Vietnamese Mah-Jongg Rules
Rules For
Mah-Jongg
- Vietnamese Style Vietnamese mah-jongg is played much like the classic Chinese game. The main
differences between the Vietnamese and classic game are the special joker tiles, extra
flowers, and the scoring. This document describes the use of the extra tiles in the
Vietnamese game. Although the scoring is described in a general way, this document is
not meant to be a comprehensive and clear explanation of the scoring. Players of the
Vietnamese game play the game differently in different locales. I've heard that
Vietnamese players in Southern California play differently from players in Texas and
Virginia. And presumably in Vietnam there are even more differences.
VIETNAMESE MAH-JONGG TILES
The Vietnamese set starts with the regular 144-tile mah-jongg set of 36 dots, 36 bams, 36
craks (1-9 in each suit, quadruplicated), plus 16 winds, 12 dragons, and 8 flowers. On top
of that, there are 8 extra flowers (sometimes written in Chinese as the #1-4 Kings and #14 Queens), and either 8 or 24 special jokers.
A classic 160-tile Vietnamese set. The normal 144-tile set is at the left. The Vietnamese
jokers are at upper right, and the kings and queens at lower right.
The Kings and Queens are used exactly the same as the Flowers are used. The 8 Jokers
all have particular uses. Because of the jokers, the typical Vietnamese game is usually
won very quickly!
©2003 Tom Sloper
Page 1
Vietnamese Mah-Jongg Rules
A modern 176-tile Vietnamese set has 24 jokers (the 8 jokers of the classic set,
triplicated. Each joker set is outlined by circular, rectangular, or diamond shapes).
THE VIETNAMESE JOKERS
The eight Vietnamese jokers come in two sets of four - sometimes the jokers are outlined
with rectangular designs. And in some sets, the jokers pictured here as blue are in red
instead. In some sets, the jokers pictured here as red are in blue or green instead.
©2003 Tom Sloper
The
Emperor
Lord of
Dots
Lord of
Bams
Lord of
Craks
The
General
Lord of
Winds
Dragon
Lady
Big
Flower
Page 2
Vietnamese Mah-Jongg Rules
The Emperor (To^?ng) - The almighty joker. Can be used to stand in as any tile
in the mah-jongg set.
Lord of Dots (Thu`ng) - Can be used to stand in for any tile in the suit of dots
(circles).
Lord of Bams (Soo.c) - Can be used to stand in for any tile in the suit of bamboo
(sticks).
Lord of Craks (Ma`n) - Can be used to stand in for any tile in the suit of craks
(10,000, wan, myriads).
The General (Ha.p) - Can be used to stand in for any tile of any suit. Confusingly,
some call this tile "the honor joker."
Lord of Winds (Hy?) - Can be used to stand in for any wind tile.
Dragon Lady (Nguye^n) - Can be used to stand in for any dragon tile. You could
also call it "Lord of Dragons," or just "Dragon Joker." I like the name "Dragon Lady"
myself.
Big Flower (Da.i Hoa) - Can be used to represent any flower (i.e., one with your
seat number on it).
The jokers are in two differently-colored sets because there is a bonus if you get all four
jokers of one color.
©2003 Tom Sloper
Page 3
Vietnamese Mah-Jongg Rules
Some modern Vietnamese sets come with 24 jokers, three sets of eight, outlined with
circles, rectangles, and diamonds. The reason for the different outlines is that there is a
bonus if you get all four jokers of one color in the same shape outline.
The 24 jokers of a modern Vietnamese set. Note that the eight classic jokers are
triplicated - once in rectangles, once in circles, and once in diamonds.
Some Vietnamese players also use another, 177th, tile, a combined Winds-&-Dragons
joker. And for the sake of symmetry, manufacturers who provide this 177th tile also
provide an extra Big Flower.
Wind/ Extra
Dragon
Big
Joker Flower
I haven't met any players who use these extra two tiles myself. The Double WindDragon joker can be substituted for either a Wind joker or a Dragon joker depending on
the agreement of the players.
©2003 Tom Sloper
Page 4
Vietnamese Mah-Jongg Rules
THE KINGS AND QUEENS
The Kings. It should be easy to tell that they are numbered from 1 to 4.
The Queens.
