What is a Fan?
The currency of mahjong scoring
In Hong Kong Mahjong, scoring is based on FANS (番).
A fan is a scoring element — think of fans like multipliers.
The more fans your hand has, the more points it's worth.
How it works:
• Each winning hand has a BASE value of 8 points
• Each fan DOUBLES your payment
• Formula: Payment = 8 × 2^(number of fans)
Example:
• 0 fan = 8 points (a 'chicken hand' — the lowest possible score)
• 1 fan = 16 points
• 2 fan = 32 points
• 3 fan = 64 points
Most tables also require a MINIMUM of 3 fan to declare a win at all.
A 0-fan chicken hand can't actually be called — 3 fan is the real floor.
The doubling adds up FAST. A 7-fan hand is worth 1,024 points!
There's a cap at 10 fan — called a LIMIT HAND — worth 8,192 points maximum.
Any hand with 10+ fans pays the limit.