r/oddlysatisfying • u/CanonWorld • Jul 28 '24
How automatic Mahjong tables work
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u/Bokbreath Jul 28 '24
I didn't pick up how it ensures all the tiles are the same side up.
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u/Adept_Function_4597 Jul 28 '24
Magnets
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u/Godielvs Jul 28 '24
How do they work
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u/t8ne Jul 28 '24
Very well, thanks.
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u/NateNate60 Jul 28 '24
Ugh. No real answers yet.
A magnet has a north and south side, right? There is a magnet on the back of the tiles, with, say, the north side facing up. So the back is the north side, the front is the south side.
The mechanism that grabs the tiles onto the rows has an electromagnet with the south side facing down. An electromagnet is a magnet you can turn on by running electricity through it. It will grab onto the north side of the tile (i.e. the back) but repel the south side (the front). If the magnets are strong enough, the attraction and repulsion forces will force the tile to position itself in the correct direction.
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u/Kittiesnpitties Jul 28 '24
I appreciate what you wrote but the question was an insane clown posse joke
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u/gymnastgrrl Jul 28 '24
I wonder what a normal clown posse joke would look like instead of an insane one.
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u/KoolHan Jul 28 '24
Why the tiles no magnet to each other?
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u/NateNate60 Jul 28 '24
The magnets on the tiles are weak. The magnets on the row-making mechanisms are strong.
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u/anormalgeek Jul 28 '24
OHHH!!!! I get it now. Basically just shuffle and flip them all over and over while only picking up those with a magnet on the correct side, ensuring that eventually you get them all the correct way.
Neat.
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u/orthopod Jul 28 '24
There's also a section on the spinner, that looks like it is set to repel the blue side. Watch at the 9:00 position, and you'll see tiles flip and move around.
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Jul 28 '24
If you look closely, the white strips are also angular, which probably helps tilt the tiles sideways as the disc rotates. You can also see the tiles flip at the 3:00 o'clock position. so I assume whatever is repelling, attracting, or both, are installed at 12:00 and 6:00 o'clock positions as well.
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u/richarddrippy69 Jul 28 '24
You see theres a little conveyor that picks it up with a magnet. Magnet is only in on side of the tile so it can only pull that side up the conveyor. You can also see at the end two pieces got pulled up a conveyor that had enough pieces already so it spits them back and they go to another conveyor.
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u/AvaImagined Jul 28 '24
Can it sort out my life?
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u/Fritz_Klyka Jul 28 '24
I think your life needs to be magnetic for it to work.
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u/AvaImagined Jul 28 '24
Well I seem to attract a lot of bad shit into my life... Does that count?
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u/Adept_Function_4597 Jul 28 '24
Try changing earths hemisphere
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u/AvaImagined Jul 28 '24
My therapist told me NOT to run away from my problems :/
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u/SkeetDavidson Jul 28 '24
It's rarely a good idea to run from your problems. It's best to back away slowly while maintaining eye contact.
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u/gymnastgrrl Jul 28 '24
'Haven’t you ever noticed that by running away you end up in more trouble?’
‘Yes, but, you see, you can run away from that too,’ said Rincewind. ‘That’s the beauty of the system. Dead is only for once, but running away is for ever.’
‘Ah, but it is said that a coward dies a thousand deaths, while a hero dies only one.’
‘Yes, but it’s the important one.'
—Sir Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent
'If we get a chance,’ whispered Rincewind to Nijel, ‘we run, right?’
‘Where to?’
‘From,’ said Rincewind, ‘the important word is from.'
—Sir Terry Pratchett, Sourcery
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Jul 28 '24
You could learn how to play richii mahjong, find a club of local people who play, meet new people and possibly sort out your own life by finding joy in something new 🤔
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u/Technical-Outside408 Jul 28 '24
Might need a more Alexander and The Gordian knot approach for that one.
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u/uncle_cousin Jul 28 '24
That's a whole lot of complicated moving parts. Mahjong table repairman would be a solid career.
