How Payouts Work in American Mahjong

In American Mahjong, only the winner collects. The player who threw the winning tile pays double the hand's value and everyone else pays it once. If the winner picked the tile herself, everyone pays double. A hand with no jokers doubles every payment, except a singles and pairs hand. What a point is worth in money is a house rule your table sets.

This guide covers the standard payouts, from the rules the National Mah Jongg League publishes, and the house rules many tables add: cents a point, quarters, a pie, a kitty, and what happens in a wall game. To work out one hand, use the payout calculator.

The standard payouts

• Someone threw the winning tile. The thrower pays double the hand's value. Everyone else pays it once.
• The winner picked it herself. Everyone pays double.
• No jokers in the winning hand. Every payment doubles, except for a singles and pairs hand.

The thrower pays more because her discard gave away the game. Picking the tile yourself is harder, so everyone pays double. With three at the table there is one fewer payer: on a throw, the thrower pays double and the one other player pays once; on a self-pick, both pay double. The full table in points is in the scoring guide.

The no-jokers double

If the winning hand has no jokers in it, every payment doubles. It counts whether the jokers were never there or were all swapped out. A self-pick with no jokers costs each player four times the value.

Singles and pairs hands never get the double. Jokers can't be used in singles or pairs, so those hands always have no jokers.

Work out any payout in four steps

1. Find the value. Read the points printed next to the winning hand on the card.
2. Double it for no jokers. Skip this for a singles and pairs hand.
3. Turn it into money. Multiply by what a point is worth at your table. That is one payment.
4. Collect from each player. If someone threw the winning tile, the thrower pays two payments and everyone else pays one. If the winner picked it herself, everyone pays two.

Worked examples in money

At 5¢ a point, four at the table unless the line says three. These use made-up values, not lines from the card.

Playing for money

The card gives every hand a value in points. What a point is worth is a house rule, and tables play it a few ways.

Cents a point. Each point is worth a cent, a nickel or more. A 25-point hand with jokers, thrown, four at the table:

Quarters. Some groups set aside the card's values and make one payment a quarter. The thrower pays two quarters and everyone else pays one, so the winner collects $1.00 with four at the table. A self-pick costs everyone two quarters. Tables differ on whether no jokers doubles it, so settle that first.

Points only. Some groups never touch money. Write each payment down as points and add them up at the end of the night.

The pie (house rule)

A pie limits what each player can lose in a night. Everyone starts with the same amount, say $5, and pays out of it. What she wins adds to her pie. Once it is gone, she pays nothing more that night, and the winner collects only what was paid.

Say a player has a $5 pie at 5¢ a point. She has paid out $4.50 and won nothing, and now owes $1.25 on a 25-point hand someone else threw. She pays the 50¢ she has left. Tables differ on whether she keeps playing after that.

The kitty (house rule)

A kitty is a cup of coins on the table. A common way to play it: when a hand ends in a wall game, everyone puts in a coin, say a quarter. The next player to win takes the kitty along with her payout. Some tables give it only to the next winner with no jokers, some have everyone put in at the start of the night, and some keep it for snacks or the group's next dinner out.

Wall games

Under the standard rules, nobody wins a wall game, so nobody pays. Mix the tiles and deal the next hand. The only money that moves in a wall game is a house rule, like a coin into the kitty.

Dead hands and mistakes

A dead hand still pays. If your hand is declared dead, you can't win that hand, but you pay the winner like everyone else. (What makes a hand dead.)

A misnamed joker is different. If someone discards a joker and names it as a real tile, and that tile is your winning tile, you may claim it for Mahjong, and the discarder pays for the whole table.

A wrong Mahjong call: if you only said it, take it back and play on, with no penalty. If you laid your tiles down and the hand is not on the card, your hand is dead and you still pay the winner. Any extra penalty is a house rule, so agree on it before you start.

Standard rules and house rules, side by side

Five at the table

With five players, one sits out each hand and pays nothing for it. The players take turns sitting out.

Pay each hand, or settle at the end

Many tables pay after every hand, in coins. Others keep a tally and settle at the end of the night, which takes fewer coins. The totals come out the same either way.