How to Use Mahjong Racks and Pushers

What is a mahjong rack for?

A mahjong rack holds your tiles so only you can see them. Each player gets one. It has three jobs.

• It holds your tiles upright, facing you.
• It hides your tiles from the other players.
• Its top ledge holds your exposures.

An exposure is a group of tiles you show face up. You make one when you take another player's discard to finish a group. A discard is a tile someone throws away. One kind of group is a pung, which is 3 of the same tile.

How do you use mahjong pushers?

Use the pusher to slide your wall toward the middle of the table. A pusher is a hinged arm that attaches to your rack. Your wall is the row of tiles you build in front of you.

1. Set out the racks. Put one rack at the edge of the table in front of each player.
2. Build your wall. Build it in front of your rack. In American mahjong, it is 19 stacks long and 2 tiles high.
3. Push it in. Use the pusher to slide your wall toward the middle. The four walls meet in a square.

For every setup step, see how to set up mahjong.

How do you use a rack during play?

Keep your tiles on the rack, facing you, and put any exposures on top.

• Stand your tiles up. After the deal, set all your tiles on the rack, facing you.
• Sort them. Put tiles of the same kind together, so your hand is easy to read.
• Put exposures on top. When you take a discard to make a group, set that group face up on the top ledge.
• Keep exposures neat. Everyone at the table needs to see them clearly.
• Hands off other racks. Do not touch other players' tiles. For a joker swap, pass the tiles hand to hand. A joker is a wild tile.

To see how exposures fit into a whole game, read how to play American mahjong.

What size mahjong rack do you need?

Common rack lengths are 18 to 20 inches. A 20 inch rack is suggested for larger sets, such as 160-tile sets.

You also need one rack for each player. That means 4 racks for a full table.