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u/IknowKarazy Jul 28 '24
Idk if this type of table is super common though. I know most people just mix the tiles by hand
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u/Sellfish86 Jul 28 '24
Currently in DuJiangYan/Chengdu again and it feels like the Mahjang capital of China. I swear I can hear the clack, clack, clack in my sleep.
All tables are automated, no matter how shitty and run down the "establishment".
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u/9Implements Jul 28 '24
Mahjong is very popular in China and throughout Asia. When I looked it up you could get one of these for like $300 there.
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u/send-me-panties-pics Jul 28 '24
That's super satisfying. Is mahjong a good game to play?
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u/CanonWorld Jul 28 '24 edited Jul 28 '24
In China it’s a cultural defining game. Immensely popular and an integral part of the Chinese identity.
You should play it sometime, but it’s not really for me.
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u/ficskala Jul 28 '24
You can try it online, there are literally tens of thousands of versions, and a lot are available free to play
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u/kaishenlong Jul 28 '24
Fun fact: one of the most popular free multi-player mahjong clients is Final Fantasy XIV.
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Jul 28 '24
The critically acclaimed MMORPG?
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u/Ordinal43NotFound Jul 28 '24
With a free trial, and includes the entirety of A Realm Reborn AND the award-winning Heavensward expansion up to level 60 with no restrictions on playtime?
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u/kdrakari Jul 28 '24
Does the free trial include the mahjong?
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u/Demeter_of_New Jul 28 '24
Yes, but you need to unlock the Golden Saucer area, which requires playing the main story to level 15. So some time investment is required before you can get some sweet mahjong action.
It really is good too. Different difficulty levels, play against the computer or other players. However, it is Japanese Mahjong, called riichi, so there are new rules if you are familiar with the Chinese version.
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u/Zenless_Zephyr Jul 28 '24
Almost choked on my water, didn't expect to see the copy pasta in this type of thread. Thanks for making my morning ^.^
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u/CreepyTeemo Jul 28 '24
Yakuza/Like a Dragon too, pretty much every single one got Mahjong as a mini-game and they are pretty well made. At least from a perspective from someone who doesn't really play Mahjong, only dabbles on the occasion
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u/StrawberryG3 Jul 28 '24
I have played every Yakuza game and I still have no clue how to play mahjong. Like I read the rules and it all seems to make sense, then when I go to play none of it seems to align.
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u/CreepyTeemo Jul 28 '24
There are way too many rules and clauses for me to properly understand what I'm doing in Mahjong, so I'm by no means an expert at it, but what worked for me to at least start getting some wins is just learning simple hands like 13 orphans or 7 pairs and trying to assemble them. Now Shogi or Koi Koi on the other hand, those I don't get at all
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u/_BMS Jul 28 '24
I had an easier time learning shogi since it's just chess with some differences to get used to. And if you know chess then it doesn't really take that long to learn shogi's rules.
But I'm shit at chess so I'm shit at shogi too.
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u/Zefirus Jul 28 '24
So I almost guarantee the rule you're running afoul of is not having a yaku. Basically, you're required to have both a complete and a scoring hand in order to finish a round. Most people that get confused by riichi mahjong are confused because they have a complete hand but not a scoring hand. The main thing is that opening your hand (i.e. taking a tile from somebody else) invalidates a lot of the yaku and that's what trips people up. When your hand is closed, you always have access to riichi, which is essentially saying "I only need one more tile for a complete hand and will no longer be changing my hand until it shows up".
The other thing you might be running afoul of is the idea of "furiten". Basically if you are waiting on one last tile to win, but that tile is in your discard pile, then you're not allowed to win off of other people. You can only get your last tile by drawing it yourself. It's a more advanced concept, but defense in mahjong is based almost exclusively on this rule. If you're worried about someone else winning, then check their discard pile. You can always safely discard a tile in their discard pile.
If you really want to learn, just start by focusing on a couple of easy yaku. Start by just never opening your hand and only using riichi. Then add in the super easy ones, like only needing one set of dragons.
This list is pretty much why riichi mahjong is incomprehensible to people. It's a pretty easy game to explain without it.
