The basic game
Hong Kong mahjong follows the classic pattern: thirteen tiles in hand, draw and discard, and win with four sets and a pair. Players may call chow from the player on their left, and pung or kong from anyone. Flowers and seasons are set aside and replaced when drawn.
The game is quick to learn, which is one reason it spread so widely through Cantonese communities around the world.
Faan: the value of a hand
Hands are valued in faan (番). Each scoring element — such as self-drawing the winning tile, a pung of dragons or a hand all in one suit — adds faan. Payments grow rapidly with faan, typically doubling with each step, up to a limit.
Most tables set a minimum: a hand must have at least a certain number of faan (commonly three in parlours, sometimes one or zero at home) to be allowed to win.
Payments
When a player wins on a discard, house rules decide whether the discarder pays everything or whether all players pay with the discarder paying more. Self-drawn wins are paid by all three opponents. Groups agree a base value and the faan-to-payment table before play.
Variants within the style
Hong Kong rules vary from table to table: "old style" and "new style" scoring, different limits, and different bonuses for flowers. Before playing with a new group, ask about the minimum faan, the limit, how flowers score and how payments work.
