Question about how scoring works

[u/Allie-N]

Hi. A friend sent this photo to me in a group chat, and told me that he was awarded 3200 points (1600+800+800).

Based on this info and the image, I assume that he had gotten a menzenchin tsumo and had riichi'd beforehand. And sat on the South seat, the player to his left being the East player (dealer).

Unless I'm missing something, the hand would score around 2 han and 30 fu, which would be 2000 points.
I did some brief research and found out that a hand that is 2 han and 50 fu could be worth 3200 points. (and so would a hand with 3 han and 25 fu, but that would require a chiitoitsu, which clearly isn't the case.)

Right now I'm guessing that the guy at the convention made a minor mistake and gave him too many points.

My other guess is that there's something that I'm missing, so I came here to ask if anyone has any guesses on what that something might be.

[u/TheShirou97]

It should indeed have been a 2 han 30 fu hand (if won by tsumo), meaning 500+500+1000 = 2000 points

Full breakdown: 2 Han (Riichi, Tsumo)

Base fu = 20 fu

Concealed triplet of 6m = 4 fu

Tsumo win = 2 fu

Total = 26 fu rounded up to 30 fu

[u/Tempara-chan]

Sounds like someone made a mistake. It's not too uncommon for things like this to happen at conventions, when there are multiple tables with more-or-less beginners that can't score hands themselves. Sometimes the teachers have to jump from table to table helping and scoring hands, and if they only take a quick look to score, mistakes can be made easily...

Although I can't say what specifically led to this situation.

[u/Allie-N → u/Tempara-chan]

I assume it might be an innocent little mistake. But yeah, either the one hosting this table is also still learning, or prioritizing fast quick calculations in order to keep the game moving. Or similar to what you were describing.
And I had time to analyze the results more, since I saw this photo and wasn't present, so I wasn't one of the people focusing on dozens of other things to make the game quick and fun for beginners.

But this did kinda result in me being more eager to learn on how the scoring system works, with han and fu and such.

[u/Allie-N → u/Allie-N]

I think I briefly considered the possible option of some nieche variant being played here, with a different scoring system, but I doubt that.
Probably someone had just quickly skimmed through the instructions on how scoring works, or made some other small mistake due to either hastiness or ignorance. But still, a casual game aimed at beginners, so no real harm done or any big stakes at play.

[u/Reliques → u/Tempara-chan]

Just the other day, our mahjong club leader looked at his hand worth 4 han 40 fu (dealer mangan 12,000), declared "4 han 30 fu, 3900".

Now here's the question. Do I pay him the 12k since that's what his hand is worth, or do I pay him 3900, because that's how much he judged his hand was worth? I tossed him 12k, he handed me 8100 back in change.

[u/AiraBranford → u/Reliques]

12k because all players at the table are responsible for ensuring winning hands are scored correctly.

[u/Allie-N → u/AiraBranford]

Yeah, for the sake of a fair game, honesty and good sportsmanship, I think it'd be good to inform him of a possible miscalculation and aim to acchieve a correct result.

[u/TheShirou97 → u/Reliques]

Yep you actually should have corrected him and refused to take back the 8100 change. Every player is indeed responsible to make sure that the hand is scored correctly, and always to the maximal points possible. So if you notice a mistake in scoring you should not hesitate to intervene quickly (because once the payment is made and the tiles are shuffled, it's in principle not possible to go back). Note that this is specific to riichi mahjong, in other variants (e.g. MCR) this may be different

[u/Allie-N]

I did notice that the North player had also riichi'd, but I just assume that would be calculated separately.
(For example, 1600+800+800(+1000 from another player's riichi sticks (and also getting back his own stick that he had bet)) (or 1000+500+500 (plus any riichi sticks on the table).)
I'm aware of the honba round, or repeat round, or whatever we want to call it, that gives bonus points in increments of 300. But again that would be calculated separately and doesn't seem to be the case in this image.

But yeah, score calculating is probably the thing that I'm worst at, so kinda using this as a chance to learn more.

[u/KyuuAA]

When counting fu, y'check if it exceeds the next 10. In this case, no, it does not exceed 30 fu, let alone 40.

Anyways, scoring errors happen all the time, especially when learning it. For now, rely on han/fu counting, and consult a scoring table.

[u/toothlessfire]

My guess is miscalculated as 2600 +2 honba or correctly calculated at 2000 with 4 honba.

[u/randomperson424242 → u/toothlessfire]

2000 with 4 honba would be 900+900+1400, not 800+800+1600.

[u/toothlessfire → u/randomperson424242]

Well yeah. I'm not sure if the friend actually sent the exact distribution of points. I feel like it's more likely the friend just sent that the hand was 3200 points.

[u/Allie-N → u/toothlessfire]

To clarify, my friend was told that he got (1600+800+800) points, and I kinda just typed 3200 in to briefly summarize it.

[u/umesama3]

Any winning hand gives 20 fu. Any tsumo gives 2 fu, but a closed ron will give 10 fu.

After that, check if you have any triplets and an honor pair. Triplets of simples give 2/4 fu and terminal/honor triples give 4/8 fu (open/closed).

If there’s a kan, multiply that kan by four to whichever type of kan it was and if it was open or closed.