HOW TO SCORE (Article 208)

Mah jongg is a game of critical thinking, situational awareness, and social acuity. Players develop these skills over time, and scoring helps track results across games and sessions.

You can play for points or money. The scoring rules are the same; what changes is how the score is settled.

When playing for points, you record payments on paper or in an app. When playing for money, players exchange those same payments using quarters, dimes, and nickels. A payment of 25 points, for example, becomes 25 cents when playing a penny per point.

The rules governing who pays, how much they pay, and when bonuses or penalties apply remain the same. When playing for points, the payment is simply recorded rather than exchanged as money.

American mah jongg hands are assigned a value on the NMJL card based on their level of difficulty. That printed value provides the starting point for determining the final payment when a player declares mah jongg.

25 Exposed with singles, pairs, big multiples
30 Exposed with at least three pairs or concealed with singles, pairs, pungs
35 Concealed with singles, multiple pairs, pungs
40 Quints with pair, pung, kong, quint
45 Quints with pung, kong, quint
50 Concealed with singles and pairs
75+ Concealed with mostly singles

When a player completes a hand, they declare mah jongg and must verbalize their hand’s value.

• If a player declares mah jongg after picking their winning tile from the wall, the other players pay double the hand’s value.
• If a player declares mah jongg after another player discards their winning tile, the discarder pays double the hand value, and the other players pay the hand value.
• If a player wins a hand that can use jokers, had jokers at some point, but the final hand has no jokers (i.e., jokerless), the value is double the hand value.

Some people call this “double-double.” Technically, the card’s hand value is the base value (BV). When a player declares mah jongg with a hand that can use jokers but has no jokers, the BV doubles (BV2). If the player picks their winning tile, the BV2 doubles (BV4). So, the formula for a jokerless self-picked win is (BV x 2) x 2.

The winner must correctly announce the hand they won and the value to be paid. The other players must verify the win and pay the announced value if it passes muster. Once payment is received, the transaction is complete. If a mistake was made (e.g., exposure with a concealed hand, wrong hand value, should have been doubled for jokerless), it’s too late to make corrections.

Since discarding the winning tile incurs a penalty, everyone should discard it mindfully. In the end game (i.e., 40 tiles left for picking), the risk of discarding the winning tile increases, so players need to monitor their potential to win by considering these variables:

• The number of tiles visible (i.e., discards, exposures, your concealed tiles)
• The number of tiles visible that you need
• The number of tiles visible that your opponents need
• The number of tiles left for picking
• The number of your discards
• The potential of you getting the tiles you need to complete your hand
• The value of your hand compared to the value of your opponent’s hand

If your potential is high, play to win and discard the riskiest tiles first. Otherwise, fold and discard the safest tiles to prevent other players from developing their hands.

When the tiles in the wall are depleted, it’s a zero-sum game (e.g., draw, wall game),

Points vs. Money

Whether playing for points or money, the scoring rules are the same. The difference is how the payments are settled.

When playing for money, players pay and receive the appropriate amount after each game. When playing for points, those same payments are recorded as additions and deductions to each player’s score.

For example, if a rule requires a player to pay another player 50 points, the paying player has 50 points deducted from their score, and the receiving player has 50 points added to their score. When playing for money, players exchange the equivalent payment instead.

Playing for points does not eliminate payments, penalties, or bonuses—it simply records them rather than exchanging cash.

Although the game is designed for scoring, some groups choose to play without it. Many players claim that the game changes when scoring is involved, especially when playing for Cash Money (penny-per-point; Article 238)!

For the official rules on scoring, see Mah Jongg Made Easy (2024 page 26). For a video presentation, look for “Scoring” in the American Mah Jongg Skills and Strategies Matrix (Article 210).

Some mah jongg sets include chips that function like poker chips and substitute for cash. Instead of handling money, most groups use a penny-per-point system based on the value printed on the NMJL card, with chip colors assigned agreed-upon values to represent those payments.

The key point is that the scoring does not change. Hand values still come from the NMJL card and standard scoring rules; the chips simply make it easier to track payouts. They are a payment tool, not a scoring system or rule variation, and all values should be agreed upon before play begins.

Learn more about playing for cash money and scoring in these wiki articles:

• Playing for Cash Money (Article 208)
• 5th Player Betting (Article 80)
• The League on House Rules (Article 50; allowances, penalties, immunity)