Proto-mahjong › Chinese classical › Shanghai / Hong Kong new style › Hong Kong old style › Modern HKOS
Modern HKOS
3-faan minimum, 1970s
Sources
The documents this entry rests on, as published. Each can be opened and checked; nothing in this part is anybody’s reading of them.
Mahjong Wiki. "Hong Kong Old Style Overview." supporting checked 2026-09-18
http://mahjong.wikidot.com/rules:hong-kong-old-style-overview
chart’s note The 1950s simplification, removal of fu, the 1970s 3-3 system, and the late-1980s split into Taiwanese and Guangdong styles.
Also cited on: Hong Kong old style, Guangdong style, Guangdong MCR / GMCR, Taiwanese style · bibliography #8
Wikipedia. "Hong Kong Mahjong Scoring Rules." canonical checked 2026-09-18
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_mahjong_scoring_rules
chart’s note Faan scoring, the common 3-faan minimum and the 13-faan ceiling.
Also cited on: Shanghai / Hong Kong new style, Hong Kong old style · bibliography #18
Wikipedia. "Scoring in Mahjong." cross-check checked 2026-09-18
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoring_in_Mahjong
AI summary Comparative scoring across Hong Kong, Chinese Classical and Taiwanese systems, including the range of minimum-point conventions and the Mandarin and Cantonese terms for a scoreless hand.
Also cited on: Chinese classical, Taiwanese style, Zung Jung, Tui Dao Hu · bibliography #55
Hong Kong Mahjong Association (香港麻雀協會). "Hong Kong Mahjong (Classical Mahjong)" rulebook, latest version 17 May 2023; Chinese edition 《香港麻雀總例》 / GGHK 《十三張清張麻雀規則》. cross-check checked 2026-09-25
https://www.hkmahjong.org/rules?lang=en
AI summary The Association's competition rules for 香港麻雀, 'also called 清章麻雀, 廣東牌 (local name only), Classical Mahjong': 144 or 136 tiles, a 3-faan threshold, faan capped at 10, the discarder paying the whole hand, pao on a fourth meld and on the third dragon set, semi-flush and all triplets 3 faan, flush 7, and a faan-to-score table from 3 faan (32 on a discard, 16 from each on a self-draw) to 10 faan (512).
Only cited here · bibliography #133
Kwan, Alan Shiu Ho (關兆豪). 《中庸麻雀史觀》 (Zung Jung: a Perspective of Mahjong History). Online book, 2009, zj-mahjong.info. cross-check checked 2026-09-25
http://www.zj-mahjong.info/book_hk/Table%20of%20Contents.html
AI summary A history of scoring by the author of Zung Jung. Early classical rules after Hatsuhara Shigeki's 1952 reconstruction; the late classical 'inflation' of hands and base score; Hong Kong Old Style (舊章) derived directly from the late classical game by abolishing fu and adopting discarder-pays-double (出銃么二制); the 二二制 and 三三制, the 勒 multiple-limit system and the rising minimum; and New Chapter (新章) as a later re-addition of hands. Gives no dates for the Hong Kong stages.
Also cited on: Chinese classical, Shanghai / Hong Kong new style, Hong Kong old style · bibliography #132
Chinese Wikipedia: 香港麻將 (Hong Kong mahjong), traditional-script edition. cross-check checked 2026-09-25
https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E9%BA%BB%E9%9B%80
AI summary Traces modern Hong Kong and Guangdong mahjong to the 清章 (Clear Chapter) way of play evolved out of 老章 (Old Chapter), with 新章 (New Chapter) formed by adding hands such as 六獨, 十八台 and 無奇不有; and the older Hong Kong practice of 雞四 (no minimum, four-tai limit), no flowers and the 二二制 before today's 三三制 and three-tai minimum.
Also cited on: Shanghai / Hong Kong new style, Hong Kong old style · bibliography #131
Sloper, Tom. "FAQ 17: Hong Kong Mah-Jongg." Sloperama. cross-check checked 2026-09-25
https://sloperama.com/mjfaq/mjfaq17.html
AI summary Beginner's guide to the 3-fan Hong Kong game ('no chicken hands allowed'), with reader letters: the 3-fan minimum was the norm of the Yahoo! online room, while in-person tables often play a 1-fan minimum; Sloper's view that the 3-fan minimum reduces the fun and increases draws.
Only cited here · bibliography #134
Cantonese Wikipedia: 香港麻雀. cross-check checked 2026-09-25
https://zh-yue.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E9%BA%BB%E9%9B%80
chart’s note Cantonese-language treatment of the Hong Kong game, in the register the wiki appears to draw from.
Only cited here · bibliography #37
Sloper, Tom. "FAQ 2b: Identifying a Mah-Jongg Variant." Sloperama. supporting
https://www.sloperama.com/mjfaq/mjfaq02b.html
chart’s note Tile counts, hand sizes, flower handling and scoring for roughly 50 named variants. Primary source for most leaf nodes in this chart.
