Flowers out, then fan
Hong Kong mahjong is a social table. Sequences are allowed, flowers leave the hand, and the win has to be worth the fan everyone agreed on before the deal.
- A common set is 144 tiles: the 136 suit and honor tiles, plus eight flowers.
Suits, a wind, a dragon, and a flower. - You may chow from the left, pung from anyone, and kong.
A chow in bamboo. A pung of 6 Dot. - A flower is set aside when you draw it, and you draw a replacement. It is not a joker, and it does not finish a pung.
Flowers sit off the rack. The set has eight. - Scoring is fan. Many tables name a minimum before the first deal. A hand with no fan is allowed only where that table said so.
American mahjong uses jokers and a yearly card instead of this fan table. That course starts at the tiles.