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MAHJ — Lesson 14

Scoring & Payouts

Who pays whom and how much — made simple

Goal: Know exactly who pays whom after every hand — once you see the pattern, it's easy

Estimated time: 10–13 minutesNeedsLesson 13UnlocksLesson 15

Why it matters: Knowing who pays what turns a win into real numbers — and tells you which hands are actually worth chasing.

Step 1 of 14

How Scoring Works

Every hand on the card has a value printed next to it — something like 25¢ or 30¢. When you win, you read that value off your card line and say it out loud, so the table knows what to pay — then the other three players pay you based on it.

There are only 3 things that change what you pay:

  1. Who threw the winning tile? (the discarder pays more)
  2. Did the winner draw it themselves? (everyone pays more)
  3. Did the winner use any jokers? (no jokers = everyone pays more)

That's it. Let's look at each one.