Beginner's Guide to Southern Vietnamese Mahjong

South Vietnamese mahjong (Mạt chược) is played much like most versions of mahjong. The main differences between the Vietnamese and other types of mahjong are the special joker tiles, extra flowers, and the scoring.

Tiles to Play Southern Vietnamese Mahjong With

To play South Vietnamese Mahjong you will need a mahjong set with several extra tiles. The South Vietnamese mahjong set will have the standard 144 tiles, 8 special flowers (in additional to your 8 regular flowers that come with the 144 tile set), and 8 special jokers for a total of 160 tiles.

Additional Tiles in South Vietnamese Mahjong

Green Joker Set (4 Tiles Total)

• Coins (Thùng) - 筒 - Can replace any tile in the Dots suit
• Stick (Soọc) - 索 - Can replace any tile in the Bamboo suit
• Myriad (Thay) - 萬 - Can replace any tile in the Craks suit
• General (Tổng) -  縂 or 皇 - Can replace any tile, including Flower tiles.

Red Joker Set (4 Tiles Total)

• Flower (Hoa) - 花- Can replace any Flower tiles.
• Happiness (Hỷ) - 喜 - Can replace any of the Wind tiles.
• Origin (Nguyên) -  元 - Can replace any of the Dragon tiles
• Unity (Hợp) - 合 - Can replace any Dots, Bamboo, or Craks suit tiles

Royalty Set (8 Tiles Total)

• Emperors (Vương) - 皇 - Numbered 1 through 4 and functions as a Flower
• Empresses (Hoàng) - 后 - Numbered 1 through 4 and functions as a Flower

Note on Number on the Tiles

The numbers on the tiles correspond to players' seat positions around the table.  

Number	Corresponding Seat	Season
1	East	Spring
2	South	Summer
3	West	Autumn
4	North	Winter

Bonus points are scored when a player has exposed his own flower, as is done in HKOS (Hong Kong Old Style mahjong).

Basic Rules of Vietnamese Mahjong

Every turn goes the same way:

1. Draw a tile from the wall or by take the tile that somebody just discarded
2. Try to make a winning hand! The goal is to arrange your tiles into four sets of three (meld) and one pair. If you can't, go to step 3.
3. Discard a tile in the center of the table, officially ending your turn.
4. Immediately after a tile is discarded, someone else can take it to form a meld or to complete their winning hand. If nobody takes the discarded tile, that tile is out of play for the rest of the game and the next player draws from the wall.

By default, the next player is the player to the right (counterclockwise). Even if it is not your turn yet, this is not a time to sit idle. Although the next person is the player to the right by default, there are certain circumstances that allow somebody to jump ahead to call a discarded tile. Also, even if you are unable to call the tile, it is important for you to know what is thrown and what is out of play, so that you are not waiting for it in vain later on.

How to Setup Vietnamese Mahjong

Like most variants of mahjong, Vietnamese mahjong is intended for four players. Rules and customs for dealing the tiles out vary from version to version and table to table.

Determining The Dealer

The first step is to determine the dealer. At the start of the first game, shuffle one each of the wind tiles face-down, then have each player turn one up and take the respective seat. After each game, the next person to the right (counterclockwise) becomes the dealer. The round wind always starts at East. After each hand, the dealer changes. After 4 hands, one complete rotation of dealers, the round wind changes in order of East, South, West, and North. 

Setting up the Wall

The next step is shuffling the tiles and building the wall. Turn the tiles face side down and give them a good shuffle or “wash”. 

Then, each player should build their segment of the wall, which should be 20 tiles long and 2 tiles high (40 tiles total). Maneuver the wall segments to form a closed square.

Breaking the Wall

Once the dealer has been selected, the dealer rolls the dice to determine the starting wall. Let’s say you are the dealer and you roll a seven. 

Starting with your own wall, count the walls in front of each player, moving counterclockwise around the table: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. You should now be pointing at the wall of the player to your left. 

The next step is to determine where to break the wall.

Use the same number from determining the starting wall. Starting on the end of the wall segment closest to you, count out seven tiles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Pick up that seventh tile (since you rolled a seven) because it counts from the indicated player's right to his left (not players but tiles this time) the total sum of the rolls. The tiles immediately after become the draw wall.

The wall is basically like a long deck of cards wrapping around the table in a square. The draw wall is like the top of the deck where the tiles will be dealt from and where the players will draw tiles from during gameplay. The dead wall is like the bottom of the deck, from which players only occasionally draw in order to replace tiles for flowers and four-of-a-kind melds. The wall must be broken in order to separate the ends of the draw wall and the dead wall.

