Taiwanese Mahjong · 1 tai

Own Seat Flower (Zheng Hua) in Taiwanese Mahjong: Tai and Which Flower Is Yours

In Taiwanese mahjong, each own seat flower (正花, zheng hua) is worth 1 tai: the set has 8 flowers — Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Plum, Orchid, Bamboo, Chrysanthemum — and two of them belong to each seat. When you win, add one tai for every one of your own flowers you hold. Other seats' flowers score nothing (unless they complete a Flower Set).

Which flowers are yours

It goes by your seat wind (your wind position this hand), not the round wind. The dealer is East; the player after the dealer is South, opposite is West, and before the dealer is North.

When the dealer changes, everyone's seat wind changes, and so do their own flowers.

How flowers are drawn and replaced

• Flowers can't be discarded or used in sets. As soon as you draw one you reveal it and draw a replacement from the back of the wall
• Flowers in the opening hand are replaced in turn starting with the dealer; if a replacement is another flower, replace again
• Flowers only score when you win. If you don't win, your flowers are worth nothing
• Self-drawing your win on a flower replacement counts as Win After a Kong on this site

How own seat flowers are scored

The tai below are computed live by the same scoring code the game uses (dealer and dealer-streak tai are added on top).

How it relates to other hands

• Flower Set: holding all four of a set (Spring to Winter, or Plum to Chrysanthemum) scores 2 tai more; your own flower in it still counts as an own seat flower.
• Ping Hu: Ping Hu requires no flowers. A single flower — yours or not — rules out Ping Hu's 2 tai.
• Eight Flowers, seven rob one: all eight flowers in your hand win at once for 8 tai, with own seat flowers and flower sets added on top.
• Nothing else depends on flowers: own seat flowers stack with self-draw, concealed hand, Pure One Suit and the rest.

Own seat flower odds

Only 8 of the 144 tiles are flowers, spread over four players, so a player usually ends a hand with one or two. In 12,000 hands of four normal-level computers on this site, a player held 1.4 flowers on average when the hand ended, and at least one flower 78% of the time:

Source: 12,000 hands of computer play on this site (normal level), counting each player's flowers when the hand ended.

32% of wins included an own seat flower — one of the most common tai. Each flower has a one-in-four chance of being yours, so own seat flowers mostly come along for free; you can't play for them.

Common misconceptions

• "Any flower scores": no, only the two matching your seat wind. Other flowers only matter for Ping Hu (they rule it out).
• "It goes by the round wind": it goes by your seat wind. West in the East round has Autumn and Bamboo.
• "No flowers scores a tai": Taiwanese mahjong has no "no flowers" tai; Hong Kong mahjong does.

To see it in play, open a table of online Taiwanese mahjong — flower replacement and tai are handled for you.

Flowers in other mahjong styles

• Hong Kong mahjong also has own flowers, 1 fan; no flowers at all is "No flowers", 1 fan, and a complete set of four is a "Flower set", 2 fan (Hong Kong mahjong fan list)
• In Chinese Official (Guobiao) mahjong every flower is 1 fan whoever it belongs to, but flowers don't count toward the minimum to win (Guobiao fan list)

FAQ

How many tai is an own seat flower?

In Taiwanese mahjong each own seat flower is 1 tai. Every seat has two, so at most 2 tai.

I'm South — which flowers are mine?

Summer and Orchid. East has Spring and Plum, West Autumn and Bamboo, North Winter and Chrysanthemum. The dealer is always East.

Are other seats' flowers any use?

Not on their own. But all four of one set make a Flower Set for 2 tai; and remember that any flower at all rules out Ping Hu.

Do flowers pay if you don't win?

Not on this site. Flowers only score when you win, together with the rest of your tai.

Related hands

Flower Set 2 tai All four seasons or all four plants for 2 tai: how it stacks with your own flower, and why there's at most one. Eight Flowers 8 tai All eight flowers in your hand win on the spot for 8 tai: flower tai on top, who pays, and just how rare it is. Ping Hu 2 tai Five chows, no honors, no flowers, two-sided wait, no self-draw — a 2-tai hand. Checklist, common mistakes and odds.