Mahjong rules in Fenghua, Zhejiang -- regional mahjong with fairly large number of patterns

Fenghua is a city near Ningbo and famous as the birthplace of Chiang Kai-shek. Its mahjong is unusual in that it has fairly large number of scoring patterns with emphasis on irregular ones like seven pairs and  independent tiles.

Equipments

144 tiles of three suits (characters, circles, bamboos), honors (four winds and three dragons) and eight flower tiles (four seasons and four flowers).
Two dice.

Seating

It is done as in any other variants of the game. Its details may differ from one group to another.

One of the players, e.g. the youngest, picks four tiles of east, south, west and north, one tile for each direction, places them face down and shuffles them well.
Another player, e.g. the eldest, throws the two dice, counts himself/herself as one, the player to his/her right as two, and so on counter-clockwise, and who is sitting in the seat of the sum of the two dice draws a tile he/she likes, followed by each player counter-clockwise. Alternatively, the shuffled tile are placed face down in a row, flanked by an odd-numbered and an even numbered tile at each end to determine from which end the tiles are taken. Yet another way is to take a tile at will after the shuffling without throwing the dice. Who picks east remains seated, or moves to the seat chosen as east by any appropriate means. The south player moves to the right of the east, west opposite, and north left.

Walls

All the tiles are turned face down and shuffled well by the four players. Each player builds a wall of 18 tile wide and two tile high with all tiles facing down. The four wall are placed around the center of table to form a rectangle, or the right ends are pushed forward to make the shape slightly rotated counter-clockwise.

Banker (庄家), seat wind and prevailing wind

The first banker is chosen by roll of two dice by the east player. The roll is counted just like when the seats are determined or any other occasions, i.e. count who throws the dice as one, his/her right side neighbour as two and so on counter-clockwise. Banker stays if he/she wins or in case of a draw. It moves to his/her right side neighbour otherwise. A game is four banker rotations.
Each player is assigned a seat wind: the banker east, his/her right side neighbour south, the player sitting across the table west and his/her left side neighbour north.
A prevailing wind starts with east and changes to south, followed by west and lastly north when banker moves to the first banker of the game.

Breaking a wall

The banker throws two dice and the player in the position of the sum counts the largest pips of stacked pairs from the right end of his/her wall and breaks open a gap between the last counted pair and next one. The wall is used clockwise from the gap unlike everything else in the game, that is counter-clockwise. The top tile of the head pair is used before the bottom one, followed by the next pair. Tiles drawn after kong are taken from the tail of the wall.

Wild tiles (百搭)

A wild tile can be substituted for anything but flower tiles in a winning hand. The player who broke the wall counts pairs in his/her wall from the tail as one and counter-clockwise, and flips the top tile counted as the smallest pips of the dice thrown by the banker to break the wall. The face up tile will not be used in the hand. It is the wild indicator and the other three identical ones wild tiles. If it is one of the four seasons, the other three seasons are wild. If it is one of the four flowers, the other three flowers are wild. A tile cannot be used as a flower tile (which means no melding) when it is wild.

Deal

Starting from the banker and counter-clockwise, each player takes four tiles at once from the head of the wall in turn, repeated three times to have twelve tiles in hand. The tiles are arranged in a row and placed face down. Then the banker takes first and fifth tile, i.e. top tiles of the first and third pairs from the head of the wall, and each of the remaining three players takes one tile in turn.

After the banker grabs fourteen tiles and the others thirteen, the players turn his/her tiles up for him/her to see and no one else.

Melding flower tiles

Starting from the banker, each player takes all flower tiles from his/her hand, lay them down face up to the left of his/her hand and draw same number of tiles from the tail of the wall. If he/she draws flower tiles again, he/she repeats this until there are no flower tiles in his/her hand.

Play of tiles

Starting from the banker and counter-clockwise, the players repeat the following in turn until one of the players wins or the hand ends in a draw.

1. Unless it is the first turn of the banker who already has one extra tile in his/her hand, the current player draws the first tile of the wall from its head.
2. If the player has a flower tile, he/she may meld it by laying it down face up and drawing a supplementary tile.
3. If the player cannot win or does not want to do so, he/she discards a tile in front of him/her.

Winning hand

A winning hand must have all flower tiles melded if any and the other tiles form

• an eye and four sets,
• seven pairs,
• fourteen independent tiles, or
• all honours.

The eight flower tiles melded by the same player is also a winning hand regardless of the other tiles in his/her hand.
An eye or a pair is two identical tiles. A set is a run, a pung or a kong. A run is three tiles of a suit in numerical order. A pung is three identical tiles.
A kong is four identical tiles melded with a kong call.
A player can substitute wild tiles for any tiles but flower tiles in a winning hand so long as they are not part of open sets or kong. A player can complete a set containing a wild tile with a discarded tile when he/she wins.

