The lessons · lesson 4 of 13
Setting up the table
The wash, the wall, who is East, the deal and your rack: everything before the first turn.
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Who is East, the wash and the wall
Four people play: you and three opponents. First, each player rolls the dice. The highest roll is East, the dealer for this game. This time, you rolled highest, so you are East. All the tiles are turned face down and mixed. This is called washing. Each player builds a row against their rack: nineteen stacks, two tiles high. The rack is as long as the row. The four rows make up the wall. When a row is needed, its player pushes it toward the middle with the rod on their rack.
A 36-second video, with captions.
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The deal, your rack and the draw
East rolls again and counts that many stacks from the right end of their row. The wall is split there, and those stacks are saved for the end of the game. The tiles are dealt from the other side of the split. Everyone gets thirteen. East gets fourteen. Your tiles stand on your rack, facing you. Only you can see them. From then on, each player in turn draws the next tile from the wall.
A 27-second video, with captions.
Try it at the table
East throws first
You are East. The deal gave you 14 tiles, one more than everyone else, so you throw first, without drawing. You are going for three 3 Bams, three 6 Bams, four 6 Craks and four 9 Craks. Which tile would you throw first?
Your rack
Try it at the table