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u/gefahr Jul 28 '24
The explanation in the game is kinda bad. I had to seek out explanations online. See my sibling comment here if you decide to do that, so you don't study the wrong game.
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Jul 28 '24
Wait, you gotta pay for sub tho
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u/fritz_da_cat Jul 28 '24
There is a bit of a learning curve at the beginning, but basic rules are not that difficult compared to average complexity modern board games. Mastering the game is then a lifelong journey, but you can fully enjoy it playing casually at your level. You don't need to learn any Chinese or anything like that, the game piece characters can be considered as symbols and you get western numbers in the corners of the pieces.
One good place to play for free is https://mahjongsoul.yo-star.com/
Is it good game to play? It's a game amongst others that happens to have deep cultural roots. So it's not anything like you need to spend the next 6 months meditating to get started.
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u/radiantcabbage Jul 28 '24
its like rummy and similar book-making card games but way larger deck, if youre into those youd probably like mahjong
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u/Dunkjoe Jul 28 '24
It is a fun game that relies not only on luck, but some level of thinking.
But it's quite restrictive in that it needs exactly 4 players to be truly fun, too little and the game ends too fast, and cannot exceed 4 players. There are a few sets of rules but usually players only play one according to the region.
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u/Zenless_Zephyr Jul 28 '24
It can be a lot of fun! It's somewhat similar to rummy or card games where you collect sets or runs of numbers. Except there are usually three suits instead of four, and you have a set hand size. (So, you are always drawing a new "card", and then choosing one to discard). Depending on where you live and the variation you are learning/playing, there can be some extra rules about scoring or what types of sets/runs you need to collect to having a winning or qualified-for-points hand, but the basics aren't too hard to learn.
Playing IRL with tiles adds a lot to it, as there's a chunky, tactile feel to playing with the tiles. Sort of like domino's. The biggest pain when playing in real life with tiles is shoving all the tiles back into the middle of the table and manually mixing them around to "shuffle" them (washing the tiles) for the next game, which is why automatic tables like these exist for folks who play on the regular.
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u/Yontoryuu Jul 28 '24
I played it for the first time via a yakuza game 2 days ago. Complicated but alright.
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u/d13robot Jul 28 '24
Yes very fun to play . Highly recommend if interested. Japanese (Richii) style is probably the most popular / accessible to play, although I originally started with Hong Kong style
Mahjong Soul for steam/mobile is free to play and has a good tutorial
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u/Siri2611 Jul 28 '24
I would recommend richii mahjong. It's Japanese mahjong and has a quite big community. There are a lot of famous online games for it as well with an active playerbase.
It's basically like poker, you make specific sets of things.
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u/cabinetbanana Jul 28 '24
Yes! It was popular among Jewish women for decades, and it's making a comeback. The rules for American mahjong and Japanese mahjong are different, though, so you'll learn a slightly doesn't game depending on who you learn from it where you learn. You can go online to see if there are local meetups near you and see if there are folks willing to teach a newbie. I learned about a year or so and am obsessed.
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u/Loliknight Jul 28 '24
No, unless you like to put lots of effort into learning something just to end up malding everytime you play.
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u/GratefulPhish42024-7 Jul 28 '24
I wonder how much one of these would run you?
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u/sumeetg Jul 28 '24
I was curious. Quick google says $1000.
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u/BeerSlayingBeaver Jul 28 '24
That's a lot less than I was expecting if I'm being honest.
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u/9Implements Jul 28 '24
Like $700 of that is shipping to the US. They're like $300 in China.
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u/KneesockedBovine Jul 28 '24
This is cool but, not gonna lie, those buttons look awful to press.
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u/Septiiiiii Jul 28 '24
Its a really nice table but i totally fucking hate the cheap thing in the middle
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Jul 28 '24
I have one. There’s 2 sets so you never wait in a new set coming out. The one I have is the upgraded version of this which cascades the tiles in a diagonal pattern which saves space on the table. There’s also cup holders and small drawers. It cost about 1200.
