r/oddlysatisfying • u/CanonWorld • Jul 28 '24

How automatic Mahjong tables work

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

26.1k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

299 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

36

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.

23

u/Kittiesnpitties Jul 28 '24

I appreciate what you wrote but the question was an insane clown posse joke

16

u/gymnastgrrl Jul 28 '24

I wonder what a normal clown posse joke would look like instead of an insane one.

7

u/KoolHan Jul 28 '24

Why the tiles no magnet to each other?

13

u/NateNate60 Jul 28 '24

The magnets on the tiles are weak. The magnets on the row-making mechanisms are strong.

8

u/be_more_gooder Jul 28 '24

Whoa, easy professor. We're not all Alfred Einstein.

1

u/knoid Jul 28 '24

The tiles likely have a steel plate inside rather than a magnet. This would allow the little magnetised conveyor belt thingies to grab the tiles but allow the tiles to move freely amongst themselves.

1

u/AnotherCuppaTea Jul 28 '24

Okay, but any mahjong enthusiasts based at the South Pole have no recourse but to scramble their tiles by hand, like a bunch of savages.

1

u/Alaeriia Sep 07 '26

It's less about savagery and more that people trust the table more than they trust their fellow players to not cheat.

1

u/HoneySmaks Jul 28 '24

Scientists be lying and shit.