The Kings and Queens are nothing more than extra Flower tiles. They are used exactly
the same as the other flowers. The numbers on the tiles correspond to players' seat
positions around the table.
1
2
3
4
East
South
West
North
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter
Bonus points are scored when a player has exposed his own flower, as is done in HKOS
(Hong Kong Old Style mah-jongg). A good book for HKOS is the book by Amy Lo (see
FAQ 3 at http://www.sloperama.com/mjfaq.html).
©2003 Tom Sloper
Page 5
Vietnamese Mah-Jongg Rules
PLAYING VIETNAMESE MAH-JONGG
It is assumed that the reader is familiar with some other form of mah-jongg. Vietnamese
mah-jongg is played similarly to Chinese Classical and Hong Kong Old Style. If you
have not yet learned to play any form of mah-jongg, obtain a good book on the classic or
Hong Kong game, or download rules from the internet (see FAQ 4b at
http://www.sloperama.com/mjfaq.html).
The following outlines the particulars of the Vietnamese style of play.





Build four walls, two tiles high. If using 160 tiles, the walls are 20 stacks long. If
using 176 tiles, the walls are 22 stacks long.
Each player pushes his wall to the center table; the right end is angled in towards
the table center, and the left end remains near his left hand table corner. Thus this
arrangement forms a small square in the center for throwing the dice and for
discarded tiles.
After choosing the dealer and dealing 13 tiles to each player (14 to the dealer) as
is done in other forms of mah-jongg, each player in turn exposes and replaces
flowers from the back of the wall. Players may also expose jokers if so desired
(explained later). After each player has replaced flowers, if any player has drawn
more flowers, another round of exposing and replacing occurs, until no player has
flowers in the hand.
Kings and Queens are considered as flowers that have no part in forming a hand.
However, they can be used to gain Pha’n if the flower number (or king/queen
number) matches the player’s seat. My Vietnamese friend writes, "For example,
if the player seats South and he has a flower numbered 2, he then has one Pha’n,
if he has two flower tiles numbered 2 he has 2 Pha’n. Because of flowers, we
have a special hand called “No Flowers – No Leaves”. The so-called winning
hand must have no flowers outside, no winds nor dragons (winds and dragons are
Leaves), and no jokers of any kind. The No Flowers – No Leaves hand has the
value of 3 Mu?n."
Flowers cannot be stolen (as is done in Singaporean mah-jongg). My friend
writes, "Because of the purpose of forming a No Flowers – No Leaves hand,
©2003 Tom Sloper
Page 6
Vietnamese Mah-Jongg Rules








sometimes the player discard flowers rather than exposing them, only if his initial
hand has no flowers but he might have some jokers concealed inside – if his
initial hand has flowers he must expose them before the game starts. There are
rules about discarding flowers and jokers. A discarded flower has value of the
Emperor, anyone is waiting can go out for that flower, and the flower thrower will
pay for everyone at the Mu?n value plus any extra Pha’n of the winner’s hand
might have. One can claim a discarded joker to win if the thrower is forming a
No Flowers – No Leaves hand."
Once the flower exposure/replacement phase has ended, then the dealer discards a
tile to begin the game.
Discards are placed haphazardly in the center of the table.
The different designs on the joker tiles are for gaining extra points. For example,
if a winning hand has a complete set of Green Circle jokers, the Emperor – the
Lord of Bams – the Lord of Cracks – the Lord of Dots, the hand earns 1 additional
“Mu?n” Mu?n is a unit of 6 “Pha’n”; 1 Pha’n is equivalent to 1 point. Likewise,
a complete set of Red Square jokers, the Big Flower – the Lord of Winds – the
Lord of Dragons – the Honor joker, earns 1 Mu?n, and so on …
Any joker can be put down for a replacement tile before the game starts or during
the game. My friend writes, "The purpose is to gain points, Pha'n. The more
jokers are in a hand, the easier the hand can go out. But the question is how much
the winning hand worth? So, the more jokers are put down, the more difficult a
hand can go out. If one is lucky so that he often has few or several jokers in every
hand, the better chance that his hand can go out easily or go out with lot of Pha'n.
