Mahjong CompendiumHong Kong Taiwanese

Proto-mahjong › Chinese classical › Shanghai / Hong Kong new style › Hong Kong old style › Taiwanese style › Hong Kong Taiwanese

Hong Kong Taiwanese

HKT

Sources

Sources

The documents this entry rests on, as published. Each can be opened and checked; nothing in this part is anybody’s reading of them.

  1. Encyclopedia Chinese Wikipedia: 港式臺灣麻雀 (Hong Kong-style Taiwanese Mahjong). cross-check checked 2026-09-18

    https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hant/%E6%B8%AF%E5%BC%8F%E5%8F%B0%E7%81%A3%E9%BA%BB%E9%9B%80

    AI summary The only encyclopedia treatment found of the 16-tile Hong Kong and Macau game. Describes it as a blend of Hong Kong, authentic Taiwanese, Japanese and MCR rules, with additive scoring, a ready declaration called ding, and a carry-over stake called la. The article itself carries a single-source reliability warning.

    for this variant The encyclopedia account of the game, with the local names and the ding and la mechanisms. It still carries its own single-source warning, but the 2020 and 2023 rulebooks it leads to are now read directly and agree with it

    Only cited here · bibliography #66

  2. Official rules Hong Kong Mahjong Association (香港麻雀協會). "16-Tile Modern Mahjong Rulebook", latest version 17 May 2023; Chinese edition 《港式十六張新章麻雀總例》, revised 28 July 2025. Google Docs, linked from hkmahjong.org/rules. cross-check checked 2026-09-28

    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_TNf3YYWCCi5Z-SMssIRSB0dRPjfMCvbkTp5cCjLv9A/edit

    AI summary The Association's competition rules for the Hong Kong sixteen-tile game: tiles, dealing, calls, the ready declaration (Ting), winning patterns, settlement with the carried stake ('drag and chop'), mid-game bonuses, penalties and the full faan list.

    for this variant The governing body's rulebook for the game, and the fixed point for what it is: additive, unlimited faan, the Ting declaration, and the carried stake. Its Chinese title ties the game to New Chapter.

    Only cited here · bibliography #157

  3. Journalism HK01 (香港01). 「港式台灣麻雀 新年必裝App計番、實戰規則、計番對照圖！一文學曉」, 25 January 2020 (updated 24 June 2020). cross-check checked 2026-09-28

    https://www.hk01.com/%E9%81%8A%E6%88%B2%E5%8B%95%E6%BC%AB/425874/%E6%B8%AF%E5%BC%8F%E5%8F%B0%E7%81%A3%E9%BA%BB%E9%9B%80-%E6%96%B0%E5%B9%B4%E5%BF%85%E8%A3%9Dapp%E8%A8%88%E7%95%AA-%E5%AF%A6%E6%88%B0%E8%A6%8F%E5%89%87-%E8%A8%88%E7%95%AA%E5%B0%8D%E7%85%A7%E5%9C%96-%E4%B8%80%E6%96%87%E5%AD%B8%E6%9B%89

    AI summary A Hong Kong news site's New Year guide to Hong Kong-style Taiwanese mahjong: how it differs from Guangdong play, the base and carried-stake rules, penalties, a scoring chart, and a scoring app.

    for this variant A major Hong Kong outlet describing house play, independent of the Association: the same carried stake and dealer rules, with the local options (capping the carry) that the rulebook fixes.

    Only cited here · bibliography #158

  4. Encyclopedia Mahjong Wiki. "Taiwanese Overview." mahjong.wikidot.com. canonical checked 2026-10-09

    http://mahjong.wikidot.com/rules:taiwanese-overview

    chart’s note Cited as the source for individual nodes in the chart's node table. Carries no bibliography or per-claim citations of its own; see the appendix on tracing the wiki.

    for this variant The chart's canonical source for this node describes Taiwanese style only. It supports the parent node, not this one

    Also cited on: Taiwanese style · bibliography #44

  5. Official rules Hong Kong Mahjong Association (香港麻雀協會). 《港式台牌聯賽規則》 (PDF title 港式台牌比賽規則), last revised 28 October 2020. hkmahjong.org. cross-check checked 2026-10-09

    https://www.hkmahjong.org/_files/ugd/3e514c_4b39bc77f5fd48748e09f5b67195cc2e.pdf

    AI summary The Association's 15-page league rules for the Hong Kong sixteen-tile game, the earliest edition of its rules found. Covers tiles, dealing, calls, the 叮 ready declaration, the carried 拉/踢 settlement, mid-game bonuses, penalties and a short faan table. Chinese Wikipedia cites it.

