Hong Kong MahJong

What is Hong Kong Mahjong?

Hong Kong Mahjong (港式麻雀) is the fast, social style of mahjong played throughout Hong Kong, Guangdong, and Chinese communities worldwide — likely the version you picture when you imagine four people around a table, tiles clattering as they're shuffled.

Each player starts with 13 tiles, drawn up to 14 to complete a winning hand of four sets and a pair. The four suits are Characters (萬), Bamboos (索), and Dots (筒), plus honour tiles — the four Winds and three Dragons. Most tables also play with flower and season tiles for bonus points.

Scoring is based on fan (番) — points earned for specific patterns and conditions in your hand, such as an all-one-suit hand, a hand made entirely of triplets, or winning off the wall. Most casual games set a minimum fan requirement to win (commonly 3 fan), and the fan count determines the payout, usually doubling with each additional fan up to a cap.

Compared to Riichi Mahjong, Hong Kong Mahjong plays faster, has simpler hand-reading, and leans more on quick decision-making and reading the discards — a great entry point if you're new to mahjong, and endlessly replayable if you've been playing your whole life.

Ranking & Tournaments

We're working on introducing a season ranking system for Hong Kong Mahjong, with an end-of-season tournament to crown the club's top players. Details on how points are earned and the tournament format will be posted on our Rank and Tournament pages once finalized — check back soon, or contact us if you'd like to be notified.

New to Hong Kong Mahjong?

We have club members who are happy to teach — from the basic rules and tile reading to house-specific scoring quirks. Just let us know you're a beginner when you come by, or message us ahead of time and we'll pair you with an instructor.