Also cited on: Chinese archaic, Late Qing style, Chinese pre-classical, Chinese classical, Shanghai / Hong Kong new style, Hong Kong old style and 44 more · bibliography #1
Analysis
Written by an AI model from the sources above. It is a reading of them, not a source in its own right: every figure in it points back to a numbered source, and where the two disagree, the source is right.
Assessment
- Confidence
- documented a published ruleset or rule description exists and is cited
- Evidence
- partial sources agree on some points but disagree or say nothing on others
Cross-comparison
What each source was read to say, set side by side. The numbers are the sources above.
| Source | Tiles | Hand | Flowers | Scoring | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [1] | — | — | — | no standardised rubric; a popular variation is a minimum of three fan before winning | — |
| [2] | — | — | — | common 3-faan minimum and 13-faan ceiling | — |
| [3] | — | — | — | a winning hand must often reach some point value, anywhere between one and five points, with three being the most common | — |
| [4] | 144 with flowers, or 136 | 4 melds and a pair; thirteen orphans the only special shape | optional; no flower faan in the faan list | 3-faan threshold; faan capped at 10; 1 faan: all sequences, closed hand, self-draw, dragon or seat/round wind triplet, all terminals and honours, robbing a kan, after kan, last tile; 3: semi-flush, all triplets, small dragons (5 with the dragon sets); big dragons 8; flush 7; 10 (limit): all honours, small and big winds, four concealed triplets, four quads, all terminals, heaven, earth, thirteen orphans, double kan, nine gates | discarder pays the whole hand; self-draw half from each (3 faan: 32 on a discard, 16 x 3 self-drawn); pao on a fourth meld and on the third dragon set |
- [1] wiki states the 3-fan minimum as a common variation, not a dated reform
- [3] presents the minimum as a player convention with a range, not as a dated reform
- [4] The Hong Kong Mahjong Association's competition rulebook (17 May 2023), which names the game 香港麻雀, 'also called 清章麻雀, 廣東牌 (local name only), Classical Mahjong'. The same ruleset appears in Chinese as the GGHK tournament's 十三張清張麻雀規則.
- [1] Re-read: the page now dates the 3-3 system to the 1970s: 'Hands must be 3 Fan to go out and the value of All Pungs and Half Flush are increased to 3 Fan'. Minimum '0-2, 3 with Flowers'.
- [5] The minimum arose to make big hands winnable once HKOS had few scoring hands: 'at first chicken hands were not allowed, then it gradually rose higher, until in recent years (近年) three fan has become the mainstream'. Like 'discarder pays all', he counts the 3-fan minimum among the recent changes many players now wrongly take to be the original rules.
- [6] Gives the mechanism, undated. Older play was 雞四 (chicken hand allowed, a four-tai limit, no flowers, 二二制). Flowers and the 三三制 made one tai nearly automatic and unbalanced the four-tai cap. Pure one suit then became 'double limit', the cap rose to six or eight, and a minimum was added: first one tai, then 'gradually' two and three. Today usually three to win, eight or ten maximum (thirteen online).
- [7] Teaches the 3-fan game ('no chicken hands allowed'). A reader's letter says the 3-fan minimum was the norm of the Yahoo! online room, 'for very seasoned players', while in-person tables often play from 1 fan. Sloper thinks the 3-fan minimum 'reduces the fun of the game, and increases the number of draw games'.
- [8] Same account in Cantonese, with headed sections for the 「二二制」年代 and 「三三制」年代: 雞四 and no flowers under the 二二制, then flowers and the 三三制, then minimums of one fan rising 'gradually' to two and three. Calls today's game 'new-school Clear Chapter' (新派清章) because it added the 3-fan minimum, drawing to the end of the wall, and some New Chapter hands such as 十八羅漢. No dates.
Reading it
The ruleset itself is now well documented. The Hong Kong Mahjong Association's 2023 rulebook fixes it: a 3-faan threshold, a 10-faan cap, 3 faan for semi-flush and all triplets and 7 for a flush (the 三三制), and the discarder paying the whole hand. Wikipedia, the Mahjong Wiki, Chinese Wikipedia and Sloper all describe the same game, with the minimum still a table convention: Sloper's correspondents play from 1 fan in person. The date is the weak point. Only the Mahjong Wiki dates the change, now putting the 3-3 system, with its 3-fan minimum, in the 1970s. Chinese Wikipedia gives the mechanism (flowers and the 三三制 overwhelming the old four-tai cap, then minimums of one, two and three tai) without dates. Kwan, writing in 2009, calls the 3-fan minimum mainstream only 'in recent years'. The chart's '1970s' therefore rests on one source, and a later date is possible for the minimum becoming the norm rather than an option.
In the tree
Descends from Hong Kong old style, as the source chart draws it.
Caveat from the source chart
The 1970s 3-3 system is asserted by the Mahjong Wiki timeline and carries no citation there.