The player presses the Mah Jongg button when they have Mah Jongg or are calling a tile for Mah Jongg. The app may call Mah Jongg for you if you draw it. The app may also show a green MahJongg button if you have Mah Jongg or can call a tile for Mah Jongg. If you have Mah Jongg, press the MahJongg button to declare it (no discard is needed). After a player calls Mah Jongg, all players’ hands and text indicating the hand they were trying to make are shown. Each player’s score is also shown. Hands without a joker (except singles and pairs) score double the card’s base value for that hand from all players. A player that draws the Mah Jongg tile rather than calling it, also scores double from all players. Otherwise, only the player that discarded the tile called for Mah Jongg loses double. The game also keeps track of the primary player’s highest score ever received in a single game and the total accumulated score across games. If the tiles run out before anyone calls Mah Jongg, it is called a “wall game” and nobody scores.
The scores can be seen by selecting the “Scores” button or “Scores” from the main menu. Examples of the scores display are shown here.
Total Score: The total accumulated score across games is separate from the scores in a particular game and is called “Total Score.” This Total Score depends on the player skill level and the amount of automated help used in the games. If a player uses more than the default level of help in a game, the player can no longer add to their Total Score if they win. However, they can still decrease their Total Score if they lose. The purpose of this is to encourage players at higher skill levels to use less automated help. Pro players can’t add to their Total Score if they use any help features. Intermediate players can’t add to their Total Score if they use the Hint feature. Beginners can always add to their Total Score. If one of the main help features has been used, an (H) is shown near the player’s game score. The (H) turns red if excess help has been used and your Total Score can’t be increased for that game.
Total Score is stored on the server. So if you use more than one server, your score will be tracked separately and will be different on each server.
To make sure the scores are fair, you can only increase your total score or record “Record” scores if the Game Type is “Record” and you are not using your own custom card. Records are kept for the last: 1) Singles and Pairs win, 2) Quints win, 3) Closed hand win, 4) Jokerless win. If “Record” is “On”, you will lose points (25) if you quit before finishing a game. If you want to quit or restart in the middle of a game without losing points (for testing, for example), set “Record” to “Off.”
The following special wins are considered “self-picked” and score double from all players:
- Heavenly Hand – If East has Mah Jongg at the beginning of the Charleston, this is called a Heavenly Hand.
- Earthly Hand – If East has Mah Jongg immediately after the Charleston, this is called an Earthly Hand.
- Finesse – A Finesse is when you call a tile, expose the set containing it, and then steal a Joker to get Mah Jongg.