Tournament regulations include the National MahJongg League (NMJL) guidelines as published in MahJongg Made Easy (2024) plus the following:

Scoring:

The points for a winning hand will be value of the hand on the NMJL card plus these applicable bonuses:

+ 10 points to the hand value when a player picks their winning tile

+ 20 points to the hand value when a player wins a hand with no jokers (excluding Singles and Pairs lines)

+ 10 points in the event of a wall game. Players who declared MahJongg in error or had a hand declared dead will receive no points for that game.

- 0 - points in the event a game is not completed in the allotted time

Penalties:

- 0 - points to a player with a hand declared dead

- 0 - points to a player with MahJongg in error

- 0 - points to a player who throws in their hand after a MahJongg in error. If all but one player throws in their hand, the player with their hand intact receives (+10) points

- 10 points to a player who peaks at a blind pass

- 15 points to a player who misnames a discard resulting in MahJongg. The winner gets the value of the hand they were attempting to play (any other bonuses and penalties apply)

- 20 points to a player who discards the winning tile to a hand with exposures

- 25 points to a player who discards the winning tile to a hand with 3 or more exposures

Dead Hand Declaration:

In the situations below, the erring players stops playing and receives - 0 - points (unless otherwise noted)

  • Picking ahead

  • Picking out of turn

  • Picking from the wrong wall

  • Picking from a wrongly pushed out wall

  • Picking from the wrong end of the wall

  • Having too few or too many tiles on your rack

  • Having an invalid exposure

  • Having a hand that’s impossible to complete

  • Exchanging a joker before picking your tile

  • Discarding before picking your tile

  • Declaring another players hand dead erroneously (call tournament director over to verify)

  • Placing a called (claimed) tile in the sloped part of the rack

  • Knocking tiles over and the tiles cannot be put back in their rightful spots, the game stops.****

MahJongg in Error:

  • If the three other players expose their hands all get - 0 - points

  • If two players do not expose their hands, the game continues with two remaining players

  • If one player does not expose their hand, the player receives (+10) while the other three players receive (- 0 -)

  • If a player calls MahJongg in error and none or one exposure is is placed on the rack, you can retract your MahJongg declaration and continue to play as usual. (What happens to the exposure****)

Calling a Discard:

Calling a discarded tile must be verbalized. If a discard is taken without it being announced, the called tile must be returned to the table and is no longer available to the caller.  If a discard is called and touched, it must be taken.  The called tile must be placed on the flat part of the rack. If the tile is placed on the sloped part of the rack, the hand will be declared dead.

If two people call the same tile for exposure or for MahJongg, the tile goes to the next player in rotation. If one player called a tile for exposure and one for MahJongg, MahJongg always takes precedence.

Making a Joker Exchange:

When doing a joker exchange you must first verbalize it, and then it is recommended that you do a hand-to-hand exchange. If the exchange was not verbalized and you place the tile on the table, it will be considered a discard and no joker exchange will be permitted (no penalty applies)

Scorecard Verification:

Once scorecards are turned in they cannot be altered. Scoring will be calculated by East and the appropriate score filled in on the scorecard. The card will then be handed to each player to verify and initial.  At the end of the round, East will initial at the top of the cards and give them to West who will deliver them to the tournament director.

If no score has been recorded for a game on the scorecard, the players score will be - 0 - whether or not the card was initialed.