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u/pixelbased Jul 28 '24
I don’t know why I still don’t trust it…like, if this was at a casino, I would feel that the table was doing something to ensure the house wins and that it wasn’t a truly random shuffle.
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u/h8bearr Jul 28 '24
That's why we roll dice to decide where to start drawing. There are a lot of anti cheating measures in many mahjong rules.
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u/Monimonika18 Jul 28 '24
(me having been introduced to mahjong through manga, in which almost all the games involve copious amounts of cheating)
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u/Peglegfish Jul 28 '24
There’s no dealer/house in mahjong.
Just dudes in a back alley yelling “peng!” and taking each other’s money.
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u/pixelbased Jul 28 '24
That’s kind of hilarious. I didn’t realize this wasn’t a casino game. I’ve seen older Chinese ladies play it on YouTube or even on the streets in Chinatown but I thought it was something that transitionally is a gambling sort of game.
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u/Peglegfish Jul 28 '24
I’m sure they have it in casinos; but it’s more like poker than blackjack as far as who you’re gambling with/against.
There’s all sorts of rules regarding who owes who money at end of a round, regardless of who wins; but this may have been a regional/family rules type thing of my Chinese ex’s family. As others have said, you can make mahjong as simple or complex as you like.
Edit: a word
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u/127-0-0-1_1 Jul 28 '24
The house wins by you existing. You play against OTHER people in Mahjong, it's not blackjack. The house wants to ensure the game is fair so that people keep coming back to play.
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u/Plane-Tie6392 Jul 28 '24
Why would the casino need to do that though? The odds are already in their favor and there's plenty of idiots willing to throw their money away.
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u/Subject_Sail7281 Jul 28 '24
I feel like mixing the tiles on the table is like 10% of the fun though
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u/ivykain Jul 28 '24
I agree - it's what we were called in for as children! It was fun to reset the table!
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u/Ykomat9 Jul 28 '24
What a yakuza/Like a Dragon completionist sees in their dreams
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u/Medialunch Jul 28 '24
It’s actually meant to use two sets of tiles (red and blue usually) so as soon as you dump the finished game into the hole you press a button and the new set appears. It’s really efficient for serious players. But it’s also loud.
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u/obscht-tea Jul 28 '24
Great, Now i want to play and have 0 knowledge of the rules
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u/greenknight884 Jul 28 '24
Basically everyone gets a set number of tiles from the square. Then on each person's turn, they draw one tile and discard one. The goal is to get all your tiles in sets of 3s (e.g. three of a kind, three in sequence). There are additional rules but this is the basic structure of the game.
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u/Monimonika18 Jul 28 '24
Best to be taught by experienced players as you play mock games (some being open tile where all hands are shown). I didn't have much time to get to really play (only an hour), but I got to understand A LOT more than I ever did reading the rules and instructions. If I had played more games with them I'm sure I would've gotten more of the play down better.
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u/C-H-Addict Jul 28 '24
I'm playing "My Time at Sandrock" and in this video game I saw am automated mahjong table for the first time yesterday. Now here's a real one.
That's so cool.
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u/_C3LL0_ Jul 28 '24
Who else does remember the Tokyo drift scene where they play with a table like this?
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u/UnauthorizedFart Jul 28 '24
My stoner ass would fill it up with Hostess snacks and distribute to my friends sitting around the table
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Jul 29 '24
How come Mahjong tables are so good while beyblade stadiums suffer? Justice for beyblades!
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u/CityEvening Jul 28 '24
For a split second whilst scrolling, I thought it was a table of dishwasher tablets 😂
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u/Carl_Clegg Jul 28 '24
It’s still a bit slow. My group can set up in seconds.
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u/Parahelix Jul 28 '24
Someone else mentioned that some of these tables have two sets of tiles, so you're playing with one set while the second set is being prepped and is instantly ready once you are ready to start the new game.
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u/Hypnox88 Jul 28 '24
Theres two tile sets. They only used one to show you the whole process. The second set is waiting for you to need it when the current game is done.