    for this variant The earliest dated rules text found for the game, from its governing body, two and a half years before the 2023 rulebook already recorded. It agrees with that rulebook and with HK01 on every defining point

    Only cited here · bibliography #440

  6. Commercial Law, Kin Ming. 《麻將計數機》 (Mahjong counter), iOS app. App Store (Hong Kong) listing, read 9 October 2026. cross-check checked 2026-10-09

    https://apps.apple.com/hk/app/%E9%BA%BB%E5%B0%87%E8%A8%88%E6%95%B8%E6%A9%9F/id1350174034

    AI summary A Hong Kong scoring and record-keeping app, rated by 9.9K users, with separate modes for Taiwanese, Japanese, Hong Kong and Hong Kong-style Taiwanese mahjong (港式台灣麻雀) and for 碰槓牌. Its listing says what each mode settles.

    for this variant A widely used Hong Kong app that treats Hong Kong-style Taiwanese as a ruleset of its own, separate from both Taiwanese and Hong Kong mahjong, and defines it by the 拉 and 踢半 settlement

    Only cited here · bibliography #443

  7. Commercial Tam, Alex. 《台牌小助手》: 港式台牌番數計算機, iOS app, first released 16 October 2023. App Store (Hong Kong) listing, read 9 October 2026. cross-check checked 2026-10-09

    https://apps.apple.com/hk/app/%E5%8F%B0%E7%89%8C%E5%B0%8F%E5%8A%A9%E6%89%8B/id6469416883

    AI summary A tally app for the Hong Kong sixteen-tile game. It records each hand's faan and applies the carried multiplier (拉) and the halving (踢半). The listing includes its version history.

    for this variant A second app built around the carried settlement, which shows that 拉 and 踢半 are what players need help counting

    Only cited here · bibliography #444

  8. Commercial Liu, Wing Hin. 《麻將計番/算台》, iOS app, first released 17 January 2024. App Store (Hong Kong) listing, read 9 October 2026. cross-check checked 2026-10-09

    https://apps.apple.com/hk/app/%E9%BA%BB%E5%B0%87%E8%A8%88%E7%95%AA-%E7%AE%97%E5%8F%B0/id6475007399

    AI summary A tile-scanning scoring app for riichi, Hong Kong, Taiwanese and Hong Kong-style Taiwanese mahjong. Its Hong Kong Taiwanese mode, added in November 2024, lets players set their own faan list, values and rules.

    for this variant Lists Hong Kong-style Taiwanese beside Taiwanese mahjong and distinct from it. Its customisable faan list reflects the variation between tables that HK01 and the forum threads describe

    Only cited here · bibliography #445

  9. Guide Anonymous. 「香港人的台灣麻雀番數表」 (台灣麻雀番數表(港式)). twmahjong.com. A Word document saved as a web page; its metadata gives it as created 26 January 2010 and last saved 17 April 2014. cross-check checked 2026-10-09

    http://twmahjong.com/

    AI summary A Hong Kong player's faan table and house rules for the sixteen-tile game: faan values, the 叮 declaration, dealer continuance, the base and the carried settlement (拉). Chinese Wikipedia cites it, and the same text appears on adhoc-bet.appspot.com.

    for this variant The earliest dated trace of the game found: a Hong Kong player's table from 2010. It shows the game as a Hong Kong house game a decade before the Association's 2020 rules, though it does not date its arrival

    Only cited here · bibliography #446

  10. Guide Sloper, Tom. "FAQ 2b: Identifying a Mah-Jongg Variant." Sloperama. supporting checked 2026-09-18

    https://www.sloperama.com/mjfaq/mjfaq02b.html

    chart’s note Tile counts, hand sizes, flower handling and scoring for roughly 50 named variants. Primary source for most leaf nodes in this chart.

    for this variant Sloperama's catalogue has no Hong Kong Taiwanese entry. It is not the node's canonical source, which is the Mahjong Wiki's Taiwanese overview, and the Mahjong Wiki does name HKT, on its front page

    Also cited on: Chinese archaic, Late Qing style, Chinese pre-classical, Chinese classical, Shanghai / Hong Kong new style, Hong Kong old style and 45 more · bibliography #1

