Scoring in mahjong

The points payment(s) to the owner of a winning hand are found by looking up the intersection of the 'han' and fu values in a scoring table. If the han value is five or more, the payment(s) are simply found by looking up the han value in a smaller table. After looking up the payments, additions are also made for any honba counters on the playing table. Besides those calculations, any rīchi bets on the table are collected by the winner of a hand.

Calculating the han value
The han values of the one or more yaku(s) and any doras are added together to get the total han value of a winning hand. While each dora is worth one han, a tile can have in the extreme case as many as five doras, if four dora indicator tiles point to it and it's a red-five. If the total han value is less than 5, then the fu value also needs to be calculated.

Calculating the fu value

 * Start with the fu for winning.
 * For a claim of a seven pairs hand yaku, start with 25 fu and stop further fu calculations.
 * For a tsumo win or an open hand, start with 20 fu. A hand that contains called tiles is an open hand.
 * For a ron with a closed hand, start with 30 fu. This is fu for a menzen ron, which is partial compensation compared to a menzen tsumo.
 * Add fu for triplets and quads. Melds containing called or ronned tiles are open melds.
 * For each triplet of simples, add 2 fu for an open meld or 4 fu for a closed meld.
 * For each triplet of honors or terminals, add 4 fu for an open meld or 8 fu for a closed meld.
 * For each quad of simples, add 8 fu for an open meld or 16 fu for a closed meld.
 * For each quad of honors or terminals, add 16 fu for an open meld or 32 fu for a closed meld.
 * If the winning tile is the middle tile of a run, is the number 3 tile of a 1-2-3 run or the number 7 tile of a 7-8-9 run, or completes the pair, add 2 fu. This is fu for more difficult waits.
 * For a pair of seat wind, prevailing wind, or dragon tiles, add 2 fu. If the pair of tiles is both the seat and prevailing wind, 2 fu is added for each one.
 * If it's a tsumo win and if the total fu at this point isn't 20, add 2 fu. This is fu for a tsumo win.
 * If it's an open hand and if the total fu at this point is 20, add 2 fu. This is fu for an open pinfu.
 * Round the fu up to the nearest 10 (except for the 25 fu of a seven pairs hand).

Scoring tables
In the following tables, for a tsumo win, the first number is the payment of the two non-dealers and the second number is the payment of the dealer. For an east tsumo win, each player pays the amount shown. For a ron or an east ron, whomever was ronned pays the entire amount shown. N/A means not applicable.

Four han or less table
Any winning hand having 120+ fu will also have 4+ han, making it worth at least a mangan.

Points calculation
The points payment(s) in the four han or less table are calculated from the han and fu values based on the equation basic points = fu*2^(2+han). Any basic points over 2000 are reduced to 2000, the basic points limit. For a tsumo win, the basic points are multiplied by two to get the dealer's payment. For a ron, the basic points are multiplied by four. For an east tsumo win, the basic points are multiplied by two to get each players' payment. For an east ron, the basic points are multiplied by six. For all of these, the points are then rounded up to the nearest 100.

The points payments in the second table are simply multiples of the 2000 limit.

Pao

 * When a player wins by rinshan kaihou after calling a kan, the player who fed the kan has to pay all of the points. There may be one or more declarations of kan after the call of the kan. When calculating the han and fu values, this counts as a tsumo win, but the points payment is that of a ron.

Players who discard visibly dangerous tiles that can hurt other players have to pay extra in the case that those tiles lead to a win.
 * When a player has two open triplets/kans of dragon tiles, a person who discards into the third triplet/kan of dragon tiles has to pay extra. If the Daisangen is won by tsumo, the third feeder has to pay all of the points. If it is won by ron, the third feeder splits the costs with the player who is ronned.
 * When a player has three open triplets/kans of wind tiles, a person who discards into the fourth triplet/kan of wind tiles has to pay extra. If the Shoususshi or Daisusshi is won by tsumo, the fourth feeder has to pay all of the points. If it is won by ron, the fourth feeder splits the costs with the player who is ronned.

Multiple ron
In the event where more than one player waits for the same winning tile(s), then some rules would allow both players to take points from the player who discarded the winning tile.

Honba
Honba is a bonus points system. 100-point scoring sticks are used as temporary markers, called counters, to indicate the number of consecutive dealer wins or drawn hands. With honba, the value of a winning hand increases by 300 points per counter. In the case of a self-draw win, or tsumo, the other players pay an extra 100 points per counter. In the case of a discard win, or ron, the discarder pays an extra 300 points per counter.

To be specific, the honba count increases by one for each of the following conditions:
 * The dealer wins.
 * Any exhaustive draw situation results in a count increase. This includes when the dealer is not in tenpai (no-ten).
 * In the event of an abortive draw, the reshuffling of tiles increases the count. Increasing the count for "nine unrelated tiles" is optional.
 * Depending on the rules, the occurence of chombo may also increase the count.

The dealer keeps track of this count, which starts at zero. When the dealer loses, the new dealer takes over this responsibility. Any counters are then returned to the old dealer, not to the winner of a hand, and the count resets to zero. If the dealer position rotates after a draw, the old dealer takes back any counters while the new dealer replaces those counters and adds one more.

Automatic tables recognize when 100-point sticks are used as counters, so real time scores remain accurate. Computerized games automatically display the count and take care of the honba bonus.

Post game score
After games in individual tournament play, points are recalculated to produce ± scores. These are points adjustments to reward the top player(s), at the expense of the lower ranked players. There are two main types, oka and uma. For both of these, rounding rules vary, so slight differences in the ± score can occur.

Oka is like an ante. It's as if each player starts a game with 30,000 points and pays 5000 points into the pot, with the game winner collecting the pot. This system is based on this premise. However, that procedure is not actually done. Instead, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place players divide their points by 1000, round it with 0.5 rounded down, and then subtract 30 to get their ± score. The total ± score of these players is negated to arrive at the winner's ± score. Still, the game winner nets about 15,000 points from an oka, while the others lose about 5000 points each. So far, only oka has been used in the Saki universe.

Uma is a spread bonus, widening the gaps between the haves and the have nots, based on the four finishing positions. Points adjustments vary according to those who administer a game session or tournament. A typical setting will have the +/- adjusted by: Naturally, these +/- adjustments may be changed at discretion prior to a game and/or tournament.
 * 1st place: +20
 * 2nd place: +10
 * 3rd place: -10
 * 4th place: -20

Tied raw points
In the event where players have the same number of points at the end of a game, the tie-breaker falls on order by the initial wind position at the very start of the game. Raw points are not adjusted. Instead, placement at the end of the game is affected. So, the difference will show upon application of the Oka and Uma bonuses.

Yakitori adjustment
For players in yakitori, their scores are deducted. Typically, that value is an additional -20 or so. Of course, this is for those game sessions where yakitori is implemented. Because of this harsh penalty, players who have yet to win a hand are hard pressed to do so, regardless of hand value.