Hong Kong Old Style mahjong (Chinese Old Style, or just Old Style) is probably the most popular variation of mahjong played in China. HKOS mahjong's gameplay and form is very similar to traditional mahjong. What is most prevalent and different from the traditional forms in HKOS is its scoring system. The scoring diverges from the Chinese Classical linear point-and-double system and takes up a progressive scoring system using doubles (fan). Sets such as pungs and kongs no longer earn points. Instead fan are earned, which corresponding to a payout table. There is no standardize scoring rubric, and as such many players abide by their own variations. A popular variation is having minimum of three fan before winning.
This video tutorial will walk you through the basics of mahjong. Mahjong is a popular gambling game that is played all over the world. Once you pick up the basics, you can play against people who've been doing it for years. It's as much a game of luck as it is skill. With this video, you'll learn how to play mahjong Hong Kong style like a pro.
Hong Kong Style Mahjong Free Download For Pc
Download Zip 🔥 https://bltlly.com/2y2ENJ 🔥
FAQ 17. Hong Kong Old Style Mah-Jongg
(Formerly: "3 FAN Mah-Jongg Explained") Note: This FAQ was originally written to help Yahoo mah-jongg players who were finding themselves befuddled by other players' demands that "3-fan" rules must be obeyed. Yahoo's mah-jongg game no longer exists, but this FAQ is still useful as a guide to HKOS, which remains a very popular mah-jongg variant. Please just ignore all the Yahoo references and dead Yahoo links herein.
Originally written in 2003. Latest update: 2016 "Can somebody explain the Hong Kong scoring system please? What the heck is a 'fan'?" "Fan" is the Chinese term that in the West is usually termed "a Double." So if players agree that the minimum score is "3 Fan," that means the hand does not qualify to go mah-jongg unless the hand earns a minimum of 3 Doubles- no chicken hands allowed! (A "chicken" or "KFC" hand is one that scores no doubles - i.e., 0 fan.) QUICK INTRO FOR BEGINNERS If you're new to HKOS mah-jongg (and/or you're finding yourself puzzled by someone's demand that you play "3-fan"), you can most easily begin by playing just two types of hands: (1) Clean/Pure, and (2) All Pungs. 1a. A CLEAN hand is one that uses tiles from no more than one suit - and has some winds or dragons as well.
This "clean" hand has dots only (no craks or bams). It is worth an automatic tag_hash_114_____. If your seat position is North, add another 1 fan (but if you aren't ready for anything beyond the beginner basics yet, pretend I didn't say that!). Of course, you can make a clean hand from ANY one suit (not only dots). It's okay to have chows in a clean or pure hand - a clean or pure hand doesn't have to have any pungs in it. 1b. A PURE hand is one that uses tiles from one suit only - with no winds or dragons.
This "pure" hand is made from craks only (no dots or bams, and no winds or dragons). It is worth an automatic tag_hash_116_____. Of course, you can make a pure hand from ANY one suit (not only craks). It's okay to have chows in a clean or pure hand. The pure hand is much harder to make than a clean hand (which is why it's worth twice as much). 2. ALL PUNGS means just that - the hand contains no chows.
This hand is all pungs - no chows. You will notice that this hand is not clean (it has tiles from various suits), so this example does not also earn 3 fan for being clean. An all-pung hand like this earns an automatic tag_hash_118_____. If your seat position is West, this would earn an additional 1 fan (but pretend I didn't say that, if you aren't ready to go beyond the beginner basics yet). Kongs count as pungs (if you make a 4-of-a-kind, your hand still counts as "all pungs"). But there is much more to the "3 fan" game than just clean/pure and all pungs. You can also earn a fan for having your own flower, or for having a pung of dragons, for example (these fan are supplemental to other scoring elements in the hand - if your hand is clean and has a pung of dragons, you get 3 fan for being clean, plus 1 fan for the pung of dragons - and I haven't even mentioned winning-tile situations yet! When you are ready to go beyond the BEGINNERS' BASIC STRATEGY outlined above, you are ready to continue reading below. Have fun, and may the tiles be with you! HOW TO COUNT FAN (Beyond Beginner Basics)
ONE FAN Pung or kong of dragons. Some players may require the dragon pung to be concealed.
Pung or kong of Seat wind (Own wind). Know your seat position.
Pung or kong of Prevailing wind (Round wind). Know the round wind.
Self-picking the winning tile.
Going out on the last tile from the wall. (Note: Amy Lo says this is 2 fan.)
Robbing a kong ("snatching" a kong) - another player adds a 4th tile to an exposed pung; if you need it to complete your hand, you can take it to win at the moment it's added to the exposure.