  11. Encyclopedia Mahjong Wiki. "Family Tree and Timeline." mahjong.wikidot.com. cross-check checked 2026-10-09

    http://mahjong.wikidot.com/

    chart’s note The decade-by-decade timeline and the branch structure this chart follows, including the caveat that each variant's evolution has been cross-cultural.

    for this variant The only place the Mahjong Wiki names the node, and only as an unexplained abbreviation. Same author as the canonical source, so not independent. Its remark on Hong Kong and Japanese borrowings matches the blend that Chinese Wikipedia describes

    Also cited on: Chinese classical, Shanghai / Hong Kong new style, Nanyang variants, Mainland regionals, Korean traditional, Western / British Empire style · bibliography #7

  12. Official rules Hong Kong Mahjong Association (香港麻雀協會). 「麻雀規則」 (rules page, Chinese version). hkmahjong.org/rules, read 9 October 2026. cross-check checked 2026-10-09

    https://www.hkmahjong.org/rules?lang=zh

    AI summary The Association's index of the rule sets it publishes, with each game's names: 港式台牌 (16-Tile Modern Mahjong), also 港式十六張新章麻雀 and, as a Hong Kong-only name, 台灣牌; 香港麻雀, also 清章麻雀 and, locally, 廣東牌; and riichi. The English version of the same page is the URL already recorded for hkma-2023-hk-rules.

    for this variant Confirms the local names from the body that writes the rules: Hong Kong players call their 13-tile game 廣東牌 and the 16-tile game 台灣牌. Because the page pairs 新章 with the 16-tile game and 清章 with 廣東牌, the 新章 in the 16-tile title does not on its own tie the game to the chart's Guangdong style

    Also cited on: Hong Kong old style, Modern HKOS · bibliography #441

  13. Organisation Hong Kong Mahjong Association (香港麻雀協會). 「香港麻雀公開賽 2026 / Hong Kong Mahjong Open 2026」 event page. hkmahjong.org, read 9 October 2026. cross-check checked 2026-10-09

    https://www.hkmahjong.org/hongkongmahjongopen2026

    AI summary The Association's page for its 2026 open, held July to August 2026 at its Mong Kok venue, Mah-Jestic by HKMA. It has three events: the Hong Kong Mahjong Masters, the 港式台牌公開賽 (Hong Kong Taiwanese Mahjong Open) played under the Association's 港式台牌 rules, and the Hong Kong Riichi Mahjong Open.

    for this variant The game's governing body uses the node's English label, so the name exists outside the Mahjong Wiki. The page also places the game in organised competition in 2026

    Only cited here · bibliography #442

  14. Guide Anonymous. 「港式台灣麻雀番數表」. adhoc-bet.appspot.com/twmj.htm. Undated; Chinese Wikipedia cites a Wayback Machine capture of 4 August 2018. cross-check checked 2026-10-09

    http://adhoc-bet.appspot.com/twmj.htm

    AI summary An HTML copy of the twmahjong.com faan table and house rules, identical in every passage compared. It is not an independent voice.

    for this variant A copy of the twmahjong.com table, so not an independent voice. Read because Chinese Wikipedia cites it as a separate source

    Only cited here · bibliography #447

AI-generated

Analysis

Written by an AI model from the sources above. It is a reading of them, not a source in its own right: every figure in it points back to a numbered source, and where the two disagree, the source is right.

Assessment

Confidence
catalogued listed in a variant catalogue with tile counts and hand sizes, but no rules text verified
Evidence
corroborated two or more independent sources agree on the facts that define this variant

Cross-comparison

What each source was read to say, set side by side. The numbers are the sources above.

