Chapter 12 of 12 · Section 2 of 3
All 16 steps of this section, written out on one page. The pictures and activities aren’t included: to see them, open a step in the lesson.
Your goal: Before you change lines, weigh what a switch costs and whether it is still legal.
To switch is to aim for a different line on the card with the tiles you have. With no exposures, you keep more choices. Once you have exposed a group, any new line must be an X line that holds that exact group.
You hold 10 concealed tiles and an exposed pung: 13 in all.
A pung and a kong are not the same. An exposed pung can’t become a kong, and an exposed kong can’t be split up. You can regroup your concealed tiles any time, but your exposed groups stay as they are.
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A C line must stay concealed until you win. An X line can stay concealed too, until you choose to make an ordinary call. Either way, your tiles are easier to regroup before you expose any.
As in Chapter 11, Section 1, step 6: concealed tiles stand on the sloping face, and you can regroup them any time; exposed groups lie on the flat top, fixed for this hand.
C doesn’t mean you can only win by drawing from the wall: a natural discard may complete the whole winning hand. And even with a concealed hand you can still get a Joker: on your turn, exchange a matching natural tile for one in someone’s exposure.
2 × 1 Bam
2 × 3 Bam
2 × 5 Bam
2 × 7 Bam
2 × 9 Bam
2 × Red Dragon
2 × Flower
Your 13 tiles: one Red Dragon short
The newest discard, a Red Dragon: it completes all 14 tiles, so you may claim it, but only to call Mah Jongg.
A C line one Red Dragon short: you may claim the discard that completes all 14 tiles, but only to win. Section 3, step 10: Check what you may claim lets you practice this.
A useful backup shares real tiles with your lead line: the same tiles, in the same amounts. Two lines that both use Bams may still share almost nothing.
3 × 1 Bam
3 × 3 Bam
3 × 5 Bam
3 × 7 Bam
2 × 9 Bam
2 × Flower
3 × 2 Bam
3 × 4 Bam
3 × 6 Bam
3 × 8 Bam
Both lines are all Bams, but they share no tile: a switch from one to the other starts again from nothing.
As in Chapter 11: both lines are all Bams, but they share no tile.
Keep the backup while it costs little. When its tiles take up several places your lead line could use, ask whether it is slowing your lead line down. Step 11 counts what two lines share on a real rack.
Early in a hand you usually have more chances to improve. When the wall is short, a big rebuild is harder. But reaching turn 5 or turn 8 doesn’t, by itself, call for a switch or an exposure.
Late in a hand: 12 tiles left is about 3 draws each, if nobody calls. A rebuild of 5 or 6 tiles is unlikely now.
Count what you really have: the places your tiles fill, the natural tiles still missing, the copies you can see, the places a Joker could fill and the draws left. A line one tile away is still blocked if that tile must be a natural tile for a pair and every copy is gone.
As in Chapter 11, Section 1, step 6: a Joker can fill a place in a group of 3 or more of the same tile, never a single or a pair. While it is concealed on your rack, you may move it from one such group to another as your plan changes.
Before: your concealed Joker fills a place with your 2 Bams. The Joker in your exposed 5 Dot pung is fixed.
After: you drew a third 2 Bam, so your concealed Joker moves to the 6 Bams. The Joker in your exposed 5 Dot pung stays where it is.
Don’t count one Joker in 2 groups at once. Once a Joker is in an exposure, you can’t take it back for another group: it stays there unless a player exchanges a matching natural tile for it on their own turn (Chapter 7, Section 2, step 15: Exchanging a natural tile for a Joker). Where you placed a Joker on your rack doesn’t matter; only exposing it fixes it.
Your line needs a pair of 8 Dots. You hold one; the other 3 are old discards.
Your 8 Dot and the other 3 copies.
Your line needs a pair of 8 Dots. You hold one, and the other 3 are old discards. Can a Joker save that pair?
Rethink your line when a single or pair it needs can no longer get its natural tile, or when another line that fits your exposures uses many more of your tiles. Do the same when the draws left can’t support the rebuild you planned.
As in Chapter 11: all 4 copies are seen, yours and 3 old discards. A line that needs a 5 Bam pair is blocked.
If an opponent shows your suit, that is a reason to count and compare, not a sign you must switch. Their exact exposed tiles, and exactly what your line needs, matter more than the suit’s name.
Your 5 Bam, and the other three: old discards.
Your 5 Bam and the other 3 copies.
Three 5 Bams are old discards, and the fourth is in your hand. Which of these can’t possibly be met?
Before you call, make sure a whole line you can finish holds the group you are about to expose, and see what the call does to your backup.
After a call, every new line must hold that exact group.
After a switch, work out which concealed tiles are now spares, and how risky each one is to discard. A new plan doesn’t give you back your earlier discards, and it may make you let go of a tile another player could use. Weigh that cost against what the switch gains.
Your rack: an exposed 4 Bam pung and 10 concealed tiles.
You have exposed a 4 Bam pung. Which new line fits that exposure?
