Exposure

Definition

An exposure is a group of tiles that a player places face-up on top of their rack for all players to see. Exposures are created when a player "calls" another player's discarded tile to complete a set (pung, kong, quint, or sextet). Once exposed, those tiles cannot be rearranged or returned to the concealed hand.

How It Works in Gameplay

When any player discards a tile you need to complete a group of three or more, you may call it by saying the name of the group (e.g., "three bam" or "pung"). You then place the completed group face-up on your rack. Exposures give you tiles faster but reveal information about your hand to opponents. Skilled players read exposures to deduce what hands you might be building and adjust their defense accordingly. Some hands on the NMJL card are marked with a "C" for concealed, meaning no exposures are allowed.

Example

You hold two 7 Dots in your hand, and the player to your left discards a 7 Dot. You call it, complete a pung of three 7 Dots, and place them face-up on your rack. Now everyone at the table can see you have three 7 Dots, which may help them guess your target hand — and they might stop discarding tiles you need.

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