How to Score in Riichi Mahjong: The 80/20 Method
In short. Riichi scoring runs on two numbers, han and fu, but you only need the common case: five han reaches mangan, where the score flattens and fu stops mattering. Learn the 30-fu column cold — 1,000, 2,000, 3,900, 7,700 and 8,000 for a non-dealer ron. Riichi, tanyao and pinfu together is the classic 3 han, 30 fu hand worth 3,900 points. Use an app for casual games and calculate by hand at club tables.
If you've been playing Mahjong Soul for a while and decided to pick up a physical set, you already know the tiles. You know what tenpai feels like. You've called riichi more times than you can count. But the moment someone asks you to manually score a hand at the table, your brain might go completely blank.
You're not alone. Scoring is the single biggest barrier between digital players and IRL play. The good news: you don't need to master the entire scoring system to play correctly at 90% of tables. You just need the 20% that covers 80% of hands.
Why Riichi Scoring Feels Complicated (And Why It Doesn't Have To)
The r/Mahjong community has a pretty honest consensus on this: everyone hates fu. It's complicated, the edge cases multiply fast, and in many casual games the fu values "frequently don't matter" because players just round up or use apps. The full scoring system involves two variables - han and fu - that combine on an exponential table, with dealer/non-dealer splits and multiple payment scenarios.
That sounds like a lot. And it is, if you try to learn all of it at once. So don't. Focus on the common case first, and let the edge cases come to you naturally over time.
The Two Things That Determine Your Score: Han and Fu
What Is Han?
Han (飜) is the main scoring unit in riichi mahjong. Every winning hand must have at least one yaku (valid hand pattern), and each yaku is worth a certain number of han. Calling riichi itself is worth 1 han. Tanyao (all simples) is 1 han. Pinfu is 1 han. Stack two or three yaku together, and your han count climbs.
Once you hit 5 han, you reach mangan - a flat score that caps the exponential formula. This is a critical threshold because it makes scoring simple: at mangan and above, every player at the table knows exactly what changes hands without doing any math. The thresholds above mangan are:
- Mangan: 5 han (or 4 han 40+ fu / 3 han 70+ fu)
- Haneman: 6-7 han
- Baiman: 8-10 han
- Sanbaiman: 11-12 han
- Yakuman: 13+ han (or a special hand pattern)
The takeaway: if you have 5+ han, stop counting fu. You're at mangan or above and the math is flat.
What Is Fu?
Fu (符) is a secondary scoring unit that reflects how your hand is constructed - specifically the complexity of your melds and your wait pattern. Every complete hand starts with a base of 20 fu, and then additional fu are added based on:
- Your pair (0 fu for most, 2 fu for a yakuhai pair - dragons, your seat wind, or the round wind)
- Your melds (open vs. closed, sequence vs. triplet vs. quad, terminal/honor vs. simples)
- Your wait type (penchan and kanchan add 2 fu, tanki adds 2 fu, shanpon and ryanmen add 0 fu)
- Winning by tsumo adds 2 fu (closed hand only)
The total is then rounded up to the nearest 10. A typical closed hand that wins by ron often lands at exactly 30 or 40 fu. That's why the Japanese pro community has a practical shortcut: just learn 30 fu inside out. It covers more hands than any other single fu value.
The 80/20 Scoring Table (The Only Chart You Need as a Beginner)
The following table covers 30 fu - the single most common fu value in standard play. Keep a photo of this on your phone when you play IRL. Scores are shown as points paid (non-dealer tsumo splits as ko/oya).
| Han | Non-Dealer Ron | Non-Dealer Tsumo | Dealer Ron | Dealer Tsumo (each) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 han | 1,000 | 300 / 500 | 1,500 | 500 |
| 2 han | 2,000 | 500 / 1,000 | 2,900 | 1,000 |
| 3 han | 3,900 | 1,000 / 2,000 | 5,800 | 2,000 |
| 4 han | 7,700 | 2,000 / 3,900 | 11,600 | 3,900 |
| 5 han (Mangan) | 8,000 | 2,000 / 4,000 | 12,000 | 4,000 |
The sequence to burn into your memory: 1,000 → 2,000 → 3,900 → 7,700 → 8,000. That's 1 han through mangan for a non-dealer ron at 30 fu. If you know those five numbers and the flat mangan payouts, you can play at most casual tables without embarrassing yourself.