Your lead line is Even Bams and your backup is Consecutive Bams. First count the places the 2 lines share. Then check them against the tiles really on your rack.
Your rack: 13 concealed tiles, no exposures.
A teaching example, not a line from the current NMJL card. X means exposures are allowed. You need all 14 tiles.
3 × 2 Bam
3 × 4 Bam
3 × 6 Bam
3 × 8 Bam
2 × Green Dragon
A teaching example, not a line from the current NMJL card. X means exposures are allowed. You need all 14 tiles.
3 × 2 Bam
3 × 3 Bam
3 × 4 Bam
3 × 5 Bam
2 × Green Dragon
Again: your 13 tiles
8 of the 14 places overlap. Now count the tiles you really hold, below: sharing a suit alone doesn’t make a switch cheap.
3 × 2 Bam
3 × 4 Bam
3 × 6 Bam
3 × 8 Bam
2 × Green Dragon
Fits nothing
10 places filled, 4 to go.
3 × 2 Bam
3 × 3 Bam
3 × 4 Bam
3 × 5 Bam
2 × Green Dragon
Fits nothing
11 places filled, 3 to go.
9 of your tiles help both lines: three 2 Bams, three 4 Bams, 2 Green Dragons and the Joker, in one line at a time. A switch to Consecutive Bams costs little.
Your own tiles, group by group, in each line. Dashed places are still empty.
Keep a lead line that can still work if the other line needs far more rebuilding, doesn’t fit your exposures or makes discarding too risky. Feeling frustrated after several bad draws isn’t evidence on its own.
As in Chapter 11: a line 2 tiles away can beat a bigger one that needs 6.
3 × 2 Crak
3 × 4 Crak
3 × 6 Crak
3 × 8 Crak
2 × Flower
Fits nothing
12 places filled. Needs 2: an 8 Crak, which a Joker could also fill, and a natural Flower.
2 × Flower
4 × 2 Crak
4 × 4 Crak
2 × 3 Bam
2 × Green Dragon
Fits nothing
8 places filled. Needs 6, and 4 of them must be natural, because a Joker can’t fill a pair: a Flower, a 3 Bam and 2 Green Dragons.
The same 13 tiles in both lines. Dashed places are still empty.
But don’t stay only because of the time you have put in. If a single or pair your line needs can’t get its natural tile, even an almost complete line fails.
Three situations with the same 2 teaching lines: your lead line, Even Bams, and your backup, Consecutive Bams with Flowers. For each, choose what to do and the fact that decides it. Nothing is marked until you check both, and your first answer to each situation is kept.
Situation 1 of 3
You have exposed a 6 Bam pung. Your concealed tiles fit the backup well.
Your rack: 10 concealed tiles and an exposed 6 Bam pung.
A teaching example, not a line from the current NMJL card. X means exposures are allowed. You need all 14 tiles.
3 × 2 Bam
3 × 4 Bam
3 × 6 Bam
3 × 8 Bam
2 × Green Dragon
A teaching example, not a line from the current NMJL card. X means exposures are allowed. You need all 14 tiles.
3 × 2 Bam
3 × 3 Bam
3 × 4 Bam
3 × 5 Bam
2 × Flower
Again: your exposed 6 Bam pung, then your 10 concealed tiles
What should you do?
Which fact decides it?
Question 1 of 6
Your 5 Bam, and the other three: old discards.
Your 5 Bam and the other 3 copies.
Your line needs a natural 5 Bam pair. You hold one 5 Bam, and the other 3 are old discards. A backup that fits your exposures needs tiles you can still get. What should you do?
Answer without looking back at the examples first. Each answer comes with an explanation, and you can revisit a lesson or practice the questions you missed.
Question 1 of 6
Across’s exposed pung: three natural 3 Craks.
Your 3 Crak. Your line needs a pair of them.
Across’s exposed pung, and your 3 Crak.
Your line needs a natural pair of 3 Craks, and you hold one. Across has exposed a pung of 3 Craks with no Jokers. What should you do?
Set your lead line and a backup next to your rack. Name the limit your exposures set, the natural tiles still missing, the tiles both lines share and the tiles each still needs. Then, from the exposures and old discards at your table, name the discard risk. Then explain why one line is more realistic. The next section turns these checks into habits that help you avoid common mistakes in strategy.
3 × 2 Bam
3 × 4 Bam
3 × 6 Bam
3 × 8 Bam
2 × Green Dragon
Fits nothing
10 places filled, 4 to go.
3 × 2 Bam
3 × 3 Bam
3 × 4 Bam
3 × 5 Bam
2 × Green Dragon
Fits nothing
11 places filled, 3 to go.
9 of your tiles help both lines: three 2 Bams, three 4 Bams, 2 Green Dragons and the Joker, in one line at a time. A switch to Consecutive Bams costs little.
Step 11’s count: your lead line and your backup, with the tiles you hold.
Opening this recap doesn’t complete exercises you haven’t tried. A quiz score is feedback on your practice, not proof that you’re ready for a real table.
Section 1 · Reading Opponents
Start Section 3 · Strategic Mistakes