But having jokers in a hand is not an essential factor to easily go out or to win big
hand or win special hand, because the other players might also have lot of jokers
too. Remember that the Vietnamese set has 24 jokers and 16 flowers. Having
jokers in an incohesive hand is not better than having a cohesive hand without
jokers."
There are special hands like for example The Great Four Happiness (pung of each
wind, and a pair of anything - just as is recognized in CC and HKOS). This hand,
though, is very seldom formed and won. So the extra jokers would increase the
chance to form these special hands. The Great Four Happiness hand at my
Vietnamese friend's club has a value of 8 Mu?n. There are no stringent rules
applied to these extra jokers. It is easier to win big with a special hand formed by
substituted jokers, but it is equally easier for other players to suppress that big
hand by going out small also with the help of extra jokers. My friend writes, "In
my life time of playing mahjong I have never been able to compose The Great
Four Happiness hand, even now with the aid of 3 sets of jokers."
An example of a waiting hand with a joker. Let's say you had chows in three suits,
a pung of Reds, and a Lord of Winds. This is waiting for any wind tile. If you had
a Lord of Dots instead, you'd be waiting for any dot tile. If it was the Emperor,
you'd be waiting for any tile except a flower.
Only the winner is paid. The winner is paid by all players. East does not pay or
collect double.
The discarder pays double up to 5 Pha’n value. At “Mu?n” (6 Pha’n value), the
discarder pays 3 times more the 5 Pha’n value, while the other two players pay 2
©2003 Tom Sloper
Page 7
Vietnamese Mah-Jongg Rules

times the 5 Pha’n value. My friend writes, "The Vietnamese game has a paying
system for each Pha’n to Mu?n. 12 Pha’n is double Mu?n, the value is twice of
single Mu?n, 18 Pha’n is triple Mu?n, the value is three times of single Mu?n, and
so on…"
My friend didn't specify, but it's reasonable to assume that all players pay double
if the winner self-picks. If you play with a Vietnamese group, you'll find out
quickly if this assumption is correct or not! (^_^) And you're also likely to find
numerous other differences between this document and their method anyway. See
FAQ 14 ("The Rules on Table Rules") at http://www.sloperama.com/mjfaq.html,
rules 1 and 3.
Scoring for when a flower or joker is down
This entire section was written by my Vietnamese-American friend, who uses 176 tiles.
Dealer/East
Player 2/South
Player 3/West
Player 4/North
Flower 1
1 Pha'n
0
0
0
Flower 2
0
1 Pha'n
0
0
Flower 3
0
0
1 Pha'n
0
Flower 4
0
0
0
1 Pha'n
Emperor
Always 3
Pha'ns
Circle/Dot
Joker
Bamboo Joker
1 Pha'n
3 Pha'ns before
game starts, 2
during the game
Always 2 Pha'n
3 Pha'ns before
game starts, 2
during the game
1 Pha'n
3 Pha'ns before
game starts, 2
during the game
1 Pha'n
1 Pha'n
1 Pha'n
Always 2 Pha'n
1 Pha'n
1 Pha'n
1 Pha'n
Always 2
3 Pha'ns before
game starts, 2
during the game
3 Pha'ns before
game starts, 2
during the game
Always 3
Pha'ns
Always 2
Pha'ns
Always 2
Pha'ns
1 Pha'n
Always 2 Pha'ns
1 Pha'n
Always 2
Pha'ns
1 Pha'n
Always 2 Pha'ns
1 Pha'n
Wan/Character 1 Pha'n
Joker
All Mighty
3 Pha'ns before
Joker (Hap)
game starts, 2
during the
game
Big Flower
Always 2
Pha'ns
Wind Joker
1 Pha'n
Dragon Joker
©2003 Tom Sloper
1 Pha'n
Page 8
Vietnamese Mah-Jongg Rules
Emperor &
All Mighty of
same kind
(Round, or
Diamond, or
Frame)
Emperor &
All Mighty of
mixed kind.
Ex: Round &
Diamond,
Frame &
Diamond, or
Round &
Frame)
12 Pha'ns or 2
Mu?ns before
the game
starts. During
the game,
individual
value is used.
9 Pha'ns or 1
Mu?n and 3
Pha'ns before
the game
starts. During
the game,
individual
value is used.
12 Pha'ns or 2
Mu?ns before
the game starts.
During the
game,
individual value
is used.