For the full official scoring reference, Riichi Wiki has comprehensive tables for every fu/han combination, including dealer/non-dealer and ron/tsumo splits.
How to Count Fu Step by Step
Here's a practical process for counting fu at the table, step by step:
- Start at 30 fu. All closed ron hands begin at 30 fu (20 base + 10 for closed ron). Open hands and tsumo wins start at 20 fu.
- Add fu for your pair. Yakuhai pair (dragons, seat wind, round wind): +2 fu. Any other pair - a non-yakuhai honor, a terminal, or a simple: +0 fu. A pair that is both the round wind and your seat wind scores +4 fu in some rulesets.
- Add fu for each meld. Closed triplet of simples: +4 fu. Open triplet of simples: +2 fu. Closed triplet of terminals/honors: +8 fu. Open triplet of terminals/honors: +4 fu. Sequences always add 0 fu. Quads (kantsu) are worth even more and are rare.
- Add fu for your wait. Kanchan (middle wait): +2 fu. Penchan (edge wait): +2 fu. Tanki (single tile pair wait): +2 fu. Ryanmen (two-sided wait) and shanpon (dual pair wait): +0 fu.
- Add tsumo fu. If you won by self-draw on a closed hand: +2 fu.
- Round up to the nearest 10.
Most beginner hands - a closed tanyao hand winning by ron - will land at exactly 30 fu (20 base + 10 closed ron, all sequences, no honor pair, ryanmen wait). Riichi + tanyao + pinfu is the quintessential beginner hand and scores cleanly.
Common Scoring Scenarios You'll Actually See at the Table
Scenario 1: You win with riichi + tanyao + pinfu by ron. That's 3 han, 30 fu → 3,900 points from the discarder (non-dealer). Clean and common.
Scenario 2: Riichi + tsumo + tanyao + pinfu. Pinfu tsumo is actually a special case - it scores at 20 fu, not 30 fu. Non-dealer tsumo pinfu at 4 han = 1,300/2,600.
Scenario 3: You have a closed hand with a triplet of 9-man (terminals). You add 8 fu for the closed terminal triplet. You started at 30, your wait is ryanmen (+0), your pair is simples (+0). Total: 38, rounds to 40 fu. Now you need the 40 fu column, not 30.
Scenario 4: You hit mangan - 5 han by riichi + tsumo + tanyao + iipeiko + pinfu. At mangan, fu stops mattering. On a self-draw, you collect 2,000 from each non-dealer and 4,000 from the dealer (8,000 total); if you are the dealer, you collect 4,000 from every player.
When to Use a Scoring App vs. Memorizing the Table
For casual home games and beginner sessions: use an app, no shame. Mahjong Calc Trainer is widely used in the English-speaking community and lets you input your hand and get the score instantly. It also has a training mode so you can quiz yourself between games - genuinely one of the fastest ways to internalize scoring.
For club play or tournament settings: you're generally expected to calculate manually, or at least verify before calling out the score. The goal is to get fast enough at 30 and 40 fu that you don't need to check every time.
The practical middle ground: memorize the 30 fu column cold. Use an app for anything that comes out to 40 fu or higher until you see those hands often enough that the numbers stick.
See also the Wikipedia article on Japanese mahjong for a solid overview of the scoring system's structure if you want the theory before drilling the numbers.
Next Step: Learn the Yaku That Score the Most Points
Once scoring clicks, the next unlock is understanding which yaku combinations actually move the needle. Riichi + tsumo + tanyao is your bread-and-butter 3-han hand. Adding ippatsu or menzen tsumo to a riichi hand is often free value. Honitsu and chinitsu are the big-point yaku that can carry you from 2 han to mangan in one hand.
Check out our yaku memorization guide to learn which yaku to prioritize, and our push/fold strategy guide to understand when a hand is worth chasing.
The scoring system is deep, but the 80/20 principle holds: 30 fu, the 1/2/3.9/8k chain, and flat mangan payouts will get you through the vast majority of hands you'll ever see at a physical table.
Keep reading: Reading discards in riichi · American vs. Chinese mahjong
