adds no double. A C hand can still win on another player’s discard when that tile completes all 14 tiles. The payments then work as for any other hand: start with the discard or self-draw payments, then check for Jokers, as in step 5.
Category: Any Like Numbers · a teaching row, not a line from an NMJL card
FFFF
Kong
777
Pung
777
Pung
DDDD
Kong
(Any 2 Suits · Any Like Nos.) C 30
C tells you how to build the hand: no calls except for Mah Jongg. It doesn’t double the value.
Chapter 3’s C 30 teaching line. Read C 30 as 30 points, the same as an X line worth 30.
Your 14 tiles at Mah Jongg: a Joker in the Red Dragon kong
The hand has a Joker, so there is no Jokerless double. The C adds no double either.
Your hand has a Joker. You kept it concealed and claimed Left’s 7 Crak only for Mah Jongg. Left pays 2 × 30 = 60; Across and Right pay 30 each.
A C hand with no Jokers gets the Jokerless double, like any hand outside Singles & Pairs.
Left
discarder
120
4 × 30
Across
60
2 × 30
Right
60
2 × 30
You collect 240
Before you multiply, check the exact category and the final hand.
In a wall game, nobody wins, so there is no win payment. A player with a dead hand, for example after showing tiles for a wrong Mah Jongg, still pays the winner if someone else wins later.
The wall is gone, and nobody claimed the last discard: a wall game, with no win payment.
Across’s hand is dead. Later you win by self-draw with a 25-point hand that has a Joker. Across still pays 2 × 25 = 50, like Left and Right.
Rare case: a win claimed on a misnamed tile
Some mistakes have their own rule. One is a winning claim on a discard that was named wrongly. If the tile as named would complete the hand, play stops and only the misnamer pays: 4 times that hand’s printed value.
Left discards a 3 Crak but says “3 Dot.” A 3 Dot would complete your 25-point hand, so you say “Mah Jongg.”
Play stops. Only Left pays: 4 × 25 = 100. Across and Right pay nothing.
Chapter 10, Section 1, step 4: If someone misnames a tile explains this case. Leave such cases out of the calculator, and check your group’s rule reference.
Work out the payments for this hand, one question at a time.
Category: Any Like Numbers · a teaching row, not a line from an NMJL card
FF
Pair
5555
Kong
5555
Kong
5555
Kong
(Any 3 Suits · These Nos. Only) X 30
Your 14 tiles at Mah Jongg. You drew the last 5 Dot from the wall.
Question 1 of 3
First, work out the self-draw. Before you check for Jokers, what does each of the 3 other players pay?
At a real table, settle every win in the same order.
The win from step 2, with names: Jo sits on your right, Pat across and Sam on your left. Your hand has a Joker, and Sam discarded, so Sam pays 50; Pat and Jo pay 25 each. You say the total out loud.
| Game | You | Jo | Pat | Sam |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 · you won on Sam’s discard | +100 | −25 | −25 | −50 |
The row adds up to 0: +100 − 25 − 25 − 50 = 0. What you received is what the other 3 paid.
Then write the game down: one row, with what each player received or paid under their name.
Write down every payment made and received, so the totals can be checked. Each game adds up to 0, and so does the whole session. Before you play, agree on how long you’ll play and what a point is worth, if anything.
| Game | You | Jo | Pat | Sam |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 · you won on Sam’s discard | +100 | −25 | −25 | −50 |
| 2 · Pat won by self-draw | −50 | −50 | +150 | −50 |
| 3 · wall game | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | +50 | −75 | +125 | −100 |
Each game adds up to 0, and so do the totals: +50 − 75 + 125 − 100 = 0. If they don’t, someone has paid or written the wrong amount.
A score sheet for 3 games: a win on a discard, a self-draw and a wall game. What the table agreed is under the title.
Write each player’s name over their column, not their seat. Under the official rules, players change seats every four games (Chapter 4, step 7: Name the seats and turns). After a change, “Left” may mean someone else.
Before and after a seat change. The sheet keeps the same names over its columns all session.
After every game, win or wall game, the player on East’s right becomes the new East. Then mix the tiles and build the walls again. Each game starts with a new deal; nobody keeps tiles from the last game.
Left was East, so you, the player on Left’s right, become the new East.
All the tiles go face down in the middle to be mixed for the next game.
You agreed to play 8 games with Jo, Pat and Sam, for points only. At the start, Jo sits on your right, Pat across and Sam on your left.
Each game below has been checked and paid. Write it on the score sheet, one question at a time.
Question 1 of 4
Game 1: Pat wins on Sam’s discard with a 25-point hand that has a Joker.
| Game | You | Jo | Pat | Sam |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 · Pat won on Sam’s discard | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Which row goes on the sheet for game 1?
Answer without looking back at the examples first. Each answer comes with an explanation, and you can revisit a lesson or practice the questions you missed.
On paper, work out 2 wins at a table with Jo, Pat and Sam. First, Jo wins on your discard with a 35-point hand that has a Joker. Second, you win by self-draw with a 35-point hand that has no Jokers, outside Singles & Pairs.
Then write both games on a score sheet, with each player’s name over a column, and add up each column.
Check my answers
Your score sheet:
| Game | You | Jo | Pat | Sam |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 · Jo won on your discard | −70 | +140 | −35 | −35 |
| 2 · you won by self-draw | +420 | −140 | −140 | −140 |
| Totals | +350 | 0 | −175 | −175 |
Each row adds up to 0, and so do the totals: +350 + 0 − 175 − 175 = 0.
Chapter 9 brings these lessons together in a guided hand.
Opening this recap doesn’t complete exercises you haven’t tried. A quiz score is feedback on your practice, not proof that you’re ready for a real table.
Chapter 7 · Taking Turns, Calling & Jokers
Start Chapter 9 · Your First Game