Seat flower (Own flower). Know your seat position. E=1 S=2 W=3 N=4
No flowers.
"Bouquet." All 4 flowers or all 4 seasons. Some players award 2 fan or 3 fan for this!
Going Out on a loose tile (supplement tile) taken from the back of the wall after getting a flower. Some players do not award a fan for winning on a flower replacement. See Two Fan, below, for kong replacements and "flower on flower."
"Pin woo." All chows (no pungs) and a valueless pair (no dragon pair; no seat wind or round wind pair), in more than one suit. Some tables may allow pin woo, by self-pick, with no flowers (or seat flower), to meet the 3fan minimum - ask before trying. Some tables require this hand to be concealed. Some players call this hand "all chows" but that insufficiently defines the hand (especially in that the pair must be valueless and the hand cannot be pure).
All terminals & honors. A hand that is comprised solely of a mix of 1s, 9s, winds, and dragons. Not all players award a fan for this. TWO FAN Out on a kong replacement. Some players also recognize winning on a "flower on flower" (drawing the winning tile as a flower replacement after drawing a flower as a flower replacement). THREE FAN Clean hand (all the number tiles are of the same suit, and there are some winds and/or dragons in the hand; also called "semipure").
All pungs (no chows). Some players may award just one fan for this. FOUR FAN Little Three Dragons (pungs of two dragons, and a pair of the third). Not all players recognize this hand. SIX FAN Pure hand (all the tiles in the hand are of the same suit -- there are no winds or dragons). LIMIT HANDS These hands are worth the maximum score. No fan counting required! Unique Wonders (Thirteen Impossible) -- one of each terminal, wind, and dragon, plus a duplicate of any.
Big Three Dragons (pungs of all 3 dragons). Some players may award only six fan for this.
All Terminals (ones and nines only).
All Honors (winds, dragons only)
Big Four Winds (pungs of all winds). Unclear if Yahoo players award limit for this or the other italicized hands below.
Little Four Winds (pungs of 3 winds, pair of 4th wind). Many Cantonese players award six fan for this.
Heavenly Hand -- dealer wins on original deal.
Earthly Hand -- player goes out on the first discard (or dealer goes out on loose tile on first turn). Some players award this for any player winning before any player's 2nd turn (this situation is sometimes called "The Hand of Man").
Heavenly Gates (Nine Connected Sons) -- all one suit; pungs of ones and nines, plus one of each simple and a duplicate of any tile in the hand.
Jade Dragon -- "Green bams" and green dragons. * Not always part of HKOS. May be used by some players.
Pearl Dragon -- Dots and white dragons. * Not always part of HKOS. May be used by some players.
Ruby Dragon -- Craks and red dragons. * Not always part of HKOS. May be used by some players.
Moon From The Bottom Of The Sea -- player wins on the last tile and it is a One Dot.
Four kongs.
All eight flowers. Not all players recognize this hand. Some players award limit for having seven flowers. NOTE: The italicized hands above are a subject of controversy - their values and usage are not universally recognized by all Hong Kong players. You have to inquire about the table rules whenever joining a table with strangers. STRATEGY for 3-Fan Your best beginning strategy if your opponents insist on a 3-fan minimum is to just go for one-suit hands (pure or semipure), all-pung hands, or all-honors hands.
If you have chows, then focus on one suit.
If you have pungs, then you can mix the suits.
You may need to switch suits if you aren't picking them, or the player at your left is not discarding them.
Go for your own wind whenever feasible.
Learn how to tell what's dangerous to discard - be prepared to kill your hand if there is high danger and/or if it appears that you can't mah-jongg. Please see FAQ 8 for more in-depth strategy tips.MORE RESOURCESFor information on books describing Hong Kong Old Style mah-jongg, see FAQ 3. The hands described in books vary somewhat (some writers list hands not listed by other writers; some writers award more fan for certain hands than other writers do; some writers apply different base scores or multipliers). When joining a table, inquire about the table rules in use. Another resource here on Sloperama is FAQ 20 (frequently misunderstood rules of Asian forms of mah-jongg).MORE ABOUT SCORING Above we covered how to count fan. But when playing in real life games (I mean "as opposed to online" - you know, at a physical table with actual tiles and you can actually reach out and touch a human player), there's more to it than that. Fan must be converted to points, which are used to determine payments when playing for money. And what if the players permit winning on a "chicken" (sometimes called "KFC") hand - one that scores zero fan - how do the other players pay you then? Discuss beforehand if playing with real folks at a real table, make sure you know how their game works as well as you can.