9 Pha'ns or 1
Mu?n and 3
Pha'ns before
the game starts.
During the
game,
individual value
is used.
12 Pha'ns or 2
Mu?ns before
the game starts.
During the
game, individual
value is used.
9 Pha'ns or 1
Mu?n and 3
Pha'ns before the
game starts.
During the
game, individual
value is used.
12 Pha'ns or 2
Mu?ns before
the game starts.
During the
game,
individual value
is used.
9 Pha'ns or 1
Mu?n and 3
Pha'ns before
the game starts.
During the
game,
individual value
is used.
Special Rules for the No-Flowers-No-Leaves hand (NFNL)
This entire section was written by my Vietnamese-American friend.
A winning hand is a NFNL worth 3 Mu?n. It is called NFNL when it does not contain
any winds or dragons, does not contain any jokers inside the hand or outside the hand
(put down for points), and does not have any flowers.
If the initial hand has flowers, then flowers must be put down for replacement tiles, the
hand is not a NFNL hand.
There are 3 scenarios with the initial hand that does not have flowers.
Scenario 1: The hand also has no jokers - S1
Scenario 2: The hand has some jokers - S2
Scenario 3: The hand later get drawn more flowers and jokers – S3
When the game begins and is going, the hand might get drawn flowers. In order to form
a NFNL hand, player can discard flowers. The drawn flower must not be put inside the
hand; it must immediately be present to other players that the tile is in fact a flower, AND
the player must make the decision whether he would take a replacement or discard it.
For S1, if the player has luckily discarded 3 flowers and no one wins, he must also get rid
off any winds or dragons, provided he is also lucky having drawn none jokers. Once he
discards the last wind or dragon, he is then waiting, ready to go out if the next player
discards a tile that is not a wind or a dragon. The waiting NFNL hand can only go out if
one of the other three players throws a dot tile, or a bamboo tile, or a wan tile. If the
other three players throw winds and dragons, the player of the NFNL hand is his turn to
©2003 Tom Sloper
Page 9
Vietnamese Mah-Jongg Rules
draw a tile. If this tile is a dot tile, or a bamboo tile, or a wan tile, he goes out his hand
regardless of what combination he’s got, worth 1 Mu?n double, and every other player
will pay him 1 Mu?n double (MD). Otherwise, whoever throws a non-wind, non-dragon
tile, will pay a 1 Mu?n double (MD); others pay a 1 Mu?n single (MS). Please see the
provided chart. Of course, if the tile he drew is a wind or a dragon, he cannot go out
because his hand again contains a “leaf” tile. Or, the drawn tile can be a joker. The
player must again make the decision, “To Discard or Not To Discard.” It is risky to
throw out a flower or a joker as the game prolongs. He might end up paying for everyone
if some one is waiting and will claim that discarded flower. If he lost by discarding a
flower or a joker, he would pay 1 MD and 2 MSs plus any extra Pha'n the winner’s hand
might have.
For S2, if the player throws any 3 jokers of the “Blue Group,” Emperor- All Mighty-Dot
Joker-Bam Joker-Wan Joker, he can go out immediately regardless what he might have in
his hand; for example, his hand might still contain wind or dragon tiles, or even jokers. It
is OK as long as no one claims the discarded joker, and he wins from each player 1 Mu?n
double (MD), a total of 3 MDs. There is a case that the player is so assured that he has
discarded up to 5 jokers of the “Blue Group” and no one claims the fifth joker, he would
win 2 MDs from each player, a total of 6 MDs. However if he lost, he pays only 1 MD
and 2 MSs to the winner, so it worth the risk. So it is much riskier to throw out any joker
after the 3rd one while you have the opportunity to go out the hand and win 1 MD + 2
MSs, or by self picking win 3 MDs. He cannot go out his hand immediately if 1 or 2 of
his discarded jokers is a Big Flower, or a Wind Joker, or a Dragon Joker. He must wait
just like in S1 situation.
For S3, the player can discard a mixture of flowers and jokers. For example up to 3 tiles
consists of 2 flowers and 1 joker, or 1 flower and 2 jokers. The player’s hand must be
free of ‘leaf’ tiles and must wait to go out like in S1 situation.
