About This Singapore Mahjong Ruleset

What this ruleset represents

This page describes the rules currently enforced by SG Mahjong. It is not a claim that every Singapore Mahjong group uses identical scoring, special hands, payout conventions, or table settings.

Singleplayer and multiplayer use the same legality, scoring, wall-flow, dealer-progression, and settlement rules. In multiplayer, the server validates actions and distributes the canonical table state so every player follows the same configured rules.

Table, tiles, and wall flow

• The game always uses four seats in East, South, West, and North order. Singleplayer is one human player against three AI opponents.
• The base set contains 148 tiles: 108 suited tiles, 16 Winds, 12 Dragons, and 12 bonus tiles made up of Flowers, Seasons, and Animals.
• East is the dealer, starts with 14 playable tiles, and discards first. The other seats start with 13 playable tiles.
• Normal draws come from the front of the wall. Flower, Season, Animal, and Kong replacement draws come from the back of the same wall.
• If no legal win resolves before the whole wall reaches 15 tiles, the round ends without a winner.

Configurable table rules

• Tai Threshold can be set from 1 to 10. Zi Mo must reach that threshold, while a discard win must reach one additional tai.
• Fei Count can be set to 0, 4, 8, 12, 16, or 20.
• Payout Table can be disabled or set to $0.10 / $0.20, $0.30 / $0.60, or $1 / $2. Starting Chips is optional.
• Shooter can be turned on or off for discard-win settlement.
• Max Cap Tai controls the payout row for ordinary hands. Caps Max Tai for Special separately controls special-hand payout rows up to 18 tai.

Fei and legal calls

• Fei is a non-discardable wild tile used while the engine checks concealed winning shapes. It can complete sequences, Pungs, or the eyes.
• Fei cannot declare a Kong, cannot be discarded, cannot be used to Chi, Pung, or Kong another player's discard, and does not receive a bonus replacement draw.
• After a discard, action priority is Win, Kong, Pung, then Chi. Only the next player in turn order may Chi.
• When claims have the same priority, the nearest eligible player in turn order receives the discard.

Tai scoring and special hands

• Ordinary hands can combine applicable tai from Winds, Dragons, flushes, hand shapes, Zi Mo, bonus tiles, and replacement-tile wins.
• Automatic special hands bypass the ordinary Tai Threshold and replace ordinary hand-pattern scoring.
• Valid Animals and seat-matched Flowers or Seasons remain as bonus tai when a special hand is reported.
• The special-hand guide documents the ten automatic special hands currently recognized by the engine and their individual restrictions.

Dealer and round progression

• The East player is the dealer, also called Zeng.
• If the dealer wins, the dealer and seat labels stay in place and the displayed round number does not increase.
• If a non-dealer wins or the round ends without a winner, the dealer passes and the seat labels rotate with the dealer progression.
• The table displays Round 1/4 through Round 4/4 within the current wind.

Virtual-chip settlement only

Chip settlement runs only when a payout table is selected and Starting Chips is entered. Without Shooter, a discard win charges the discarder and both other non-winners according to the selected row. With Shooter enabled, only the discarder pays. On Zi Mo, all three opponents pay.

All balances are virtual play-money chips. They have no real-world value, cannot be purchased for cash, and cannot be redeemed.

How to use the rules guides

Use the Rules Reference for the complete enforced rule list, then open the focused Fei, tai scoring, payout, special-hand, and FAQ guides for detailed examples.

If your playing group uses different tai values, payout rows, Fei behavior, dealer progression, or special-hand conditions, treat those differences as house rules and agree on them before starting a table.

Related Singapore Mahjong guides

Continue with the connected rules and examples that explain how this topic affects legal wins, scoring, and settlement.