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MAHJ — Lesson 11

Defense & Wall Awareness

Reading the table, tracking discards, and not feeding the win

Goal: Read opponents' exposures and discards, spot hot vs. safe tiles, and know when to shift from offense to defense

Estimated time: 13–16 minutesNeedsLesson 10UnlocksLesson 12

Why it matters: The worst way to lose is handing your opponent the winning tile. Defense is how you avoid it.

Step 1 of 18

What Is Defense?

Opponents can call tiles you discard. If you throw the one that completes their hand, you pay them double for the win — twice what the other two players pay.

Defense is reading the table — watching exposures and discards — so you don't feed tiles to whoever's closest to Mahjong.

An exposure is a group a player called out loud and placed face-up on their rack — so everyone can see part of what they're building.