---
title: "Riichi Fu Calculator: How to Count Fu | Mahjong Lore"
description: "Count fu in riichi mahjong set by set: base, concealed ron, self-draw, triplets, pairs and waits, rounded up. Plus a printable han and fu points table."
url: https://mahjonglore.me/riichi-fu-calculator/
---

Riichi minipoints

# Riichi fu calculator: how to count fu

Count fu in five steps: **start at 20, add 10 for a concealed hand won on a discard or 2 for a self-draw, add fu for each triplet and quad, add 2 for a value pair and 2 for an edge, closed or pair wait, then round up to the next 10**. Seven pairs is always 25. Describe your hand below to see each line, then print a points table made from the same formula.

## How to count fu, step by step

Fu (minipoints, *fu* in Japanese) measure how hard a hand was to build. They only matter for hands under five han, but there they can double the score, so it pays to count them carefully. The values below are the European Mahjong Association's, 2025 edition; the WRC Rules 2025 give the same totals.

1. **Start with 20 fu for winning.** Seven pairs is the exception: it is worth exactly 25 fu, nothing is added and nothing is rounded, so you can stop there.
2. **Add the winning condition.** A concealed hand (no called sets, though a concealed quad is fine) won on a discard gets 10 fu. A self-draw gets 2 fu, except in a pinfu hand.
3. **Add every triplet and quad.** Sequences are worth nothing. Triplets and quads are worth more when concealed and more again when they are terminals (1s and 9s) or honours.
4. **Add 2 fu for a value pair:** dragons, your seat wind or the round wind. A pair that is both your seat and the round wind is 2 fu in the 2025 EMA and WRC rules; the 2016 EMA rules and many clubs count 4.
5. **Add 2 fu for a difficult wait:** an edge wait (1-2 waiting on 3, or 8-9 on 7), a closed wait (4-6 waiting on 5) or a pair wait (one tile waiting for its partner).
6. **Round up to the next 10.** 32 fu becomes 40, and 22 becomes 30. An open hand that scores only the 20 base fu is counted as 30.

| Set | Called (open) | Concealed |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Sequence | 0 | 0 |
| Triplet of simples (2-8) | 2 | 4 |
| Triplet of terminals or honours | 4 | 8 |
| Quad of simples | 8 | 16 |
| Quad of terminals or honours | 16 | 32 |

**Two-sided: 0 fu**

**Edge: 2 fu**

**Closed: 2 fu**

**Pair: 2 fu**

**Triplet (two pairs): 0 fu**

The five kinds of wait and their fu. The pair and triplet waits use red dragons and 2 circles with 9 bamboo; edge and closed waits score 2 fu even if the hand could also have waited another way.

## The traps

- **Pinfu won by self-draw is 20 fu, not 30.** Pinfu means a concealed hand of four sequences, a pair of no value and a two-sided wait. Won on a discard it is 30 fu (20 plus 10); won by self-draw the 2 fu for self-draw are dropped, so it stays at 20.
- **An open hand never scores less than 30 fu.** If you called a set and earned nothing beyond the 20 base fu, you get 2 more (the "open pinfu" rule) and round up to 30.
- **Seven pairs is always 25 fu.** A pair of dragons or a pair wait in a seven-pairs hand adds nothing.
- **A triplet finished by a discard counts as open.** If you waited on two pairs and won on someone's discard, the triplet you completed scores as a called triplet: 2 fu for simples instead of 4. Won by self-draw, it stays concealed.
- **Read the hand the way that scores most.** Holding 5-6-7-8-9 of one suit and winning on the 7, the hand reads either as 5-6-7 plus 8-9 finished at the edge (2 fu), or as 5-6 finished on one side plus 7-8-9 (no fu, but pinfu if the rest of the hand qualifies). The rules take the highest-scoring reading, as the EMA rulebook's own example shows.
- **A concealed quad does not open your hand.** You keep the 10 fu for a concealed ron and can still declare riichi.