Dealing the Hand

The next step is dealing the tiles. Starting from the draw wall, deal yourself four tiles (2 stacks). Whoever is sitting in front of the draw wall should help out with this. Continuing to the right (counterclockwise), deal each player four tiles in the same manner. Repeat this for one more round until all players have a total of 12 tiles. After grabbing 12 tiles, each player grabs 1 more tile for a total of 13 tiles. As the dealer, you should grab a 14th tile from the draw wall as your first draw, because you will be the first to discard.

Each player in turn order reveals and replaces flowers from the back of the wall. Players may also expose jokers if so desired for additional hand points or use them as jokers. 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.

Royalty Set of Emperors and Empresses are also considered as flowers that have no part in forming a hand. However, they can be used to gain Phán if the flower number (or king/queen number) matches the player’s seat. 

Getting a Tile

The main way to get a tile is to draw it from the draw wall. 

You can also get a tile when somebody discards it if it completes a a valid combination of three or four tiles, also known as a meld, or a winning hand. The called tile must be displayed face up with the completed meld. This open meld cannot be altered for the rest of the game.  The discarded tile must be called immediately or else the tile becomes dead and will remain in the discarded tile area for the rest of the game. 

Calling Tiles

A Phỗng is a three-of-a-kind.

If you need the discarded tile to complete a phỗng, you have to say “phỗng,” grab it, and display the completed phỗng face up next to your flowers. Phỗng are powerful because you can seize it even if it isn’t your turn, and everyone before you will lose their turn.

A Khàn is a four-of-a-kind. 

Khàn is like a special type of phỗng, and can also be grabbed even if it’s not your turn. However, you have to also grab an extra tile from the dead wall. This is necessary for you to have enough tiles to complete a winning hand.

A Phình (three-tile straight/sequence of the same suit) unless it is for a winning hand.

Unlike phỗng and khàn, you can only Ăn (eat) for a phình (sequence) when it’s your turn and you call Ăn (eat). This makes phình harder to get since you can only get it from the person right before you. The only exception to this is if the phình would result in you winning.

Generally you cannot claim a discarded tile to form a pair. The only exception is if you are waiting for one more tile to win. You might be waiting to complete a phỗng, a phình, or an eye in order to win. No matter what you’re waiting for, you can seize it if somebody discards it, anytime. Winning using a discarded tile is called mahjong or Ù.

FAQ: What Happens If Two People Want to Call a Discarded Tile?

In general, priority is given based on what the tile is being called for: winning takes precedence over phỗng/khàn. Then phỗng/khàn takes precedence over phình. If more than one player needs the discarded tile for mahjong, it goes to whoever is closer in turn after the person who discarded the tile.

Arranging Your Tiles

Remember, the goal of mahjong is to have all of your tiles arranged into four melds and one pair.  After getting a tile, you should arrange your tiles and attempt to incorporate your new tile into your hand.

As discussed above, khàn is a four-of-a-kind, which may be formed from a discarded tile. Related to khàn is a concealed khàn when you have four-of-a-kind that’s hidden in your own hand, which means that you drew it yourself and did not complete it using a discarded tile. In this case, because it’s concealed, the identity of the tile is valuable information and should not be displayed. But because it is a four-tile meld, you must declare it and get a tile from the dead wall. Turn the outside tiles facedown to mark it as a concealed khàn. Just like with open meld, your secret tiles will be out of play the rest of the game with no changes permitted.

Another related concept is open melded khàn. Open melded khàn are generally locked in and cannot be changed. If you created a phỗng from a discarded tile, and later on, somebody throws the fourth matching tile, you will not be able to khàn the discarded tile, because your phỗng was already open. However, there is a special exception: if it’s your turn and the tile that you draw from the wall happens to be the fourth matching tile, then you can add it to your completed phỗng. Declare the open melded khàn and set the matching tile on top of the middle tile of the phỗng. Since this is now a four-tile meld, you must draw a replacement tile from the dead wall.

Discarding a Tile

Generally you want to discard tiles that do not go with any of the other tiles in your hand to help you form appropriate melds. If you can figure out what other players need, you should try to avoid discarding those tiles.  

Arranging Your Discards and Called Tiles

Discards are placed haphazardly in the center of the table.

Tiles claimed are rotated 90 degrees within the set to show which player had discarded it.

Special Discard Rule

Any Flowers discarded will count as a General (Tổng) tile and anyone is waiting can go out for that flower, and the flower thrower will pay for everyone at the Mủn value plus any extra Phán of the winner’s hand might have.

A discarded Joker can be called to complete a sequence or triplet if it matches the suit. 

A discarded Joker will count as a General (Tổng) tile and anyone is waiting can go out for that Joker, and the Joker thrower will pay for everyone at the Mủn value plus any extra Phán of the winner’s hand might have ONLY if the discarded is forming a No Flowers, No Leaves (NFNL) hand. More information below.

Winning in Vietnamese Mahjong

A player can declare mahjong or Ù when they have completed four melds and one pair. Unlike other types of 14 tile mahjong, the seven pairs does not exist. You can still do the 13 Orphans (one of each terminal, dragon, and wind) as an alternative win condition.