The main purpose of this FAQ is to answer the Frequently Asked Question, "What the heck is this '3fan' thing the Yahoo players keep beating me over the head with?" If you are interested in more fine points about actual scoring, get the Amy Lo book or the Perlmen & Chan book (see FAQ 3). There are actually several different scoring methods extant, and they go beyond the purview of this FAQ.
COMMENTSFrom the Mah-Jongg Q&A Bulletin Board... Hong Kong style clarifications
On Wednesday, September 7, 2022 at 07:21:29 AM EDT, Mona Stickley wrote:
Mahjong
Hi Tom!
I was just reading some of the questions [below] about the Hong Kong style of play and wanted to write in to explain it a bit. The Hong Kong style is poorly represented to beginners who learned how to play using the old Yahoo! based style of play. The Yahoo! game was for very seasoned players who wanted to limit a lot of lower level hands and players. In fact, I often saw beginner players kicked out of the game when they played incorrectly or if they played too slowly. The players that played the Yahoo! game wanted to concentrate on hands that required more skill to create and to play at a high rate of speed. If you are a seasoned player in the Hong Kong style of play, this is enjoyable and does not limit your skillset. However, if you are a beginner player to this style and are learning how to play using these old rules, it limits your skills and knowledge of this style of play. The Hong Kong style of play is not limited to starting at 3 Fan. There are many beginner and novice players who like to play a minimum of 3 Fan and they love it because they can make all kinds of wonderful, advanced and valuable hands. However, this is not an accurate representation of how they would fare in normal playing situations. It is a good place to learn the game because it takes less skill at times to win with 3 Fan than it does to win with 1 or 2 Fan!
If you take these same beginner players who are now used to playing 3 Fan, and put them at a table where you begin at a minimum of 1 Fan and they are playing with experienced players, they may not win a single hand. The advanced and valuable hands they are used to being able to win with will be impossible to get now when playing with people who can win with 1 Fan and can play at faster speeds. Why is this? Players with skill can see what you are doing by how and where you pull tiles out of your hand. They can see your patterns, they can understand what you have in your hand. They will be able to stop you from playing higher level hands. It is very easy to believe that this game is the most simple to learn yet it is one of the hardest styles to learn and advance in because of the intricacies that come from the strategies that can be played and nuances that happen at the table. Ironically, if you do not learn this lower scoring part of the game, you actually do not develop your skillset high enough to play with higher players regardless of if you play minimum 1 Fan, 3 Fan, or 5 Fan.
One of the most difficult pieces to learn in the Hong Kong style of play is the way to create multiple points that add value to your hand. If you only play a minimum of 3 Fan, you do not need to know the vast majority of these extra points. It is easy to win a hand by focusing on what will bring 3 Fan. You can spend all of your time pursuing an all pong hand and not have to learn any other type of hand. It is not easy to win a hand by focusing on what will bring 1 Fan, the possibilities are much higher, you need to use more memory and knowledge to win with 1 Fan. For players that love to learn, broaden their skillset, they would really benefit from learning the entire range of hands to play in the Hong Kong style, the scoring methods, and the nuances and differences between playing computer based games and playing in person.
The questions that I see in your blog are coming from this intersection of 2 components - what I like to refer to as set hands versus stacking components. For instance, the question regarding Pin Woo where they are playing 3 Fan minimum and then allowing pin-woo with certain stipulations. This is not really an accurate way to play pin-woo to meet a 3 Fan minimum requirement. Pin-woo is 1 Fan, not 2 Fan. It needs an additional 2 value areas - what I like to call stacking components) in your hand if you are playing a minimum of 3 Fan.
First, let's correct what is understood about pin-woo. Pin-woo is an all chow hand. It is worth 1 Fan. There are no other stipulations such as it has to be a no point hand in other areas or that it has to be mixed suit. Your pin-woo can absolutely have points in it, you just count the points in addition to. If the pin-woo is all in one suit that is acceptable, you get the 1 Fan for the pin-woo, you get the Fan for the pure hand, etc. If you are playing 3 Fan minimum, and you want to win with pin-woo you are trying to win with a 1 Fan hand. You need to add at least 2 Fan to your hand to win. So if they are allowing pin-woo if a player has their flower or no flowers or self-draws is not correct as that only adds 1 Fan. It would be suitable if they had their flower and a self-draw. Here are all the extra components you can add to your hand to get the minimum of 3 Fan, remember you need to get 2 of these elements, not just 1:
1) either have your flower or no flower,
2) you self-draw,
3) you win off someone else's Kong / Gong (Robbing the Kong),
4) you win off the very last tile,
5) you obtain a flower and when you take your replacement tile you obtain your winning tile from the dead wall,
or
6) your hand is entirely concealed until the time you win.