## Three worked examples

**The example above.** A concealed hand wins on a discard with a closed wait: a concealed triplet of 9 circles (8), a concealed triplet of 5 bamboo (4), two sequences, and a pair of red dragons (2). That is 20 + 10 + 8 + 4 + 2 + 2 for the closed wait = 46, rounded up to 50 fu. With 2 han, a non-dealer scores 50 × 24 = 800 base points, and the discarder pays 3,200.

**An open all-simples hand.** Chi 2-3-4 characters, then 5-6-7 circles, 4-5-6 bamboo, a pair of 3 circles, and 7-8 bamboo that wins on the 6 bamboo (a 9 would break all simples). Nothing scores fu beyond the 20 base, so the open pinfu rule adds 2 and the hand rounds to 30 fu: 1 han 30 fu, 1,000 points from the discarder.

**The EMA rulebook's tenth example.** A concealed half-flush hand self-draws a 7 circles: a concealed triplet of north wind (8), self-draw (2), and the 7 read as finishing 8-9 at the edge (2): 32, rounded up to 40 fu. With half flush (3 han) and fully concealed hand (1), 4 han 40 fu is a mangan.

From five han the fu no longer matter: every 5-han hand is a mangan whatever its fu. With kiriage mangan, in both 2025 rulebooks, 4 han 30 fu and 3 han 60 fu are also rounded up to mangan. To score a whole hand from its tiles, with yaku and payments, use the [riichi score calculator](https://mahjonglore.me/).

## Riichi points table (printable)

Every cell is worked out from the formula, fu × 2han + 2, times four for a non-dealer or six for the dealer on a discard, with payments rounded up to the next 100. The top number in each cell is the discard (ron) payment; the smaller line is the self-draw (tsumo) payment.

Mahjong Lore riichi points table, from fu × 2^(han+2), EMA Riichi Rules 2025. mahjonglore.me/riichi-fu-calculator/

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## Questions about fu

**How many fu is a pinfu hand?**

30 fu when won on a discard (20 for winning plus 10 for a concealed hand won by discard) and 20 fu when won by self-draw, because the 2 fu for a self-draw are not added to pinfu.

**Why is seven pairs 25 fu?**

The rules simply fix it at 25 fu: no fu for pairs or waits are added and it is not rounded up. Seven pairs is worth 2 han, so a non-dealer scores 1,600 on a discard.

**What is the lowest fu a hand can have?**

20 fu, but only for pinfu won by self-draw. Seven pairs is 25. Every other hand is at least 30 fu, including an open hand with no fu of its own.

**Does a concealed quad open my hand?**

No. A quad made entirely from your own tiles keeps the hand concealed, so you still get 10 fu for winning on a discard, and the quad itself is worth 16 fu (32 for terminals or honours).

**How many fu is a double wind pair?**

A pair of the wind that is both your seat and the round wind is 2 fu in the EMA Riichi Rules 2025 and the WRC Rules 2025. The 2016 EMA rules counted 4, and many clubs still do; tick the house rule to use 4.

## Sources

1. European Mahjong Association, [Riichi Rules for Japanese Mahjong, 2025 edition](https://mahjong.dk/hubfs/Mahjong%20documents/Riichi/Riichi_Rulebook_2025_v1.1.pdf) (version 1.1, August 2025): revision notes, 4.1.1 Minipoints, 4.1.2 Exact calculation of the hand value, 4.3 Scoring examples and the scoring tables in the annex. Copy hosted by Mahjong Danmark; [the EMA's original file, archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20251223001014/http://mahjong-europe.org/portal/images/docs/Riichi-rules-2025-EN.pdf).
2. World Riichi Championship, [WRC Rules 2025](https://www.worldriichi.org/wrc-rules) (version 20250526), section 11.3 Minipoints / Fu.

Rules checked on 5 November 2026.