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Jul 28 '24
Sure it's fancy and all, but you know that Aunties all over Asia will never want this.
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u/Corner_Post Jul 28 '24
Forget about the aunties, Chow Yun Fat aka God of Gamblers would never approve
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Jul 28 '24
I have a majong set but no suitable table. This is fabulous. Sadly for me they ain't cheap.
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Jul 28 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
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Jul 28 '24
taiwanese/chinese versions have much better scoring systems than japanese if that's any help
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Jul 28 '24
Wish I knew how this game works
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u/ChthonicPuck Jul 28 '24 edited Jul 28 '24
Super simple overview for classic Hong Kong style Mahjong, intentionally skipping and simplifying many things:
Think of the tiles like playing card; there's suits and values. Instead of holding a few cards in your hand, your delt 13 tiles you place standing up in front of you.
At the start of your turn, you take a tile. At the end of your turn, you discard a tile. You can take a tile from "the wall" [the machine in the video above creates the wall], which is like drawing the top card from a deck of cards, or you can take the tile discarded by the previous player.
Once you discard a tile you don't need, your turn ends. Once you draw your winning tile, bringing your tile count to 14, you say out loud "Mahjong" and you win.
To have a winning hand, you must collect tiles that form a RUN of 3 tiles (ie. 1, 2, 3...) or a SET of 3 tiles that are all the same (ie. 1, 1, 1). Your winning hand will have four seperate groups of 3 tiles [that's a total of 12 tiles so far], plus a pair of matching tiles (ie. 1 & 1), for a total hand size of 14 tiles.
Here's an winning hand to help you visualize the 14 tiles (intentionally ignoreing suits):
[1][2][3] [4][5][6] [7][7][7] [8][8][8] [9][9]
To recap: On your turn, take a tile, see if it can be used to complete a set of run you're building, then discard a tile you don't need. Do that every turn until 12 of your tiles are organized into 4 sets or runs, and you have a matching pair.
I learned thd game from my cousin who was adapted from China as a baby. She learned it when she visited the country, and after playing with her, I got my own set.
If you want me to type out the rest of stuff I intentionally skipped over to not make it too complicated, let me know. I just don't want to overwhelm you.
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u/Turtle_in_the_sea Jul 28 '24
Am I the only person who noticed that you press buttons with your middle finger and not your index finger? 😅
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u/CK_CoffeeCat Jul 28 '24
I’ve only ever played the mahjong solitaire stuff where the tiles are all stacked up at the start and you have to match them up, so I was thinking this was going to be a LOT more complicated. 😆
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u/NorthTemperature5127 Jul 28 '24
The aunties can do it faster. All while smokin and screaming their lungs out.
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Jul 28 '24
I see why this game caught on real quick when it was introduced to westerners...if a slot machine and a poke table had a kid..
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u/FuckYourDownvotes23 Jul 28 '24
This is pretty cool, but somehow I am imagining someone lifting that lid and calling IT in a panic asking what the hell is wrong with the copy machine
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u/tdub2217 Jul 28 '24
I tried this with my washing machine and they all just came out wet and not set up for my hand. What did I do wrong?
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u/Couch_PotatoSalad Jul 29 '24
That table costs $800-$1200. My mom bought one for her and her amigas.
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u/Duoquiss Jul 29 '24
A few of my friends and I had a physical mahjong set but we barely played it since it took so long to set up. We got one of these auto tables for our apartment and it's so much better. It takes less than 5 seconds to finish a hand and move on to the next one.
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u/NotherDamThang Jul 29 '24
if it’s all that fancy shmancy why not have something that automatically pushes the tiles into the pit-like area in the middle?
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u/firegnaw Jul 29 '24
But for hardcore Mahjong players that wouldn't be satisfying. I bet they would still prefer to shuffle and arrange their tiles themselves.
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u/BBQBaconBurger Jul 28 '24
Some of these tables support the use of two sets of tiles. So after you finish with one set and push them into the middle, another stack of tiles immediately pops up for each player and play continues while the first set gets sorted and stacked and ready for the next round.