Chinese Official Mahjong · 1 pt
Self-Drawn in Chinese Official Mahjong (MCR): Points, vs Fully Concealed Hand, and Payment
In Chinese Official Mahjong, Self-Drawn (自摸) is worth 1 point: the winning tile is one you drew from the wall yourself, not someone's discard. It is only one point, but on a self-draw all three opponents pay, which makes it worth far more than a win on a discard.
On this page
The conditions
- The winning tile is one you drew: a normal draw, a kong replacement or the tile drawn after a flower all count as self-draws
- Claimed sets or not — either way
- You still need 8 points: Self-Drawn's 1 counts toward the minimum, flowers don't
When Self-Drawn is not counted separately
Bigger fan often include the self-draw, and then only the bigger one counts:
| Situation | Scores | Not counted |
|---|---|---|
| Concealed hand (no claims), self-drawn | Fully Concealed Hand, 4 | Self-Drawn, Concealed Hand |
| Self-drawing the last wall tile | Last Tile Draw, 8 | Self-Drawn |
| Self-drawing a kong replacement | Out with Replacement Tile, 8 | Self-Drawn |
So the stand-alone 1-point Self-Drawn only appears in hands with claimed sets won by an ordinary self-draw.
Scoring examples
Both hands are scored live by this site's scoring engine — the same one the game uses.
Self-drawn
| Mixed Straight | 8 |
| Dragon Pung | 2 |
| Single Wait | 1 |
| Self-Drawn | 1 |
| Total | 12 pt |
|---|
Reaches the 8-point minimum — a legal win.
Self-drawn
| Fully Concealed Hand | 4 |
| All Chows | 2 |
| Mixed Double Chow | 1 |
| Total | 7 pt |
|---|
Below 8 points — not allowed to win.
Not counted (implied by a bigger fan): No Honors、Self-Drawn
How payment works
This site uses the MCR settlement:
- Self-draw: each of the three opponents pays fan + 8
- Win on a discard: the discarder pays fan + 8, the other two pay 8 each
A 10-point hand collects 54 by self-draw but only 34 on a discard. Self-draws are better, but don't pass up a discard win waiting for one — with the 8-point minimum, getting the win at all matters most.
How often it happens
In 4,000 computer games on this site there were 3,849 wins and 26% of them were self-drawn. But only 16% scored the 1-point Self-Drawn: concealed self-draws score Fully Concealed Hand instead (9.8%).
Self-Drawn and Chicken Hand
A Chicken Hand must have no fan at all, so a Chicken Hand cannot be self-drawn: the self-draw adds 1 point, the hand is no longer a Chicken Hand and is left with only 1 point. See Chicken Hand. To try it yourself, play MCR online.
In other mahjong styles
- Taiwanese mahjong: 1 tai (Taiwanese mahjong Self-Drawn)
- Sichuan mahjong: an extra base or an extra fan (Sichuan mahjong Self-Draw)
- Japanese riichi mahjong: Menzen Tsumo, 1 han, concealed hands only (riichi yaku list)
FAQ
How many points is Self-Drawn?
1 point in Chinese Official Mahjong; a concealed self-draw scores Fully Concealed Hand (4) instead.
What does a concealed self-draw score?
Fully Concealed Hand, 4 points; Self-Drawn and Concealed Hand are not counted on top.
Does the self-draw point count toward the 8-point minimum?
Yes. Self-Drawn is a regular fan and counts toward the minimum; only flowers don't.
Related fan
Fully Concealed Hand 4 pt
Concealed plus self-drawn for 4 points: replaces Concealed Hand and Self-Drawn; concealed kongs are fine; self-drawn Seven Pairs or Thirteen Orphans only get Self-Drawn.
Last Tile Draw 8 pt
Self-draw the last tile of the wall: 8 points, no Self-Drawn on top. Don't mix it up with Last Tile Claim — the Chinese names are swapped between styles.
Out with Replacement Tile 8 pt
Win on the replacement tile after a kong: 8 points, no Self-Drawn on top. Any kind of kong counts; a flower replacement doesn't.
Try it at the table
Chinese Official Mahjong — Play Chinese Official Mahjong (Mahjong Competition Rules, MCR) free in your browser against three computer opponents. 8-point minimum, all 81 fan scored automatically with the official non-repeat rules. No sign-up, works on phone and desktop.