Chow (吃)

If two tiles in player's hand and a tile just discarded by his/her left side neighbour would be a run when put together, he/she can make an open (or exposed, as opposed to closed or concealed) run from these tiles by saying 'chow', discarding a tile, laying down the two tiles face up to the left of his/her hand, and putting the claimed tile to their left end rotated 90 degrees for easy identification of liabilities. A player cannot add or remove tiles to or from open runs. An open run cannot contain wild tiles. After a chow, turn moves to the right side neighbour of who has done the chow.

Pung (碰)

If a player has two identical tiles in his/her hand and the same tile is just discarded by any other player, he/she can make an open pung by saying 'pung', discarding a tile, laying down the two tiles face up to the left of his/her hand, and putting the claimed tile to their left or right end rotated 90 degrees if the tile is claimed from the left or right side neighbour, respectively, or the three tiles put together without any tiles rotated when the tile comes from the player sitting across the table.
A player cannot remove tiles from open pung. An open pung cannot contain wild tiles.
If two players say pung and chow simultaneously, the pung wins over the chow. After a pung, turn moves to the right side neighbour of who has done the pung.

Kong (杠)

A kong requires a 'kong' declaration, melding and drawing a supplementary tile. A set of four identical tiles is not a kong without these actions. There are three different ways to do a kong.
a) closed kong. If a player has four identical tiles in his/her hand and it is his/her turn, he/she can make a kong by saying 'kong' and laying down the four tiles face down to the left of his/her hand.
b) filling (open) kong. If a player has a tile identical to those of his/her open pung and it is his/her turn, he/she can make a kong by saying 'kong' and adding the tile to the pung.
c) direct (open) kong. If a player has three identical tiles in his/her hand and the same tile is just discarded by any other player, he/she can make a kong by saying 'kong', laying down the three tiles face up and adding the discarded tile to them just like an open pung.
After laying down the tiles, the player who is doing a kong draws a supplementary tile from the tail of the wall and discards a tile. A player cannot add or remove tiles to or from a kong, open or closed. A kong cannot contain wild tiles. If two players say kong and chow simultaneously, the kong wins over the chow. After a kong, turn moves to the right side neighbour of who has done the kong.

Winning (胡牌)

If tiles in a hand of a player and those laid down for chow, pung or kong form a winning hand together with another tile, or if a player melds eight melded flower tiles, the player can declare win by saying 'hu' (胡), or whatever all the players can understand as such, and revealing his/her hand. A hand ends when a player wins.

There are three ways to win:

• own tile(自摸): a tile to complete the hand is drawn from the wall either from its head or tail, which is not brought into his/her hand but placed beside face up on the table;
• claiming a discard tile (放冲,点炮): a tile to complete the hand has just been discarded by other player; or
• robbing a kong (拉杠): a tile to complete the hand is about to be added to an open pung in a (failed) attempt at a kong.

A player can always win by his/her own tile.
Win by claiming discard is only possible when the hand scores four or more points (before rounded up). It used to be three or more points.
If a player has four sets completed and is calling for a pair of eyes with a wild tile, he/she can win by any tile but he/she must do so with his/her own tile.
There can only be one winner in a hand; when more than one non-bankers declare win by claiming banker's discard, the one whose turn is closest to the banker is the winner.
A discarded wild tile can never be claimed for winning.
A player can win by completing a run or a pung containing a wild tile with a discarded tile or a robbed kong.
A win takes precedence over kong, pung or chow calls.

Draw

The wild tile indicator is always be left unused in any cases. The tile just before it is the bottom tile. A player can pass his/her turn to refuse it. If all the players refuse it, the hand ends in a draw. If a player chooses to draw it, he/she either wins with it or discards it without exchanging it with another tile in his/her hand. If no one wins with the bottom tile, either as an own tile or as a discarded one, the hand ends in a draw.

Scoring

If a player wins, he/she receives points from the other for players. There are no payments when a hand ends in a draw.

The winner is paid according to this payout scheme, where S is score of the winning hand:

• in case of a win by own tile, each loser pays (S x 2); and
• in case of a win by claiming, who discarded the winning tile pays (S x 2) and each of the other two losers (S x 1).

Score of a winning hand is sum of points of all applicable patterns, rounded up to nearest multiple of ten. Scores vary from one player group to another, and they use to be base on multiples of 30 (30, 60, 90...) instead of current practice of multiple of 50 up until 1990s.