SourceTilesHandFlowersScoringPayout
[1]144, the same set as 13-tile mahjong, including the eight flowers: the four seasons 春夏秋冬 and four plants 梅蘭菊竹; some players add jokers16, the sixteen-tile game of the Hong Kong and Macau region—additive (加算法), because it has many fan types and many fan; contrasted explicitly with Guangdong mahjong, which multiplies because it has few patterns. Fan are unlimited—
[2]144 with 8 flowers16; five sets and a pair1 faan each, 1 more for the seat's own; robbing the eighth flower 30 points, all eight 40 points from each, paid at onceadditive faan, 'no limit on faan'; dealer 1, continuance 2n; declared ready (Ting) 5, winning in the same round 5 more; closed 5, all concealed (closed and self-drawn) 5, a closed hand's Ting 15; special hands Nico Nico, Sixteen Isolated, Thirteen Orphansdiscarder pays the whole hand; on a self-draw each of the other three pays the whole hand; settlement carried to the next hand ('drag', ×1.5 on a repeat) or halved ('chop'); concealed kan 5 points from each at once
[3]144, walls two rows of 1816, dealer 17—fan, added to a base (底) worth 5 fan; 連莊 adds 2n+1 (or an agreed 1, 3, 5, 7, 9)not paid at once: 拉莊 carries the debt, ×1.5 plus the new hand on a repeat; 踢半 halves it if the loser wins back; many tables cap the carry at 3 or 5 hands
[4]144 (numbers, honours, flowers); walls 18 stacks long and 2 high16, dealer 17; five sets and a pair—additive tai, minimum 1 tai, no maximum; discarder pays alone—
[1]———additive, many fan types, unlimited fanthe Hong Kong 拉 is a stake carried between two players: ×1.5 plus the new hand on each repeat, rounded up; halved by 踢半 when the loser wins it back, rounded down; paid in full if the winner takes a third player's discard
[5]144 with flowers (seasons and plants)five sets and a pair; special hands 嚦咕嚦咕, 十三么 and 十六不搭mid-game bonuses outside the carry: four flowers numbered one to four collect half a base from each, a full set of flowers or seasons one base from each; robbing the eighth flower takes six bases (30 points) from its holder, and all eight take eight bases (40 points) from eachfaan added, with no faan limit and no pao; 叮 worth 5 faan, a win within one turn of it 5 more; dealer 1 faan, plus 2N for N continuances; the table includes 門清 3, 平糊 5, 叮 5, 門叮 10discarder pays the whole hand, and on a self-draw each of the other three pays it; the score is carried (拉) between winner and loser, ×1.5 plus the new hand on a repeat, with half paid if the loser wins it back; concealed kan one base from each at once
[6]————the Hong Kong Taiwanese mode works out the carried score (拉) and its halving (踢半), with a surrender option and immediate payments for rolling triples (擲圍骰) and for kongs; the Taiwanese mode instead takes a base and tai, with dealer continuance (連莊拉莊)
[7]————faan recorded hand by hand, with the carried total multiplied (拉乘) and halved on a kick (踢半); at the end of the day faan are converted into money at an agreed rate per faan
[8]———faan list, values and rules set by the players; a fix raised the faan setting's upper limit to 300—
[9]———faan added to a base (底): with a $10 base and $1 a faan, 16 faan pays $26; 聽牌 (叮) 5 faan; 十六不搭 40; dealer continuance adds 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 faannot paid at once (拉): on a repeat the loser's debt is multiplied by 1.5 and added to the new hand
  • [10] Not found: Sloperama's catalogue has no entry for Hong Kong Taiwanese or HKT. This reading also said no Mahjong Wiki page names HKT and took Sloperama for the node's canonical source; both were wrong. The canonical source is the Mahjong Wiki's Taiwanese overview, and the wiki's front page lists HKT under Taiwanese (corrected 2026-10-09)
  • [1] MULTI-PARENT: describes the game as a blend (糅合) of Hong Kong mahjong, authentic Taiwanese mahjong, Japanese mahjong and MCR, with fan counts far larger than authentic Taiwanese, contrasted with traditional 13-tile Clear Chapter (清章) play. Locally it is simply called Taiwanese mahjong, 台灣牌 or 港式台牌. It has a ready declaration called ding (叮) which, unlike Japanese riichi, needs neither a concealed hand nor a stake, and pays a bonus for winning within one turn; and a carry-over stake mechanism called la (拉). The article carries a single-source reliability warning dated March 2023, and cites a Hong Kong Mahjong Association league rules PDF from 2020
