Taiwanese Mahjong Calculator
Score Taiwanese 16-tile (台麻) hands with full tai detection across the 5-meld winning structure — dragon and wind pungs, fully-concealed bonuses, flowers, three- and four-dragon hands, Thirteen Orphans, and live shanten + waits on the way to tenpai. No signup.
8 tiles away from tenpai.
The final tile you add becomes the winning tile.
What is Taiwanese 16-tile mahjong?
Taiwanese mahjong (台灣麻將) is the variant played throughout Taiwan, southern Fujian, and across the Hokkien diaspora. It’s the rule set most Taiwanese learn at the family table, and the format used at most Taiwan-based tournaments.
The defining feature is the 16-tile hand: a winning hand is 17 tiles total (5 melds + 1 pair), not the standard 14 (4 melds + pair) used in Hong Kong, MCR, and Riichi. That single extra meld changes everything — draws happen faster, pungs and chows compete for one more slot, and classic hands like All Pungs or Pure One Suit are slightly harder to reach.
Scoring works on tai (台) — flat pattern values ranging from 1 tai (self-draw) up to 16-tai limit hands like Great Three Dragons, All Honors, and Thirteen Orphans. Tai converts directly to money at a fixed table rate (commonly 10 NTD per tai per opponent at home stakes).
All Taiwanese tai patterns
Every Taiwanese tai pattern grouped by value. Tap any pattern for the rule, a worked example hand, and related patterns at the same tier.
Scoring Pure One Suit + All Pungs
A 16-tile manzu-only pungs-only hand. Two big tai patterns stack — plus the fully-concealed bonus if you didn’t call any pungs.
win- Pure One Suit (清一色)8 tai
- All Pungs (碰碰胡)4 tai
- Fully Concealed (門清)1 tai
- Total13 tai
Common Taiwanese mahjong questions
What is Taiwanese (16-tile) mahjong?+
Taiwanese mahjong — 台灣麻將 or 台麻 — is the variant played throughout Taiwan and across much of the Hokkien diaspora. The defining feature is the 16-tile hand: instead of the standard 14 (4 melds + 1 pair), a winning hand is 17 tiles (5 melds + 1 pair). That extra meld changes every aspect of strategy, from drawing speed to fan structure.
How does tai scoring work?+
Each scoring pattern is worth a number of tai (台). Self-draw is 1 tai, Dragon Pung is 1 tai, All Pungs is 4 tai, Pure One Suit is 8 tai, and limit hands like Thirteen Orphans or All Honors are 16 tai. Most tables set a fixed payout per tai — usually 10 NTD per tai per opponent at casual stakes — so tai totals translate directly to money.
Why does Taiwanese mahjong use 17 tiles to win?+
Taiwanese variant evolved with an extra meld baked in — 5 melds plus a pair instead of 4 plus a pair. Hands are larger, draws happen faster, and the standard "all pungs" or "pure one suit" combinations are slightly harder to reach because there's one more set to fill.
Do flowers and seasons matter in Taiwanese mahjong?+
Yes — flowers are central to Taiwanese scoring. Each flower or season matching your seat scores 1 tai, and there are bonus payouts for collecting all 4 flowers, all 4 seasons, or all 8 flower tiles. Flowers are drawn separately from the wall and don't enter your main 17-tile hand.
Are there limit hands like in Hong Kong?+
Yes — Taiwanese rules have several 16-tai limit hands: All Honors (字一色), Thirteen Orphans (十三么), Great Three Dragons (大三元), Great Four Winds (大四喜), Heavenly Hand (天胡, dealer wins on opening), and Earthly Hand (地胡). These cap the tai count and pay the table limit.
How does Taiwanese differ from Hong Kong, MCR, and Riichi?+
The 16-tile (17 with pair) structure is unique to Taiwanese. Hong Kong uses 14 tiles with faan. MCR uses 14 tiles with 81 fan patterns. Riichi uses 14 with han + fu. Taiwanese scoring is closest in spirit to Hong Kong — flat tai counts, doubled by the larger hand — but the table economics and flower mechanics are very different.