Who pays
Mahjong scoring
The number beside a line is the whole value of the hand. There is no fan count and no dora on an American table here. Payments are multiples of that printed number, and one double applies when the hand earned it.
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Work out a hand’s score.
These are in-game points under Air’s original card, not a money wager.
100 points received
- Printed value
- 25
- Jokerless multiplier
- × 1
- Discarder pays
- 50
- Other two each pay
- 25
25 × 1 = 25 effective value. 50 + 25 + 25 = 100. This example includes a joker somewhere in the winning hand.
Four answers you can check without the calculator
- Crosswind with a joker, discard win: 50 + 25 + 25 = 100.
- Crosswind with a joker, self-pick: 50 + 50 + 50 = 150.
- Crosswind without any joker, self-pick: 100 + 100 + 100 = 300.
- Quiet path, self-pick: 100 + 100 + 100 = 300. Pair-only lines get no extra jokerless double.
The printed value
On the Air Mahjong House Card 2026 every line is worth between 25 and 50. Garden steps is 25. Four winds garden is 30. Long horizon, two sextets of the same number plus a flower pair, is 45. Quiet path, seven consecutive pairs in one suit, is 50. You do not add tiles up. You do not score flowers separately. You match a line, and that line’s number is the value.
Concealed lines are the higher ones for a reason. You gave up the chance to call. The card prices that, instead of adding a bonus at the end.
A discard and a self-pick
If you win on a tile someone discarded, the discarder pays twice the value and each of the other two players pays the value once. You receive four times the value.
If you win on a tile you drew, each of the other three players pays twice the value. You receive six times the value. That win is a self-pick. So is a hand completed by redeeming a joker from another player’s exposure. Redeeming a joker from your own exposure does not change a discard win into a self-pick. See the rules on jokers for why the table draws that line.
The jokerless double
When the finished hand contains no joker, in the rack or in any group you exposed, and the line includes at least one group of three or more, the value doubles before anyone pays. A discard and a self-pick then use that doubled number.
Garden steps is printed at 25 and it is made of pungs, so the double is available. With a joker in the hand, a discard win collects 100: the discarder pays 50 and the other two pay 25. A self-pick collects 150, with each opponent paying 50. With no joker anywhere, the value becomes 50 first. A discard win then collects 200, and a self-pick collects 300, each opponent paying 100.
Quiet path does not get a second double. It is seven pairs, a joker cannot sit in a pair, and the line has no group of three or larger. The printed 50 already prices that kind of hand. A discard win collects 200. A self-pick collects 300. Same amounts as a doubled 25, reached by a different rule, which is why it helps to know which rule you are in.
Two lines, one payout
Occasionally the same fourteen tiles satisfy more than one line. The table pays the one that pays the most after the jokerless double, not automatically the one with the larger printed number. A jokerless line printed at 30 can outpay a line printed at 50 that is not allowed to double.
You do not choose the payment at the moment you declare. You choose it earlier, by which tiles you kept. The strategy page is about that choice. A wall game pays nothing: if the next player would draw and the wall is empty, scores stay where they are.
Hong Kong hands on this site are scored in fan, with a three-fan minimum, and riichi hands are scored in han and fu. Those tables do not use the multiples above. If the lobby says American, the card and this page are the score.
Common questions
Who pays when I win on a discard?
The player who discarded pays twice the hand’s value. Each of the other two players pays the value once. You collect four times the value, or eight times if the jokerless double applied.
What counts as a self-pick?
Winning on a tile you drew. Also, completing the hand by exchanging a natural tile for a joker in another player’s exposed group. Each opponent then pays twice the value.
When does a hand double for having no jokers?
When there is no joker in the rack or in your exposures, and the winning line contains at least one group of three or more. Pair-and-single lines do not double on top of their printed value.
What if my tiles match two lines?
The table selects the line with the higher payment after the jokerless double. A lower printed value can win that comparison when it doubles and the other line does not.
More guides
- Learn mahjongThe map of these guides, and which game they describe.
- How to play mahjongOne hand, from the dice and the deal through the Charleston to Mah Jongg.
- Mahjong rulesLegal calls, the Charleston, concealed lines, and the wall game.
- Mahjong tiles explainedCraks, bams, dots, winds, dragons, flowers, and jokers.
- Mahjong strategy tipsChoosing a line, passing with a purpose, and when to leave a discard.
- Play mahjong online freeOpen a free table in the browser with friends or with the computer.
One decision at a time
Get comfortable with the tricky parts.
- The mahjong Charleston, one pass at a timeLearn the Charleston passing order with an actual Air Mahjong rack, a keep-or-pass explanation, blind-pass rules and a worked example of why 14 tiles may not win.
- American mahjong joker rulesSee exactly how a joker exchange can complete Crosswind, where jokers are legal, why a natural pair still matters, and which tempting swaps are not allowed.
- How to read a mahjong cardRead a real American mahjong rack against Crosswind, identify missing and unused tiles, and check group sizes, suit relationships, joker limits and concealment.
- When can you call a mahjong discard?Follow a real Air Mahjong hand from a legal pung call through the next discard to a winning pair. Learn the decision order and the claims that fail.
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