Singapore Mahjong Rules and Tai Scoring
How Singapore Mahjong is played, from the four animal tiles and the dead wall to tai scoring, the 5-tai limit and how payments work.
What makes Singapore Mahjong different
Singapore Mahjong is four-player Mahjong with 13-tile hands, like the Hong Kong game. The basics of drawing, discarding and claiming are the same. If you are new to Mahjong, start with how to play Mahjong and come back here for the Singapore details.
Singapore tables add four animal tiles, hold back a dead wall of 15 tiles, and don't allow seven pairs. Hands are scored in tai (台); under traditional tai scoring every hand needs at least 1 tai to win, and a hand is capped at 5 tai. When someone wins off a discard, all three losers pay, and the player who threw the tile pays double.
The 148 tiles
A Singapore set has 148 tiles. There are four copies of every tile in the three suits (characters, bamboo and dots) and of every honour tile (the four winds and three dragons). On top of those come eight flowers and seasons and four animals, one of each.
Animals, flowers and seasons are bonus tiles and never part of a set. When one is dealt to you or drawn, put it face up beside your hand and take a replacement tile.
How a hand is played
- Everyone takes 13 tiles. Bonus tiles in the deal are set aside face up and replaced. East is the dealer and plays first.
- The last 15 tiles become the dead wall. Normal draws never reach them. When the live wall runs out with no winner, the hand is a draw.
- Draw, then discard. On your turn you draw a tile and throw one away, so you always end your turn on 13 tiles.
- Claim a discard when it helps. Take it to win, or to make a kong, pung or chow. A chow can only use the discard of the player on your left.
- Kongs draw from the dead wall. After a kong you take your replacement tile from the dead wall. If the dead wall is empty, the hand ends as a draw.
When more than one player calls the same discard, the claims rank win, then kong, then pung, then chow. If two or three players can all win on the tile, they all win.
Winning a hand
A winning hand is four sets and a pair: your 13 tiles plus the winning tile, which can be self-drawn (自摸) or taken from a discard. Under Singapore tai scoring the hand must also be worth at least 1 tai; a complete hand with no tai can't be declared.
Tai scoring
Add up the tai for every pattern in the winning hand. These are the hand patterns:
| Pattern | Tai | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| All sequences | 1 | Every set is a chow |
| Seat wind pung | 1 | A pung or kong of your own wind |
| Round wind pung | 1 | A pung or kong of the round's wind |
| Dragon pung | 1 | A pung or kong of any dragon, 1 tai each |
| All triplets | 2 | Every set is a pung or kong |
| Half flush | 2 | One suit plus honour tiles |
| Small three dragons | 4 | Pungs of two dragons and a pair of the third, counting the two dragon pungs |
| Full flush | 4 | Every tile from one suit, no honours |
| Self-drawn win | 0 | Drawing the winning tile adds no tai, though it changes who pays |
A pung of East when you sit East in the East round counts twice, once as your seat wind and once as the round wind. Bonus tiles add more tai on top, covered in the next section.
A hand is capped at 5 tai, the limit. Some hands are limit hands (滿糊) and score the full 5 tai on their own, whatever else they contain:
| Limit hand | What it is |
|---|---|
| Thirteen orphans | One of each 1 and 9 in every suit, each wind and each dragon, plus a pair of any of them |
| Big four winds | Pungs or kongs of all four winds |
| Small four winds | Pungs of three winds and a pair of the fourth |
| Big three dragons | Pungs or kongs of all three dragons |
| Nine gates | 1112345678999 in one suit, plus any tile of that suit |
| All honours | Every tile is a wind or a dragon |
Animals and flowers
Every animal tile you collect is worth 1 tai, whatever your seat. Collect all four animals and you get 1 tai more.
Flowers and seasons only score when they match your seat. Each seat has one flower and one season, worth 1 tai each. Holding all four flowers, or all four seasons, adds 1 tai for that set.
| Seat | Flower | Season |
|---|---|---|
| East | Plum | Spring |
| South | Orchid | Summer |
| West | Chrysanthemum | Autumn |
| North | Bamboo | Winter |
Payments and the deal
The tai total sets a base payment. Each extra tai doubles it, up to the 5-tai limit. On a self-drawn win, every opponent pays double the base. On a discard win, the player who threw the tile pays double and the other two pay the base.
| Tai | Base | Self-drawn, each pays | Discarder pays | Others pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| 3 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 4 |
| 4 | 8 | 16 | 16 | 8 |
| 5 or more | 16 | 32 | 32 | 16 |
If the dealer wins, they deal again. If anyone else wins, the deal passes to the next player. After a drawn hand, the dealer keeps the deal only if nobody declared a kong during it.
When all four players have dealt, the round wind moves on from East to South. A match lasts four wind rounds: East, South, West and North.
Singapore rules at our tables
Our Singapore tables use the Singapore tiles and play rules described here, including the animals, the dead wall and no seven pairs. Scoring starts on casual scoring, where any complete hand wins and scores a point, so newer players can join without learning the tai table.
To play with tai, pick Singapore tai scoring when you set up a private table. The game then counts the tai for you, checks the 1-tai minimum and settles the payments. AI players fill any empty seats.
Questions about Singapore Mahjong
How many tiles are in a Singapore Mahjong set?
148. That is the 144 tiles of a Hong Kong set plus four animals: cat, rat, rooster and centipede.
Is seven pairs allowed in Singapore Mahjong?
No. Every winning hand needs four sets and a pair.
What is the minimum tai to win?
1 tai. Animals and your seat's flower or season count toward it.
Does a self-drawn win add tai?
No, it adds 0 tai. It does change the payment, since all three opponents pay double.
What is the most a hand can score?
5 tai. Anything above is capped at 5, and limit hands such as thirteen orphans or big three dragons score 5 straight away.
Who pays when I win off a discard?
All three opponents. The player who threw the winning tile pays double, and the other two pay the base amount.
Play Singapore Mahjong with friends
Animals, the dead wall and optional tai scoring. Invite friends with one link, and AI fills any empty seat. No download, no sign-up.
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