Points and Payouts in Vietnamese Mahjong

Initial Points

There are no initial starting points in Vietnamese Mahjong

Vietnamese Mahjong Point System

There are two scoring units in Vietnamese Mahjong: Phán and Mủn

Phán translates to "Points" or "Scoring Units." Phán are used to calculate the value of a winning hand. Each hand configuration has a specific Phán value, and accumulating more Phán increases the hand's overall value and the resulting payout.

Mủn (shorten from Mủn cun or Mãn quan) which can be translated to "Full Hand" or "Complete Hand." It represents a significant milestone in the game, typically achieved when a hand reaches 6 Phán. It marks a highly valuable hand.

After reaching 6 Phán, only increments of Mủn are counted for payout purposes.

Scoring Payout Table 

Points	Payout (Discarder)	Payout (Non-Discarder)
0 Phán	1	1
1 Phán	2	1
2 Phán	4	2
3 Phán	8	4
4 Phán	16	8
5 Phán	32	16
6 Phán / 1 Mủn	64	32
2 Mủn	128	64
3 Mủn	192	96
4 Mủn	256	128
5 Mủn	320	160
6 Mủn	384	192
7 Mủn	448	224
8 Mủn	512	256

 

Use the following table to count Phán and Mủn as necessary. e.g. 2 Mủn + 4 Phán as the discarder would be 128+16 points for a total of 144 points paid out.

Hand Value Table

Hand Description	Description	Points	Payout (Discarder)	Payout (Non-Discarder)
Chicken Hand (Xuông)	Any combination of triplets and sequences	0  Phán	1	1
All Sequences (Phình)	Any hand consisting of all sequences	1  Phán	2	1
All Triplets (Tui Tui)	Any hand consisting of all triplets	3  Phán	8	4
All Sequences with Honors (Lai Hàng)	Any hand consisting of only sequences and honor tiles	3  Phán	8	4
All Triplets with Honors (Tui Tui Lai Hàng)	Any hand consisting of only triplets and honor tiles	6  Phán / 1 Mủn	64	32
All Called Triplets (Tui Tui Toàn Cầu Nhần)	Any hand consisting of only triplets that have been called ( phỗng) from other players	6  Phán / 1 Mủn	64	32
All Called Triplets with Honors (Tui Tui Lai Hàng Toàn Cầu Nhần)	Any hand consisting of only triplets and honor tiles that have been called ( phỗng) from other players	2 Mủn	128	64
All Triplets with 1 & 9 Terminals (Tui Tui Lai Nhất Cửu)	Any hand consisting of only triplets with at least one set containing 1s and one set containing 9s	1 Mủn	64	32
No Flowers or Honors (Không Hoa, Chữ)	A hand containing no flowers or honors within a hand	1 Mủn	64	32
No Flowers, Honors, or Triplets (Không Hoa, Chữ & Tui Tui)	A hand containing fo flowers, honors or triplets	2 Mủn	128	64
Full Flush (Toàn Hàng)	All from one suit	1 Mủn	64	32
Pure Straight (Cửu Tử Liên Hoàn)	Continuous from 1 to 9 in one suit	3 Mủn	192	96
All Honors (Toàn Chữ)	All honors	4 Mủn	256	128
13 Orphans (Xập Xám Díu)	A hand consists of 13 specific tiles, including one of each of the honor tiles (Winds and Dragons) and one of each terminal tile (1s and 9s) from each suit, plus an additional tile that completes a pair with one of these 13 tiles.	2 Mủn	128	64
Small Three Dragons (Tiểu Tam Nguyên)	A hand consisting of 2 triplets of dragon tiles and a pair of dragon tiles.	1 Mủn	64	32
Big Three Dragons (Đại Tam Nguyên)	A hand consisting of 3 triplets of dragon tiles	2 Mủn	128	64
Four Concealed Triplets (Khàn Khàn)	4 hidden sets	3 Mủn*	192	96
Four Quads (Coong Coong)	All Coong sets	4 Mủn*	256	128
Small Four Winds (Tiểu Tứ Hỉ)	3 wind sets	5 Mủn*	320	160
Big Four Winds (Đại Tứ Hỉ)	All four wind sets	8 Mủn*	512-640	256-320
Blessing of Heaven (Thiên Ù)	Dealer wins immediately on first draw	2 Mủn	128	64
Blessing of Earth (Địa Ù)(Win after dealer's discard)	A win immediately after dealer's discard	2 Mủn	128	64
Blessing of Man (Nhân Ù)	A self-draw win immediately within the first discard uninterrupted	2 Mủn	128	64

 *+1 Mủn if no Jokers are used and/or Flowers are used (up to +2 Mủn)

Mủn Payout Chart 

• Only the winner is paid. The winner is paid by all players. East does not pay or collect double.

