The Tiles
How to Play Hong Kong Mahjong – Complete Cantonese Rules & Faan Scoring Guide
Completing the shape is not enough — a hand must be worth three faan to declare.
Every deal starts with the same question — where is the faan coming from? Past the floor the stakes climb fast: the payout doubles every two faan up to the thirteen-faan limit.
The 144-tile wall
Characters 1–9
Tiles 1 and 9 are called terminals
Bamboo 1–9
Dots 1–9
Honours
Winds and Dragons are called honours.
Flowers & Seasons
Flowers and Seasons are bonus tiles — they score extra points and are replaced immediately when drawn.
Go deeper
Turns, claims and the kong windows
A turn is draw one, discard one, holding thirteen tiles between turns. Discards can be claimed: a Chow by the next player only, a Pung or Kong by anyone, and a win by anyone the tile completes, with the win taking priority.
Read the full turn-order guide →Faan, the three-faan floor and who pays
Every winning hand is scored in faan, and three is the number that matters: below three faan a complete hand cannot declare at all. From there the payout ladder starts at eight coins and doubles every two faan until the thirteen-faan limit, so a few extra faan multiply the same hand shape many times over.
See every scoring pattern with examples →Strategy: clearing the floor
Cantonese strategy is a negotiation between speed and value: the fastest shape is worth nothing until it carries three faan, so the guide is organised around dependable faan sources — Half Flush as the baseline target, Dragon Pungs, self-pick — and around knowing when to stop pushing and defend, since feeding the winning discard makes you the sole payer at double stakes. Six beginner tips, target-hand walkthroughs, and a ten-question FAQ cover the rest, from Common Hand and Seven Pairs to reading safe discards in a game with no furiten rule.
Read the strategy guide and FAQ →The faan sheet for live tables
The printable cheat sheet condenses the whole variant onto one page: the thirteen-tile hand shape, the three-faan minimum and thirteen-faan limit, claim priority, every faan pattern, and the faan-to-payout ladder alongside who pays what on a self-draw versus a discard. Print it for a live game, or keep it open beside the app while you learn — the ladder rewards memorising, because a hand sitting one faan short of the next doubling is usually worth another turn or two of patience.
Open the printable cheat sheet →