How to Play Hong Kong Mahjong

What you need

A traditional set contains 136 tiles (no flowers or jokers in standard HK rules), 3 dice, and 4 players. Online, the app handles everything — just tap and play.

Step 1 — The Tiles

There are 3 numbered suits (ranked 1–9) and 2 honour groups. Every tile appears 4 times, giving 136 tiles total.

Dots

Circle patterns — count the dots to read the number.

Bamboo

Stick patterns — count the sticks. Bamboo 1 is traditionally a bird.

Characters

Chinese numerals with 萬. In our app's beginner mode, the number is shown in the corner.

Winds

East, South, West, North. Honours cannot form sequences — only triplets and quads.

Dragons

Red, Green, White. Like winds, only triplets and quads.

Step 2 — The Objective

Be the first to complete a winning hand of 14 tiles:

4 melds + 1 pair = 14 tiles

A meld is 3 (or 4) tiles. The pair is 2 identical tiles — sometimes called "eyes".

Example winning hand (Chow + Pung + Chow + Pung + Pair):

++++

Step 3 — Meld Types

Chow (Sequence)

3 consecutive same-suit tiles. Not honours.

Pung (Triplet)

3 identical tiles. Any type including winds and dragons.

Kong (Quad)

4 identical tiles. Counts as one meld; you draw a replacement tile.

Pair (Eyes)

2 identical tiles. You need exactly one pair.

Step 4 — How a Round Plays Out

Play moves counter-clockwise. Draw one tile. Decide — can you win or kong? Discard one tile face-up.

Step 5 — Claiming Discards

When another player discards a tile you need, an action panel appears.

• Chow — complete a sequence (only from the player to your left).
• Pung — complete a triplet (from any player).
• Kong — complete a quad (from any player).
• Win — complete your hand and declare Mahjong!
• Pass — skip and let play continue.

If multiple players want the same tile: Win > Kong/Pung > Chow.

Step 6 — Discard Strategy Basics

• Keep tiles that are close together — like 4-5 or 3-5 in the same suit.
• Discard isolated tiles first — a lone 1 or 9 with no neighbours is hard to use.
• Watch the discard pile — if 3 copies are gone, the 4th is completely safe.
• Read open melds — if someone punged Red Dragons, avoid feeding them more honours.

Faan Scoring Basics

A winning hand needs minimum faan — bonus points from patterns.

Dragon triplets: 1 faan. Seat/Prevailing wind: 1 faan. All Chows: 1 faan. Mixed One Suit: 3 faan. All Pungs: 3 faan. full faan scoring table.

Many tables need 3 faan minimum. Our beginner mode starts at 0 faan so you learn the basics first.

Practice on your phone

Our free app has a Training Mode with tile-by-tile guidance, plus beginner and advanced multiplayer. No sign-up needed for training.

Continue learning