Not all of the above are accepted by everyone or by all mahjong computer games. The Yahoo! 3 Fan game did not accept the last point. They did not consider concealed hands as a Fan. Many mahjong computer games do not. However, it is generally always accepted when playing in person and is a huge part of the game.
The remainder of the conversation regarding pin-woo was in relation to the player having a pure hand. The pin-woo would most definitely score points on top of the purity or pure hand. All defined hands, I like to refer to them as set hands, such as a pong hand, a pin-woo, a pure hand, etc can have value added by adding what I call stacking components. Some stacking components are what is in my list above of the 6 ways you can add to a pin-woo to increase the value. So if you take a set hand which is a pure hand you would get the Fan for the pure hand which is 6 points in many places, in some places they will award higher value for a pure hand. You then are adding another set hand which is pin-woo as a stacking component to your pure hand. This adds the value of the pin-woo which is 1 Fan. You now have 7 Fan. If you also had your flower that would be an additional Fan. If you self-draw for the win, that is an additional Fan plus everyone pays you double.
As well, I think Amy Lo's book is being interpreted incorrectly in response to the question. Pin-woo by definition, does not always contain mixed suits. Pin-woo means all chow or all sheung. It doesn't matter if it is 3 suits, 2 suits, or 1 suit. Interestingly, in some variations of the game, you would actually get an additional Fan if your hand held only 2 suits. I think Amy Lo was trying to show pin-woo as all mixed suits because it is easier to explain it that way instead of the full range of possibilities. In the earlier part of her book, she shows pin-woo as being mixed suit only. She then shows a pin-woo mixed with a pure hand later in her book, just like the question that came up. This is where she correctly shows the addition of the 2 components: the pure hand for 6 Fan and 1 Fan for pin-woo. So I believe she wasn't trying to state pin-woo is only mixed suits, I think it was just an example of the range you can do with a pin-woo.
For the comment that the all chow hand doesn't define pin-woo sufficiently because the pair must be valueless, the pair does not ever impact the value of the pin-woo. In old rules, you can play a 2-5-8 rule which is an old style of play where if you have an eye (a pair) that is of any suit and if that pair is a 2, 5, or an 8 then your eye is worth an extra Fan. If you play the 2-5-8 rule, it still does not affect your pin-woo. You would get the 1 Fan for your pin-woo, or all chow hand, and then you would get the 1 Fan for your special eye.
I hope that clears some of the confusion. The Hong Kong version can be very confusing because many families each have their own way of playing, organizations, schools, and communities all have their own rules and may score differently. I really love that you have so many mahjong enthusiasts on your site. Thanks for being so devoted to the game and to the community!
For any of your audience that wants to learn more aspects about the Hong Kong style of mahjong, I have an online course that would give them a bigger range of skills in the Hong Kong style. I prepared a coupon so they can obtain a 30% discount off my course - the coupon specifically created for them is SLOPER. Just type that into the apply coupon area for the 30% discount. They are already coming in with knowledge about the game so they may be able to skip through some aspects of the course quickly. For those interested, the course I recommend is our Full Course - the Fast Track version. It is 12 modules and 110 lessons in total. I teach scoring as 2 different components for the Hong Kong style, the set hands and then the stacking components, which is the main conversation we got into above. I also get into how to build speed so you can play the game quickly as this becomes a requirement when playing with many players who like to play the Hong Kong style of play. Their discount would apply to any of our courses but I think the Full Course would be the most suitable for your audience. Wow, that's a lot of info, Mona! Thank you for all those clarifications. I'm appending this to the Comments section of FAQ 17.
Play safe out there. And may the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
Author of the Sloper On Mah-Jongg column and the Mah-Jongg FAQs
Donations appreciated
September 7, 2022
Rochester, New York, USAPin woo brouhaha
>From: Cheryl L
>Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2012 10:12 AM
>Subject: Mah-Jongg Q+A
>My mah-jongg question or comment is:
>I was not able to find an answer to my question on your site. Our regular MJ group's harmony was upset yesterday by a pin-woo dispute. We play with a 3 fan minimum, and we allow pin-woo if a player has the right flower or no flowers or self-draws the winning tile.
>Player A made a pure hand in the pin-woo configuration (4 sheungs and a pair). Player B said it should be scored as a pure hand (6 fan). Player C said it should be scored as a pure hand (6 fan) plus a pin-woo configuration (2 fan) for a total of 8 fan. Then, Player B said that a pure hand--regardless of configuration--should never be referred to as pin-woo because pin-woo, by definition, always contains mixed suits.