  • [2] Read at the source (the English edition; the Chinese edition of 28 July 2025 is titled 港式十六張新章麻雀總例, 'Hong Kong 16-tile New Chapter'). It calls the drag 'an iconic feature of 16-Tile Modern Mahjong'. A match is four rounds or 100 minutes. The same Association runs the game as one of the three events at its GGHK tournament
  • [3] Read at the source. Hong Kong players keep the Taiwanese 拉莊, 踢半 and 連莊, and add hands Guangdong play lacks (十六不搭, 嚦咕嚦咕). Other rules: a concealed kan is paid 1 fan at once; a discard followed by the same tile from all three others ('追牌') costs its player 1 fan to each; a false win costs 30 fan; three dice alike when rolling collect 1 fan from each
  • [4] Re-read 2026-10-09 together with its Gameplay and Scoring pages, the wiki's full page list and a site search for HKT. None of these names HKT or Hong Kong Taiwanese, or mentions Hong Kong at all. The wiki has no page for the game, and the search for HKT returns nothing. The chart's label comes from the wiki's front page instead
  • [11] The front page's family-tree table puts HKT in the bottom row, in the column under Taiwanese. The same row has ZJ/GMCR under Guangdong, SBR under Sichuan and MCR under Others. HKT has no page and no link, and the wiki never spells it out, so 'Hong Kong Taiwanese' is the chart's own expansion. The prose below the table adds that some Taiwanese rulesets borrow mechanics from Hong Kong and Japanese rules
  • [1] Re-read 2026-10-09 from the wikitext via index.php, because the API answered 429. The article now sits at 港式台灣麻雀, and the recorded 港式台灣麻將 URL redirects there. It still carries the single-source warning of 12 March 2023. It separates the Hong Kong 拉 from Taiwanese 拉莊. Its sources are a Studocu lecture note, the Association's 2020 league rules, twmahjong.com, an appspot faan table, a 2014 atroot.hk PDF, HK01 and mahjongo.com. Its Wikidata item, Q19855456 'Sixteen mahjong', has only this one sitelink
  • [5] Read at the source: a 15-page PDF exported from Google Docs, titled 港式台牌比賽規則 and last revised 28 October 2020. A league match is two rounds, East 1 to South 4, where the 2023 rulebook has four rounds or 100 minutes. It calls the drag a major feature of the game. It is the source Chinese Wikipedia cites for 叮
  • [12] The Association's rules index lists three games. 港式台牌 (in English 16-Tile Modern Mahjong) is also called 港式十六張新章麻雀 and, in Hong Kong only, 台灣牌. 香港麻雀 (Hong Kong Mahjong) is also called 清章麻雀 and, locally, 廣東牌. The third is riichi. Read 2026-10-09
  • [13] The Association's 2026 open ran in July and August 2026 at its venue Mah-Jestic by HKMA on Tong Mi Road, Mong Kok. It had three events: the Hong Kong Mahjong Masters, the 港式台牌公開賽 (given in English as the Hong Kong Taiwanese Mahjong Open, under the Association's 港式台牌 rules) and the Hong Kong Riichi Mahjong Open. The page names competition regulations for each event, but its links are drawn by script and could not be followed
  • [6] App Store (Hong Kong) listing read 2026-10-09: 4.8 stars from 9.9K ratings. Its version history includes a fix that rounds the 踢半 result up in the winner's favour, and three-player versions of each mode
  • [7] App Store (Hong Kong) listing read 2026-10-09; version 1.0 dated 16 October 2023. Its subtitle is 港式台牌番數計算機
  • [8] App Store (Hong Kong) listing read 2026-10-09 after one 429. Version 1.0 is dated 17 January 2024, and the Hong Kong Taiwanese mode arrived in version 2.1.0 on 12 November 2024, listed separately from Taiwanese mahjong
  • [9] A Word document saved as a web page in UTF-16 and titled 香港人的台灣麻雀番數表. Its embedded metadata says it was created on 26 January 2010 and last saved on 17 April 2014. The house rules include marking the dealer's continuances with a die
  • [14] An undated HTML table whose text matches the twmahjong.com table in every passage compared: the 十六不搭 entry, the dealer-continuance rule and the carried settlement. Chinese Wikipedia cites a Wayback capture of 4 August 2018

