Hong Kong Mahjong Payout Table

Look up what each faan pays in Hong Kong mahjong. Pick your stake (3番4, 二五雞, 五一 or 一二蚊, which pay $4, $8, $16 or $32 at 3 faan) and your doubling rule, and the calculator below tells you what the discarder pays and what each player pays on a self-drawn win. Further down is the full table from Chicken hand to 13 faan.

The most common game: 二五雞 with half-doubling

The most common set-up among friends today: a 二五雞 stake ($8 at 3 faan), a 3-faan minimum, half-doubling (半辣上) and a 10-faan limit. If nobody has said otherwise, this is usually how a table pays.

Faan	Discard	Self-drawn, each
Chicken hand	$1	$0.5
1 faan	$2	$1
2 faan	$4	$2
3 faan	$8	$4
4 faan	$16	$8
5 faan	$24	$12
6 faan	$32	$16
7 faan	$48	$24
8 faan	$64	$32
9 faan	$96	$48
10 faan	$128	$64

On a self-drawn win, each of the other three players pays the amount shown. On a discard win, the discarder pays the "Discard" amount. At a 3-faan minimum table, Chicken hand to 2 faan are for reference only.

Full payout tables

Amounts are what the discarder pays, which is the total value of the hand. On a self-drawn win each player pays half.

Half-doubling (半辣上)

Faan	3番4	二五雞Most common	五一	一二蚊
Chicken	0.5	1	2	4
1 faan	1	2	4	8
2 faan	2	4	8	16
3 faan	4	8	16	32
4 faan	8	16	32	64
5 faan	12	24	48	96
6 faan	16	32	64	128
7 faan	24	48	96	192
8 faan	32	64	128	256
9 faan	48	96	192	384
10 faan	64	128	256	512
11 faan	96	192	384	768
12 faan	128	256	512	1024
13 faan	192	384	768	1536

Full doubling (辣辣上)

Faan	3番4	二五雞	五一	一二蚊
Chicken	0.5	1	2	4
1 faan	1	2	4	8
2 faan	2	4	8	16
3 faan	4	8	16	32
4 faan	8	16	32	64
5 faan	16	32	64	128
6 faan	32	64	128	256
7 faan	64	128	256	512
8 faan	128	256	512	1024
9 faan	256	512	1024	2048
10 faan	512	1024	2048	4096
11 faan	1024	2048	4096	8192
12 faan	2048	4096	8192	16384
13 faan	4096	8192	16384	32768

What are 8番64, 8番128 and 10番512? Look up by name

Many tables describe their rules without naming the stake. They just say the cap faan and the cap payout, for example "10 faan, 128". The table below matches the common names to a stake and doubling rule, then lists every step from 3 faan to the cap (what the discarder pays).

Name	Means	3 faan	4 faan	5 faan	6 faan	7 faan	8 faan	9 faan	10 faan
8番32	3番4 · half-doubling	4	8	12	16	24	32	–	–
8番64	二五雞 · half-doubling	8	16	24	32	48	64	–	–
8番128	五一 · half-doubling	16	32	48	64	96	128	–	–
8番256	一二蚊 · half-doubling	32	64	96	128	192	256	–	–
10番128	二五雞 · half-doubling	8	16	24	32	48	64	96	128
10番256	五一 · half-doubling	16	32	48	64	96	128	192	256
10番512	一二蚊 · half-doubling	32	64	96	128	192	256	384	512
10番1024	二五雞 · full doubling	8	16	32	64	128	256	512	1024

The same name can mean two different rule sets. Some tables play "10番512" as 3番4 with full doubling (4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512); "8番128" can also be 3番4 with full doubling (4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128); "8番256" can also be 二五雞 with full doubling (8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256). The cap is the same but every step in between is different, so ask whether it is half-doubling or full doubling before you start. On a self-drawn win each player pays half the amount shown.

How payouts work and common table rules

How half-doubling (半辣上) works

The traditional Hong Kong way to scale payouts. From 4 faan up, the payout doubles every two faan, and the faan in between goes up by half of the step before: at 二五雞, 4 faan is 16, 5 faan is 24, 6 faan is 32, 7 faan is 48, and so on.

How full doubling (辣辣上) works

From 4 faan up, every extra faan doubles the payout, so high hands climb much faster than with half-doubling: at 二五雞, 5 faan is already 32, and 10 faan is 1,024.

What 二五雞, 五一 and 一二蚊 mean

All three name the stake: the starting point for what a hand is worth, measured at 3 faan. 3番4 is $4, 二五雞 is $8, 五一 is $16 and 一二蚊 is $32. Below 3 faan each step halves; above 3 faan it rises by half-doubling or full doubling. The names come from old amounts (二五雞 meant 25 cents for a Chicken hand and 50 cents for 1 faan). Today's amounts are different, but the ratios are the same.

Discarding, discarder pays half, discarder pays all

Discarding the winning tile (出銃) means throwing the tile someone else wins on. Under discarder pays all (全銃), the discarder pays the whole hand; this is the most common rule today. Under discarder pays half (半銃), the discarder pays half and the other two players pay a quarter each; it is used at more traditional tables. Take 二五雞, half-doubling, 5 faan ($24): under discarder pays all, the discarder pays 24; under discarder pays half, the discarder pays 12 and the other two pay 6 each.

How self-drawn wins pay

A self-drawn win (自摸) means you draw the winning tile yourself. Nobody discarded it, so all three players pay half each. Using the same 5-faan, $24 hand, each of the three pays 12 and the winner collects 36 in total, known as "self-drawn plus half" (自摸加半).

Caps and limit hands

The limit (滿糊) is the cap faan: however big the hand, it pays the cap. 8, 10 or 13 faan are common. Limit hands such as Thirteen Orphans (十三么) and Heavenly hand (天糊) pay the cap as soon as you win. Stake, doubling, cap and how payments are split are all table rules that differ between games, so go with whatever you agreed before you started.

FAQ

What do 二五雞, 五一 and 一二蚊 mean?

All three name the stake: the starting point for what a hand is worth. At 3 faan, 二五雞 pays $8, 五一 pays $16 and 一二蚊 pays $32, and there is also the smaller 3番4, which pays $4 at 3 faan. Each faan above that rises by half-doubling (半辣上) or full doubling (辣辣上).

What is the difference between half-doubling and full doubling?

With full doubling (辣辣上), every faan from 4 up doubles the payout. With half-doubling (半辣上), the payout doubles every two faan and the faan in between goes up by half. At 二五雞, 5 faan pays $24 with half-doubling and $32 with full doubling; by 10 faan it is $128 against $1,024, a big gap.

How are discard wins and self-drawn wins split?

The amounts in the tables are the total value of the hand. Under discarder pays all (全銃), the player who discarded the winning tile pays all of it. Under discarder pays half (半銃), the discarder pays half and the other two players pay a quarter each. On a self-drawn win (自摸), all three players pay half each, so the winner collects one and a half times the value in total.

What do 8番64 and 10番128 mean?

They are shorthand for table rules: cap faan plus cap payout. 8番64 means an 8-faan cap that pays $64 at 8 faan, which is 二五雞 with half-doubling. 8番32 is 3番4 with half-doubling; 8番128 is 五一 with half-doubling; 10番128 is a 10-faan cap paying $128, again 二五雞 with half-doubling; 10番256 is 五一 with half-doubling; 10番512 is 一二蚊 with half-doubling.

Want to know how many faan a hand is worth? See the Hong Kong mahjong scoring table. For the flow from dealing to winning, see how to play Hong Kong mahjong. To have every hand priced for you, use the Cantonese mahjong score tracker (in Chinese).