>Unfortunately, Players B and C are equally strong-willed, so no resolution was achieved. If you were at the table, what would you have said?
>Thank you for your comments!
>--Cheryl Hi, Cheryl.
As I wrote in Frequently Asked Question 17:"Pin woo (one fan): All chows (no pungs) and a valueless pair (no dragon pair; no seat wind or round wind pair). Some tables may allow pin woo, by self-pick, with no flowers, to meet the 3fan minimum - ask before trying. Some tables require this hand to be concealed. Some players call this hand "all chows" but that insufficiently defines the hand (especially in that the pair must be valueless)."Sounds to me like your players have more to add to that definition. Also, as I wrote in FAQ 9:"Philosophy #1: Everybody who adheres to a particular form of mah-jongg uses different table rules, so be flexible. The day after mah-jongg was created, it was played at a second table, with a second set of rules. You can use any table rule you like, so long as it's agreeable to all your players, and you are all prepared to deal with possible conflicts, and you are all prepared to suspend your table rules at a different table or when playing in a tournament."So, what would I have said at your table? I would have said, "we should have had this conversation before. Let's work out a definition of pin woo that we will use at this table going forward. If we come to an impasse, the host gets to decide. Agreed?" Also, in my opinion, one ought to award pin woo based on the original intended definition of the hand: "valueless hand" (because it's worthless chows and a worthless pair). The original idea is that one can win with a valueless hand because it's got logical beauty and isn't that easy to make - it's sort of like it has value because it's so ridiculously valueless (it's a pity fan) but it's also not the easiest kind of hand to make. So if the hand is also Pure (one suit only), it's questionable whether an extra fan for being all chows with a valueless pair should be awarded, since a Pure hand is not valueless.
May the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
Creator of these Mah-Jongg FAQs -- donations appreciated.
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
Los Angeles, California, USA
12/12/12Pin woo broohaha, part too Follow-up to my previous response. I just checked Amy Lo's book (highly recommended for players of Hong Kong / Cantonese style - see FAQ 3) and she specifically states that ping woo must have tiles of more than one suit. (She doesn't say anything about any requirements for the pair, though.) So I'm going to add this requirement to FAQ 17.
Tom Sloper
Creator of these Mah-Jongg FAQs -- donations appreciated.
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
Los Angeles, California, USA
12/12/12Hong Kong rules
> From: PhamKimThuy P
> Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2013 11:12 PM
> Subject: Hong Kong Mahjong's question
> Dear Sir,
> I have 2 questions on Hong Kong mahjong :
> 1./ If I had a pair of South :
> a./ The player on my left, discard the South, I did not pung.
> b./ I drew a tile from the wall, and discarded a tile.
> c./ The player on my right, discard the South, can I pung on that last South ?
> If I could not, is that a table rule ?
> 2./ If a hand had all chows, no flower, self drawn.
> Is it 3 fan , will get 16 + 16 + 16 = 48 chips ?
> Thanks in advance for your help.
> pkthuy Hi, PKThuy. Yes, you can, because between the two Souths, you had picked and discarded. Amy Lo, page 28: if the second South had gone out in the same go-around (without you having played a turn in between), then you would not be permitted to claim the second one after passing up the first. Interestingly, someone else asked this just last week (Lynne C, August 15) - but she was asking about American mah-jongg, not HKOS. Yes, it's 3 fan, but only if your group has already agreed (i) to use flowers (see Amy Lo, page 49.), and (ii) that having no flowers is worth 1 fan, and also if (iii) your all-chows hand has a valueless pair (no dragon pair; no seat wind or round wind pair - see FAQ 17).
Yes, if in your group's game, non-winners pay 1 chip per point to the winner. See Amy Lo, page 44.For information about Amy Lo's book, see Frequently Asked Question 3.And for information about Hong Kong rules, seeFrequently Asked Question 17.Scroll up and look left for the FAQs, which are marked by a blue and yellow flashing arrow (emblazoned "READ 1ST," like this ). Please always check the FAQs first, before asking me a question. Thanks!
May the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
Creator of the weekly Mah-Jongg column and the Mah-Jongg FAQs -- donations appreciated.
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
Los Angeles, California, USA
August 21, 2013 Name: Tom Sloper
Email: tomster[AT]sloperama[DOT]com
Date: 29 May 2003
ff782bc1db
download raspberry pi os to sd card
download updates over metered connections gpo
daughtry start of something good mp3 download
download electro drum pads 24 mod apk