Reading it

The game is real and documented well outside the Mahjong Wiki. The wiki itself lists "HKT" only as an unlinked cell beneath Taiwanese in its front-page family tree. Its Taiwanese overview, the node's canonical source, never mentions Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Mahjong Association, which writes the game's rules, uses the node's English name for its 2026 Hong Kong Taiwanese Mahjong Open. Its rules page gives the local names: 港式台牌, 港式十六張新章麻雀, and 台灣牌 as a Hong Kong-only name, beside 廣東牌 for its 13-tile game. Its 2020 league rules agree with the 2023 rulebook and HK01 on the defining facts. The game uses 144 tiles, sixteen in hand, and additive faan with no limit. It has a 叮 declaration worth 5 faan and a stake carried between two players (拉, ×1.5 per repeat, halved by 踢半). Three Hong Kong apps and a 2010 faan table, with its copy, confirm the carried settlement as far as each goes. Chinese Wikipedia separates this 拉 from Taiwanese 拉莊. The game differs from Hong Kong old style in its sixteen-tile hand, unlimited additive faan and deferred payment. Still wanted: when it reached Hong Kong, whether parlours deal it, any Macau form, and the forum threads behind challenges.

Looked for, not found

  • Law Not looked for again. An earlier pass found that Hong Kong parlour licensing prescribes no rules of play, and the game runs under a private body's rules, so no statute or gazette notice names it
  • Rulebook No rulebook by an independent author or publisher turned up in the web, app-store or press searches. The written rules are the Association's own and players' faan tables (see guide)
  • Historical Nothing written when the game arrived in Hong Kong was found. The earliest dated trace is the twmahjong.com faan table of 2010, filed under guide. The Hong Kong press of the 1980s and 1990s is still wanted from the earlier pass
  • Scholarship No academic study was found. Web searches turned up none, Crossref answered 429 and OpenAlex wants a key (2026-10-09). Chinese Wikipedia's main source is a lecture note on Studocu, listed as wanted, not a study
  • Collection None expected: the game uses the ordinary 144-tile set, and no museum or library record of a Hong Kong sixteen-tile set or rule sheet turned up. HK01's features on hand-carved tiles mention 台灣牌 tiles only in passing, per search snippets, and were not read

Known, not yet read

Sources that look worth having but could not be read for this entry. If you can reach one, it can be read and added. Every variant’s list is gathered on Missing sources.

  • Forum LIHKG threads on 港式台牌: 「[推廣有圖]打厭左廣東牌？試下打考腦既港式台灣牌！」 (thread 1021593) and 「最近玩港式台牌，規則每個地方唔同，大家一齊討論統一標準啦！」 (thread 3910455) — Players promoting the game against 廣東牌 and comparing house rules. Per search snippets they discuss 叮, the 拉 and cutting the carry, and should show how the game varies from table to table
    Where: https://lihkg.com/thread/1021593/page/1 and https://lihkg.com/thread/3910455/page/1. Tried: 2026-10-09: LIHKG's API answered 403 from Cloudflare, and its thread pages come back to automated readers as empty script shells. The refusal is the site's
  • Forum discuss.com.hk (香港討論區), 麻雀娛樂 board: 「台牌花糊問題!」 (thread 12735213) — Per its search snippet, a question on whether a flower win is carried or kicked, with replies saying tables count it both ways. Direct evidence of how house rules vary
    Where: https://www.discuss.com.hk/archiver/?tid-12735213.html. Tried: 2026-10-09: a Cloudflare 'Just a moment' challenge on the thread and on the site search. The refusal is the site's
  • Journalism Ming Pao Our Lifestyle (明報), 「打四圈推介：搓麻將計分好幫手」, 21 January 2023 — Per its search snippet, a press account of scoring apps for Hong Kong home play that sets 台灣牌 against 廣東牌 and names a 台灣牌計番 app
    Where: https://ol.mingpao.com/ldy/cultureleisure/culture/20230121/1674238159604/. Tried: 2026-10-09: a Cloudflare challenge (403). The refusal is the site's
  • Journalism Ming Pao Our Lifestyle (明報), 「四方城看世界變 麻將館深度遊」, 31 July 2026 — A feature on Hong Kong mahjong parlours that may say whether parlours deal 台灣牌. No source read here confirms the game in licensed parlours
    Where: https://ol.mingpao.com/ldy/cultureleisure/culture/20260731/1785431828081/. Tried: 2026-10-09: a Cloudflare challenge (403). The refusal is the site's
  • Guide 「港式台灣牌 lecture note」, uploaded to Studocu under the Chinese University of Hong Kong course Understanding China — Chinese Wikipedia's main cited source for the game's definition and for the 拉
    Where: https://www.studocu.com/hk/document/%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E4%B8%AD%E6%96%87%E5%A4%A7%E5%AD%B8/understanding-china/%E6%B8%AF%E5%BC%8F%E5%8F%B0%E7%81%A3%E7%89%8C-lecture-note/74298221. Tried: 2026-10-09: Studocu answered 403 with its own 'Access Blocked' page. The refusal is the site's
  • Guide AtRoot, 「港式台灣牌番數表」, PDF uploaded October 2014 (atroot.hk) — A second dated faan table, from 2014, which Chinese Wikipedia cites. It would help date the game in Hong Kong
    Where: http://www.atroot.hk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/mj.pdf; Wayback capture https://web.archive.org/web/20180219005318/http://www.atroot.hk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/mj.pdf. Tried: 2026-10-09: the live URL answers 404 (the site's own). The Wayback capture failed with connection resets in the agent proxy's tunnel on our side, so someone on another network may read it
  • Guide uptogo.com.tw, 「台麻有16不搭嗎？」 — Per its search snippet, a Taiwanese site saying the 十六不搭 hand belongs mainly to Hong Kong-style Taiwanese, as a Hong Kong change to the Taiwanese game, worth 40 to 60 faan depending on the source. A view of the difference from the Taiwanese side
    Where: https://uptogo.com.tw/遊戲/台麻有16不搭嗎？/. Tried: 2026-10-09: a Cloudflare challenge (403). The refusal is the site's
  • Tournament rules Hong Kong Mahjong Association, 香港麻雀公開賽2026競賽規程 and the competition regulations for the 港式台牌公開賽 (Hong Kong Taiwanese Mahjong Open) — The rules of the one open competition in the game found
    Where: Linked from https://www.hkmahjong.org/hongkongmahjongopen2026. Tried: 2026-10-09: the page names the documents, but the links are drawn by script and are absent from its HTML. A browser may reach them

