Jokers as Currency
Redemption, and the timing trap
How to take a joker, and the mistake that kills your hand.
Intermediate · lesson 12 of 22
If someone has an exposed group using a joker and you hold the real tile, you may swap your tile for their joker on your turn. You can do it for as many jokers as you have real tiles for.
Note
Draw or call first, then swap. Reaching for the joker before you have picked and racked makes your hand dead. It is the most common way a good player loses a hand to a rule rather than to the tiles.
Taking a joker is not an exposure, so a concealed hand can do it and stay concealed. That is worth knowing, because it is the one way a concealed hand ever gains a joker mid-game.
Reading ahead is fine. The path takes lessons in order, so this one ticks off once you get here.
See where you are