3.4.6 Chombo
Severe offenses are punished by chombo, after which there is a re-deal of the current
hand. If a win is declared at the same time as a chombo occurs, the chombo is voided.
The chombo penalty is the same size as a mangan payment: 4000 to East, 2000 to
other players. If the offending player is East, 4000 is payed to each of the other players.
The following offences are subject to chombo penalty:
- invalidly declaring a win
- declaring riichi on a hand that is not waiting (determined only in case of a drawn
game)
- making an invalid concealed kong after declaring riichi (determined only if the
offender wins or in case of a drawn game)
- exposing more than five tiles from the wall, the player’s or opponents’ hands
- claiming a tile after the hand is declared a dead hand
After a chombo riichi bets are returned to the players who declared riichi, and there
is a re-deal. No counter is placed, and the dealer does not rotate.
3.4.7 Dead hand
Some irregularities that are not punished by chombo result instead in a dead hand. A
player who has a dead hand is not allowed to declare a win, kong, pung or chow, and
can never be considered tenpai.
The following irregularites result in a dead hand:
- too few or too many tiles on the hand
- exposing tiles from an opponent’s hand or from the dead wall
- making an invalid kong, pung or chow
3.4.8 Minor irregularities
Tiles exposed from the wall are placed back in the wall. If more than five tiles are exposed
at the same time, however, a chombo penalty is applied.
3.4.9 When a win is declared
When a hand ends with one or more playes declaring a win, the hand(s) are scored. Only
winners receive payment. If there are more than one possibility, the winner is free to
determine in which way the winning tile finishes the hand.
A player winning on a self-draw, receives payment from the three opponents. A
player whose discard results in one or more winning declarations, pays the full value of
each hand to the winner.
East receives more points for a win, but also pays more in case of an opponent’s selfdraw.
When east wins the hand (whether more players win or not), a counter is placed on
the table at East’s right-hand side.
3.4.10 Counters
A counter is placed on the table at East’s right-hand side after a hand where East declared
a win and after an exhaustive draw.
Each counter on the table increases the value of a winning hand by 300 points. In case
of self-draw the payment is shared, so each opponent pays 100 points for each counter to
the winner, in addition to the standard payment for the hand.
All counters are removed after a hand where another player than East declared a win,
and East did not.
3.4.11 Five counters
In case five or more counters are on the table, a two yaku minimum is invoked for declaring
a win.
3.4.12 Dealer rotation
After the end of a hand, it is determined whether East stays East or whether the privilege
proceeds to the next player.
East stays East if he declares mahjong or is tenpai. Otherwise, the deal rotates, and
the player who was South now becomes East, whileWest becomes South, North becomes
West and East becomes North.
3.5 Continuation of the game
When the dealer rotation is resolved, the tiles are shuffled face-down, and a new hand is
begun.
When the player who began the game as East, becomes East again after all opponents
have had at least one hand as East, the south round begins.
When the player who began the game as East, becomes East again after all opponents have had at least one hand as East in the south round, the game ends.
3.6 End of the game
When the south round ends, and the game is over, the winner is the player with the most
points. It is of no consequence how many individual hands were won, the total sum of
points determines the winner. Ties may occur. Any riichi bets remaining on the table are
collected by the winner.
To avoid endless repeated deals, when the game is at the final distribution, if the dealer
is still leading the scoreboard - the game ends.
Bankruptcy - When one or more players’ score drops below zero (note the starting bonus
mentioned in 3.7 Starting bonus) - the game ends with the corresponding results.
3.6.1 Winner bonus
At the end of the game an extra bonus/penalty (uma) is applied to the scores. The two best
ranked players receive a bonus from the two lowest ranking players in the game, according to
this scheme: Winner receives 10,000 points, second ranked player receives 5,000 points, third
ranked player is penalized with -5,000 points and the last player is penalized with -10,000 points.
If there is a tie, the points for the relevant places are split between the tied players.
E.g. if two players are tied at the first position, each gets a bonus of 7,500 points.
3.7 Starting bonus
At the start of games with 1 or 2 Rounds - each player is given a starting number of points of
20,000 and 25,000 respectively. If during the game - one or more players have their score drop
below zero - the game will end according to the Bankruptcy rule (3.6 End of the game)
