Маджонг: Ережелер мен ұпайлар жүйесінің алуан түрлілігі

A traditional Chinese game of four players

Scoring in Mahjong, a game for four players that originated in China, involves the players obtaining points for their hand of tiles, then paying each other based on the differences in their score and who obtained mahjong (won the hand). The points are given a monetary value agreed by the players. Although in many variations scoreless hands (推倒胡 tui dao hu in Mandarin, 雞糊 gai wu in Cantonese) are possible, many require that hands be of some point value in order to win the round. While the basic gameplay is more or less the same throughout mahjong, the most significant divergence between variations lies in the scoring systems. Like the gameplay, there is a generalized system of scoring, based on the method of winning and the winning hand, from which Chinese and Japanese (among notable systems) base their roots. American mahjong generally has wildly divergent scoring rules (as well

Because of the large differences between the various scoring systems (especially for Chinese variants), groups of players will often need to agree on particular scoring rules before a game to eliminate possible disputes during the game. As with the gameplay, many attempts have been made to create an international scoring standard, but most are not widely accepted.

In the traditional Hong Kong scoring system or the Cantonese scoring system, scoring tends to be low due to the few criteria used. The general scoring modifiers apply (see above), with the point translation function being a piecewise function: a constant amount is given for scoreless hands, and the score is doubled for each point (that is, an exponential function). Because zero point hands are common, players often play with the additional restriction that a winning hand must be of some point value, often anywhere between one and five points, with three being the most common.

In contrast, the scoring system used in the Shanghai variant is high due to the diverse number of scoring criteria and inflated values for rarer hands such as the thirteen terminals. Because of the inflated point values, there is generally a minimum point value in the Shanghai variant.

Singaporean scoring is similar to that of the Chinese Classical system but accounts for the different set of tiles used therein. Again, standard payment variations apply, although variants exist where the dealer must also pay and receive double.

The Japanese scoring system is the system that is found in many Mahjong video games. In this variation, each player begin with a start score. Usually, this number is either 25,000 or 30,000. However, it can be any agreed start value. In real tile settings, this is typically represented by a series of bars resembling elongated Chinese dominoes, in four denominations: 10,000, 5,000, 1,000, and 100. Otherwise, online the representation is simply the displayed point scores.

A side effect of the Babcock scoring system in the 1920s was that many players frequently sought after limit hands rather than hands of smaller value. Because of this, the common hands were eventually abandoned, and the only way one could win was to match a hand from a list of hands. Today, in the American variations, players use a card that defines a small set of hands that are the only valid winning hands, with a point value given for each hand. This system is used by the two major governing bodies of Mahjong in the United States, the National Mah Jongg League and the American Mah Jongg Association, with new cards that define the valid winning hands released annually. Typically, each card contains scoring criteria that make references to the year the scoring cards are released. For example, the 1985 scoring hand will have hands containing "melds" of a one, nine, eight, and five of a certain suit.

Some variations may impose a scoring limit a maximum to the number of points for a given hand. In many cases where limits exist, there may be either multiple limits, or ways to obtain multiples of a limit. In many cases where limits exist, the typical point translation function is exponential, where a constant score is assigned to points up to the first limit, and afterwards increases (often doubles) as further limits are reached. The Taiwanese system does not employ scoring limits. A scoring limit may be more of a gambling incentive: for example, if six and nine points were scoring limits, a seven or eight point hand would be worth the same as a six point hand, which may be an incentive for players to go for nine point hands.

Many variations may also impose penalties for discards that are considered to be "high risk" when the size of the wall is winding down. If a player wins from a high risk discard, or goes out self drawn after claiming a high risk discard, the player(s) who made the high risk discard(s) have to pay for the winner's points, and the other players are off the hook. A discard is considered risky if there were enough open melds to reveal the fact that said discard is very likely to enable completing a limit hand before it was claimed. Note that some rulesets always make the discarder pay anyway. In this case, going out self drawn after claiming a risky discard will trigger the penalty. The intent of these rules is to punish the player who foolishly enabled the completion of the limit hand.