• Base point (坐台): 1. Always awarded when a player wins. Combined with another point for presence or absence of wild tiles, it makes the 4 point minimum for win by claiming really a requirement for 2 additional points.
• Common win (朋胡): 1. Four runs and a pair of eyes.
• Dragon pung (中发白碰出): 1 for each.
• Pung of seat wind (位风): 1
• Pung of prevailing wind (圈风): 1
• Pung of right wind (正风): 2. When seat wind and prevailing wind coincide.
• Single call (边，嵌，单吊): 1. If the only call is gap (i.e. 68 calling for 7), eye or end (i.e. 12 calling for 3).
• Pair call (对倒): 1. two pairs calling for one of them to complete a pung and a pair of eyes.
• Win by own tile (自摸): 1
• No wild tiles (无搭): 1. A winning hand without any wild tiles.
• One wild tile (一搭): 1. A winning hand with exactly one wild tile.
• Two wild tiles (二搭): 2. A winning hand with exactly two wild tiles.
• Tame wild tiles (还搭): 1. All wild tiles are used at their face value.
• Robbing a kong (拉杠): No additional points but see the section on liabilities.
• Win by bottom tile (海底捞月): No additional points but see the section on liabilities.
• Indedependence (十三不搭(大大胡)): 50. No chow/pung/kong calls allowed. No pairs, runs, pung, kong or sets of two tiles calling for another to complete a run.
• Closed seven stars (大大胡（暗七星）): 150. Independence with each one of the seven honors in hand and the tile to complete the hand is something else.
• Open seven stars (大大胡（明七星）): 100. Independence with each one of the seven honors, one of which is claimed to complete the hand.
• Independence without a suit (大大胡（缺色): 150. An Independence hand lacking one of the suits, calling for any tile of that suit. The 150 points for closed seven stars cannot be scored with this pattern because it is implied.
• Wild all pung (大对对（有搭）): 50. Four pung (or kong) and a pair of eyes with one or more wild tiles.
• Straight all pung (大对对（无搭）): 100. Four pung (or kong) and a pair of eyes without wild tiles.
• Wild loner (大吊车（有搭）): 50. A win by completing a pair of eyes with only one wild tile in hand with four open sets. Since the hand is calling any tile, it can only be won by an own tile. 
• Straight loner (大吊车（无搭）): 100. A loner hand without wild tiles.
• Wild seven pairs (七对头（有搭）): 50. Seven pairs with wild tiles.
• Straight seven pairs (七对头（无搭）): 150. Seven pairs without wild tiles.
• Closed bomb in seven pairs (七对头（暗炸）): 100. Four identical tiles none of which are claimed. Wild tiles cannot be used for the four tiles.
• Open bomb in seven pairs (七对头（明炸）): 50. Four identical tiles one of which is claimed for the win. Wild tiles cannot be used for the four tiles.
• Mixed one suit (混一色): 70. A winning hand made of honors and a suit. The score is meant to be half of the Pure (150+10=160) with rounding up.
• Pure one suit (清一色): 150. A winning hand made of a suit.
• Heavenly win (天胡): No special points. Just celebrate a rare occasion.
• Earthly win (地胡): No special points. Just celebrate a rare occasion.
• Uncompleted all honors (乱老头): 400 or celebration. All the tiles but melded flowers are honors. They do not have to form a pair or sets. A player still can do open pung or kong.
• Completed all honors (清老头): 800 or celebration. All honors with a pair of eyes and four sets.

The following patterns do not count as part of four points requirement for win by claiming.

• Completed eight flowers (八花（搓胡）): 800 or celebration. When a player melds the eight flower tiles, keeps playing and wins by completing one of the normal winning hands.
• Uncompleted eight flowers (八花（直胡）): 400 or celebration. When a player wins by eight melded flower tiles alone.
• Budding direct kong  (直杠（不开花）): 50. A direct open kong not winning by its supplementary tile.
• Blooming direct kong  (直杠（开花）): 100. A direct open kong winning by its supplementary tile.
• Budding closed kong (暗杠（不开花）): 100. A closed kong not winning by its supplementary tile.
• Blooming closed kong (暗杠（开花）): 150. A closed kong winning by its supplementary tile.
• Budding risky kong (风险杠（不开花）): 100. A filling open kong not winning by its supplementary tile.
• Blooming risky kong (风险杠（开花）): 200. A filling open kong winning by its supplementary tile.
• Blooming flower kong (花杠杠开): 50. A win by supplementary tile of a melded flower tile.
• Three normal wild tiles (普通三百搭): 150. When wild tiles are not flower tiles.
• Three flower wild tiles (三花三百搭): 300. When wild tiles are flower tiles.
• Own flower (花): 2. A melded flower tile corresponding to winner's seat wind. 1 or Spring and Plum is East, 2 or Summer and Orchid South, 3 or Autumn and Chrysanthemum West, and 4 or Winter and Bamboo North.
• Four flowers (四花): 150. A set of four melded flower tiles of a kind (seasons or flowers).

Liability or exceptions to the payout scheme

A "liable" player has to pay for him/herself as well as the other two losers.

• If player A discarded four tiles that are claimed for open run, pung or kong by player B, A is liable if B wins.
• If player A discarded three tiles that are claimed for open run, pung or kong by player B and player B wins with Pure One Suit, Mixed One Suit or All Pung, A is liable.
• Robbing a kong. Winning hand is scored as if it were an own tile win and the player whose kong was robbed is liable.
• Claimed bottom tile. The player whose bottom tile was claimed for a win is liable.