Where it was searched

Every place the search checklist names for this variant’s languages, and what each gave, including nothing. The last full pass was on 2026-10-09.

Names searched: Chinese 港式台灣麻雀, 港式臺灣麻雀, 港式台灣麻將, 港式台湾麻将, 港式台灣牌, 港式台牌, 台灣牌, 台灣麻雀, 台牌, 港式十六張新章麻雀, 港式十六張麻雀, 十六張麻雀; English Hong Kong Taiwanese, HKT, Hong Kong Taiwanese Mahjong, 16-Tile Modern Mahjong, Hong Kong-style Taiwanese mahjong, Sixteen mahjong.

25 places searched
  • General web search — Standard mode only, 2026-10-09. Queries: 港式台灣牌 十六張 麻雀 規則; "Hong Kong Taiwanese" mahjong 16 tile; 台牌 麻雀館 香港 十六張; 港式台牌 拉莊 踢半 叮; 台灣牌 with 明報/東方日報; SCMP Hong Kong Taiwanese mahjong; 台牌小助手 港式台灣麻將 計番 app; 香港 台灣牌 八十年代 十六張; "港式台牌" OR "港式台灣牌"; and site-restricted queries listed under the forum, press and video channels. They turned up the App Store listings, HK01, Ming Pao and the forum threads. Nothing in English described the game, and nothing dated its arrival in Hong kong. The News Lens 'foreign HKer' feature and uptogo.com.tw answered with Cloudflare challenges. The Association's pages were reached from the existing references, not through search
  • Wikidata — Q19855456, labelled 'Sixteen mahjong' and described as a 'mahjong variant played in Hong Kong and Macao'. It has one sitelink (zhwiki 港式台灣麻雀) and no references. Read through Special:ItemByTitle because the API answered 429 (2026-10-09)
  • Wikipedia, in every declared language — Chinese Wikipedia's 港式台灣麻雀 was re-read through index.php?action=raw because the API answered 429 (2026-10-09). Its references are chased under citations. No other edition has an article: the Wikidata item has the zhwiki sitelink only. English 'Hong Kong mahjong scoring rules' came up in search and was not read
  • The sources' own references, and who cites them — One round, from Chinese Wikipedia's references. Read: the Association's 2020 league rules PDF, twmahjong.com and the adhoc-bet.appspot.com table. Wanted: the Studocu lecture note (403) and the 2014 atroot.hk PDF (404 live, Wayback unreachable). HK01 2020 was already recorded, and mahjongo.com covers Taiwanese play only, so it was not chased. Second-round leads, unread: LIHKG threads 1021593 and 3910455; discuss.com.hk thread 12735213; Ming Pao OL's app article of 21 January 2023; HK01's hand-carved tile features (articles 656978 and 68335), which per search snippets mention 台灣牌 tiles; SCMP article 3251327; the MJwithdee YouTube series
  • Internet Archive full-text search — Not searched: a Hong Kong game first traced in 2010, with no known print literature for the Archive's digitised books to hold
  • Wayback Machine — Unreachable. CDX listings of mahjong.wikidot.com and id_ captures (the wiki in 2012, the atroot.hk PDF) all failed with connection resets inside the agent proxy's tunnel (ws_closed_mid_exchange, our side, 2026-10-09). archive.org's availability API answered 429. Older versions of the Mahjong Wiki, which might expand HKT, remain unchecked
  • Google Books — Not searched: no book on the game is known, and the API answered 429 to earlier passes
  • HathiTrust full-text search — Not searched: Cloudflare challenges automated readers, and a Hong Kong game first traced in 2010 is unlikely to be in its volumes
  • WorldCat — Not searched: no printed work on the game turned up to look for
  • Scholarly indexes — Crossref answered 429 on 2026-10-09, and OpenAlex wants a key. No study of the game turned up in the web searches either
  • YouTube — One site-restricted search on youtube.com (港式台牌 教學 拉 踢半, 2026-10-09) found Cantonese tutorials, all unread. They include MJwithdee's numbered 港式台灣牌教學 series (for example (2) 拉莊、減半 and (4) 連莊), a 「台灣牌港式打法」 lesson on chips, 拉莊 and cutting after three hands, and Mahjonglun's 港式台牌 match videos. Leads for the next pass
