6. The Game Table

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6. The Game Table


After the Game Setup process, you are taken directly to the Game Table. 

Each player sees the table with their own tiles at the bottom. The game's host is first East. 
The tiles are rapidly shuffled and built into walls, then East rolls dice to break the wall, and tiles are distributed four at a time to each of the players seated around the table until East has 14 tiles and others have 13 tiles. 

It's now time for the Charleston to begin. Bots immediately pass three tiles to the right.

Let's take a moment to study all the details around the table. 
At upper left, you see the player information for two of your opponents (your opposite and your leftie). 

Take a look at your own information area, at the bottom right corner. 

Each player's information area consists of:

• Avatar with circular frame, with a green dot if online, red if offline. You can change your avatar in Settings.
  
• Player's name. You can change your name in Settings.
  
• East indicator: a small rounded square, which designates who is East.
  
• Timers: Turn timer and Reserve timer. Timer length is determined by the Host when the table is created.
  
• A small rounded rectangle with three animated dots. The dots animate only when that player needs to make a move of some sort. If the game isn't moving along, you can check everybody's corner to see who's holding things up by "thinking." Bots never keep you waiting.
  

Let's take a moment to look also at other indicators and controls on the table screen. 

Upper right: 

• Wall counter tells how many tiles are remaining in the wall (always begins at 99 after the tiles are distributed)
  
• Screenshot tool (camera) - use this to take a screenshot and save it to your device. 
  
• Settings icon (gearwheel) - use this to change your preferences.
  
• Quit button - use this only when you need to abandon a game. Not to be used frivolously when playing against real people.
  

     

Right side:

• Mode indicator (Safety ON or OFF) - this is determined by the Host when the table is created.
  
• Pass button - This is used both for Charleston passes and for passing up on a discard. This lights up when you've raised three tiles for a Charleston pass, or when someone has discarded a tile you can legally claim for Pung, Kong, or Quint. On a computer with keyboard, you can press Space to Pass on a discard.
  
• Stop / Call button - you can use this to stop Charleston passing after the first dance. During play, the button is relabeled "CALL" and can be used to claim the current live discard for exposure.
  
• Mahj button (may or may not be visible, depending on mode or circumstances) - Click it to declare Mah Jongg. 
  
• Challenge button (may or may not be visible, depending on circumstances) - Click it to challenge another player's hand, when you believe the other player is not making a valid hand from the card.
  
• Sort Discards - Arranges the discards by suit until pressed a second time. Illustration below.
  
• Sort button - Arranges the tiles in your hand.
  
• Chat button - Opens and closes the chat window.
  

     
This illustration shows how the discard floor might look when discards are sorted (left) and not sorted (right).

The large open space in the middle of the screen serves primarily as discard floor. Its behavior changes according to the phase of the game. 
As the tiles are being distributed, the Wall is shown, diminishing in length. Text is displayed here, keeping track of the process.

During the Charleston, the discard floor is where players' passes are displayed. Text is also displayed here, to describe what's going on and to let you know if there's something you need to do.
During play, discards and text prompts are displayed on the discard floor.

Screen Shot Tool (Camera)
Clicking or tapping on the Screen Shot Tool takes a snapshot of the entire game screen. Details for saving or using the screenshot differ depending on what type of device you use for playing the game (Windows, MacOS, iPad, iPhone, Android, Chromebook). See the device-specific Technical Support FAQs.

Settings Icon (Gear)
In Settings, you can change your avatar, your tiles, your color theme, audio preferences, and more. See the Settings FAQ.

Managing Your Tiles
Now let's play around with your tiles for a moment.

• You can arrange the tiles by suit and number by pressing the Sort button. You can also manually drag tiles into your desired order. After you have pressed Sort and subsequently did not manually move any tiles, each time you receive a Charleston pass or pick from the wall, your new tile(s) will appear pre-sorted into your hand. If after using Sort (or not pressing Sort), you manually move one or more tile(s), then your new tiles will always appear at the right side of your hand. 
  

• Click a tile to raise or lower it when selecting tiles in the Charleston, or when forming an exposure.on a called discard.
  
• Double-click or drag a tile onto the Discard Floor to discard a tile. On a laptop or desktop, you can use Spacebar to Pass. On a touchscreen (iPad, iPhone, Android, etc.) you can either double-tap or drag the tile to discard it..
  

If you haven't used our Tutorials yet, click the Tutorials button in the Lobby or on the Login page for a visual introduction to how to play NMJL Online.


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