Scoring for Flowers and Jokers

	Dealer/East	Player 2/South	Player 3/West	Player 4/North
Flower 1	1 Phán	0	0	0
Flower 2	0	1 Phán	0	0
Flower 3	0	0	1 Phán	0
Flower 4	0	0	0	1 Phán
General (Tổng)	Always 3 Phán	3 Phán before game starts, 2 during the game	3 Phán before game starts, 2 during the game	3 Phán before game starts, 2 during the game
Circle/Dot Joker / Coins (Thùng)	1 Phán	Always 2 Phán	1 Phán	1 Phán
Bamboo Joker / Stick (Soọc)	1 Phán	1 Phán	Always 2 Phán	1 Phán
Character Joker / Myriad (Thay)	1 Phán	1 Phán	1 Phán	Always 2
Unity (Hợp)	3 Phán before game starts, 2 during the game	3 Phán before game starts, 2 during the game	3 Phán before game starts, 2 during the game	Always 3 Phán
Flower Joker (Hoa)	Always 2 Phán	Always 2 Phán	Always 2 Phán	Always 2 Phán
Wind Joker / Happiness (Hỷ)	1 Phán	Always 2 Phán	1 Phán	1 Phán
Dragon Joker / Origin (Nguyên)	1 Phán	1  Phán	Always 2 Phán	1 Phán

Special Hands

Special Rules for the No-Flowers-No-Leaves hand (NFNL)

The No-Flowers-No-Leaves (Không Hoa Không Lá) (NFNL) is an irregular winning hand that is worth 3 Mủn. The hand does not have to be valid and must 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.

The initial hand must not have flowers but can contain jokers. If the initial hand has flowers, then flowers must be put down for replacement tiles, the hand is no longer able to form the No-Flowers-No-Leaves (NFNL) hand.

How to Win With A NFNL Hand

If the player has luckily discarded flowers and jokers and no one wins, the player must also get rid of any winds or dragons. Once the player discards the last wind or dragon, the player is ready to go out on the next non-wind, non-dragon, non-flower, non-joker tile.

How to Score A NFNL hand

If the player self-draws, everyone will pay 1  Mủn Doubled (64). If a person discards the winning title, the discarder will pay 1 Mủn Doubled (64) and every other player will pay 1 Mủn Single (32).

If the player also started with no jokers, this is considered a pure NFNL hand. If the player self-draws, everyone will pay 3 Mủn Doubled (192). If a person discards the winning title, the discarder will pay 3 Mủn Doubled (192) and every other player will pay 3 Mủn Single (96).

Dealing In While Pursuing A NFNL Hand

If the NFNL player deals in by discarding a flower or a joker, he would pay 1 Mủn Doubled (64) and 2 Mủn Single (64) plus any extra Mủn and Phán the winner’s hand might have.

Additional Scoring for NFNL hands

In the event that the NFNL is a valid hand on top of being a NFNL hand. Additional scoring can be added.

• All Triplets (Phỗng): +4 Mủn
• Concealed, All Sequences, Waiting for just 1 tile:  be it the middle tile of the sequence or the pair tile: +4 Mủn
• One Suit: +5 Mủn
• One Suit, All Triplets (Phỗng): +6 Mủn
• Concealed, All Triplets (Phỗng): +6 Mủn
• Concealed, All  Triplets (Phỗng), One Suit: +8 Mủn

Automatic Win Conditions for NFNL Hands

Discarding 3 Jokers from the Green Joker Set

If the player discards any 3 jokers of the Green Joker Set, the player can go out immediately regardless of whether the hand contain wind or dragon tiles, or even jokers.

If the player discards any jokers from the Red Joker Set, the "Discard 3 Jokers from the Green Joker Set" is invalid and must wait for  non-wind, non-dragon, non-flower, non-joker tile to win.

Upon discarding the 3rd Green Joker and no claims the discarded Joker, the player can declare a win and will receive  1  Mủn Doubled (64) from each player for a total of 3 Mủn (192).

However the player can choose to continue playing and discarding additional Green Jokers (assuming you are playing with variants that contain more than 4 Green Jokers. Some Vietnamese Mahjong variants and even South Vietnamese Mahjong variants could have up to 12 Green Jokers). After each Joker discard, the NFNL player can choose to declare a win.

Upon discarding the 4th or 5th Green Joker and no claims the discarded Joker, the player can declare a win and still will receive 1 Mủn Doubled (64) from each player for a total of 3 Mủn (192).

Upon discarding the 6th Green joker and no claims the discarded Joker, the player MUST declare a win and will receive 2 Mủn Doubled (128) from each player for a total of 6 Mủn (384).

The benefit of winning a NFNL hands through discarded Green Jokers is being able to win regardless of whether the hand contain wind or dragon tiles, or even jokers.