Reference · 貓紙
The Cheat Sheet
The whole game on one page. Print it, tape it inside the snack cabinet, consult it mid-hand at your own social risk.
The win condition
4 melds + 1 pair = 14 tiles. A meld is a run (3 in a row, one suit) or a triplet, or a kong. You hold 13; the 14th wins it.
Your turn, every turn
- Draw from the wall. Flower? Set it aside, redraw from the tail.
- Optional: declare kong / win.
- Discard face-up. No announcement needed.
The calls
Pong, kong and a win are called out loud. Seung you just take — it can only come from your left neighbour, so there’s nothing to arbitrate. However you claim, reveal your own tiles and lay the meld face-up; never take a discard into your hand.
| Call | Say it? | Claims | From | Beats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Run — seung 上 | No, just take it | discard completing a run | left neighbor only | — |
| Triplet — pong 碰 | “pong” | discard completing a triplet | anyone | seung |
| Kong — kong 槓 | “kong” | 4th copy of your triplet | anyone, or self-drawn | seung |
| Win — sik wu 食糊 | “sik wu” | your winning tile | anyone | everything |
Claim window closes when the next discard lands. No appeals.
Read the tiles
Three suits, 1–9 each, four copies of every tile. Dots and bamboo you can just count. Characters are numbers written in Chinese — here’s the decoder:
Point quick menu
| 1 point | 3–4 points | 6 points (Spicy cap) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Seungs 平糊 | 1 | All pongs 對對糊 | 3 | Full flush 清一色 | 6 |
| Zi-Mo 自摸 | 1 | One suit + honors 混一色 | 3 | 3 dragon pongs 大三元 | 6 |
| Each dragon pong | 1 | Little dragons 小三元 | 4 | Only honors 字一色 | 6 |
| Round-/your-wind pong | 1 | Seven pairs 七對子 | 4 | Only 1s & 9s | 6 |
| Each of your flowers | 1 | Thirteen orphans 十三幺 | 6 | ||
| No flowers | 1 | 4 concealed pongs + Zi-Mo | 6 | ||
| All 4 of a flower set | 1 | 4 wind pongs (or 3 + a pair) | 6 | ||
| Robbed pong/kong win | 1 | 4 kongs | 6 | ||
| Kong-replacement win | 1 | All 8 flowers = auto-win | 6 |
The money
- Payout per person: chicken × 2^(points). The chicken = base stake, default a penny; table can agree on more before the first deal.
- Ladder per person: 0=1 · 1=2 · 2=4 · 3=8 · 4=16 · 5=32 · 6=64.
- Discarder pays double. Zi-Mo: everyone pays double.
- Capped at 6 points — “Spicy” 辣.
- “9-cards” called + full flush wins off you → discarder pays all debts.
- Chicken hands are legal by default; a point minimum may be applied if agreed before the first deal.
- Dealer keeps the deal by winning — 連莊.
- Last 14 tiles of the wall are dead — no winner by then = wash, re-deal.
Emergency etiquette
- Seating: Chinese people get seat priority; couples sit across, not adjacent.
- “Tai-Pong” (太碰) = “I’m thinking about ponging.” Binding on no one, feared by all.
- False win (詐糊): pay everyone the max.
Lost? The full curriculum starts from zero. Found? 開檯hoi toi.