  • English-language forums — Not searched: the game is discussed in Cantonese on Hong Kong forums (see zh-social), and Reddit and BoardGameGeek refuse automated readers
  • Mahjong reference sites — Mahjong Wiki read live on 2026-10-09: the front page (with HKT in the family tree), the Taiwanese overview, gameplay and scoring pages, the full page list (seven pages, none for HKT) and a site search for HKT (no hits). Sloperama was not re-read, since the earlier pass found no entry there
  • App and platform listings — Read on the App Store (Hong Kong): 麻將計數機, 台牌小助手 and 麻將計番/算台 (one 429, then 200). Named in search results but unread: 今晚打牌 (lists 台式, not the Hong Kong style), 麻雀計分 HK on Google Play, and an iOS 台灣牌計番 app (both named in a Ming Pao snippet)
  • Baidu search and Tieba — Not searched: a Hong Kong game is unlikely to be documented on the mainland web, and Baidu answers 403 to automated readers
  • Baidu Baike — Not searched: it answers 403, and the Hong Kong account of the game is Chinese Wikipedia's
  • Chinese Q&A and community sites — The game is discussed on Hong Kong forums rather than on Zhihu. A site-restricted web search (lihkg.com, discuss.com.hk, hkgolden.com, baby-kingdom.com; 2026-10-09) found LIHKG threads 1021593 and 3910455 and discuss.com.hk thread 12735213, all now wanted. LIHKG's API answers 403 behind Cloudflare and its thread pages are script shells; discuss.com.hk answers with a Cloudflare challenge; HKGolden's search page asks for JavaScript. Zhihu, Douban and Xiaohongshu were not searched: they are mainland platforms with login walls
  • WeChat public-account articles — Not searched: a Hong Kong game, while WeChat public accounts serve the mainland and Sogou has no open API
  • Bilibili — Not searched: the Hong Kong tutorials are on YouTube (see video)
  • Pre-modern and Republican Chinese texts — Not searched: a modern game, which no pre-modern or Republican text can describe
  • Chinese-language scholarship — Not searched: no study surfaced in the web searches to look for on CNKI or Airiti
  • Chinese-language newspaper archives — Site-restricted search for 台灣牌 on 2026-10-09 (mingpao.com, on.cc, hk01.com, scmp.com, hket.com, stheadline.com). HK01's 2020 guide was already recorded, and its 2022 calculator article (730031) does not mention Taiwanese play in its served HTML. Ming Pao OL pages answer with a Cloudflare challenge (403), so two Ming Pao articles are wanted. Oriental Daily pages on on.cc are readable: its 13 February 2008 report on unregulated mahjong clubs (Big5) and a 27 December 2017 report were read and do not mention the game. The hkstory Substack post from the earlier pass was retried: it is still for paid subscribers only, and its free preview is about nightlife, not mahjong. HKPL's MMIS archive was not searched, since it queues automated readers
  • Statutes published in Chinese — Not searched: an earlier pass found that Hong Kong parlour licensing prescribes no rules of play. Macau was not looked at
  • English-language newspaper archives — A site search of SCMP turned up an explainer on mahjong versions (article 3251327, which per its snippet covers Taiwanese 16-tile play in general) and a 2025 parlour feature (3301583). SCMP answered with a Cloudflare challenge (403) on 2026-10-09. No English report on the Hong Kong 16-tile game was found. Trove, Chronicling America and Papers Past were not searched, since this is a Hong Kong game of recent decades
  • Statutes published in English — Not searched: as for law-zh, Hong Kong parlour licensing prescribes no rules of play

In the tree

Descends from Taiwanese style, as the source chart draws it.

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