What if he discards a total of 5 flowers and jokers? He would win 2 MDs from the
player who throws a non- leaf tile, and 2 MSs each from the other two players, provided
his hand contains no ‘leaf’ tiles. Or, by self-pick he wins 3 x 2 MDs.
What if he discards a total of 6 flowers and jokers? He can immediately goes out his
hand even if he still has some ‘leaf’ tiles and wins 2 MDs from each player.
Of course if the initial hand has no flowers and no jokers and remains no flowers no
jokers (the hand owner might have only discarded only 1 or 2 flowers and jokers, not
enough for automatic win) and eventually wins, the hand is a true NFNL hand. NFNL
hand is worth 3MDs + 3 MSs + 3 MSs, 3 MDs for the discard. For self-pick, the hand
worth 3 x 3 MDs.
©2003 Tom Sloper
Page 10
Vietnamese Mah-Jongg Rules
Special situations for NFNL hand:
- All Pongs: 4 Mu?n
- Concealed, sequence, waiting for just 1 card: be it the center card or the ‘eye’
card: 4 Mu?ns
- One Suit: 5 Mu?ns
- One Suit, all Pongs: 6 Mu?ns
- Concealed, all Pongs: 6 Mu?ns
- Concealed, all Pongs, one Suit: 8 Mu?ns
A discarded flower or the Big Flower is considered as an Emperor, which can team with
Dots, Bams, Wans, Winds and Dragons. A discarded joker like the All Mighty Joker can
only team with Dots, Bams or Wans. A discarded Dot Joker can only team with Dots.
Likewise, Bam Joker – Bams only; Wan Joker – Wans only; Wind Joker – Winds only;
Dragon Joker - Dragons only.
While it is more dangerous to discard a flower because any waiting hand can win by that
flower; however, that discarded flower cannot be ponged or chowed. On the contrary, a
discarded joker can be ponged or chowed, but a hand waiting for Dots cannot claim the
discarded Bam Joker, or Wan Joker, or Wind Joker, or Dragon Joker. Similarly a hand
waiting for Winds cannot claim the discarded All Mighty, or Dot Joker, or Bam Joker, or
Wan Joker, or Dragon Joker. So on.
Discarding Flowers and Jokers immediately creates a tense situation that the other players
have to reorganize their strategy in order not to be terminated by the discarding player,
paying big to him. At any time the discarding player might stop doing so for he feels his
chance is small. But who knows if a hand without downed flowers, it is still possible a
true NFNL hand from the view of other players; they simply do not know even the
appearing NFNL hand might contain a joker!
©2003 Tom Sloper
Page 11
Vietnamese Mah-Jongg Rules
SCORING CHART
Mu?n
0
0
0
0
0
0
6 Pha'n = 1 Mu?n
1
1
1
1
1
12 Pha'n = 2 Mu?n
2
2
2
2
2
18 Pha'n = 3 Mu?n
3
3
3
3
3
24 Pha'n = 4 Mu?n
Pha'n
0
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
Discarder Pays
ST
DT
DT
DT
DT
DT
MD
MD + 1EP
MD + 2EP
MD + 3EP
MD + 4EP
MD + 5EP
2MD
2MD + 1EP
2MD + 2EP
2MD + 3EP
2MD + 4EP
2MD + 5EP
3MD
3MD + 1EP
3MD + 2EP
3MD + 3EP
3MD + 4EP
3MD + 5EP
4MD
Others Pay
ST
ST
ST
ST
ST
ST
MS
MS + 1EP
MS + 2EP
MS + 3EP
MS + 4EP
MS + 5EP
2MS
2MS + 1EP
2MS + 2EP
2MS + 3EP
2MS + 4EP
2MS + 5EP
3MS
3MS + 1EP
3MS + 2EP
3MS + 3EP
3MS + 4EP
3MS + 5EP
4MS
Mu?n $
0
0
0
0
0
0
Pha'n $
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.8
1.6
3.2
KEY
T = Mu?n $ + Pha'n $
S = Single
D = Double
MS = Mu?n Single, MS=10.4
MD = Mu?n Double,MS=16.8
EP = Extra Pha'n = 0.6
(Please don't ask me to explain the scoring chart. I don't understand it myself! This chart
was written by my Vietnamese friend.)
©2003 Tom Sloper
Page 12