THE MUSH (Article 156)

The “mush” is a non-compulsory exchange of tiles (e.g., courtesy pass, optional across) after the Charleston optional across pass. It is optional, so players who participate place tiles to be exchanged in front of their rack, upside down. Participating players take back from the other players as many tiles as they contribute. The standard number of tiles that can be exchanged in the mush is three, but some groups mush up to five.

Some groups call this “the trash” and “mish-mash.”

Variations

DRAW-MUSH
After an arduous game with no winner, some groups do a final exchange of tiles that I call the “draw-mush.” The group decides the maximum number of tiles that can be contributed. The tiles are placed in front of each player, who takes the same number from the others as they contribute.

MIDDLE-MUSH

After the first Charleston, players do a mush. If all players are in agreement, they continue with the second round.

TRIPLE-MUSH

Some groups use this method throughout the Charleston when playing with less than four players. Each player chooses up to three tiles and places them in the middle of the table. When each player contributes their “pass,” the tiles are mixed. Each player takes as many tiles as they contributed, beginning with East.

SPECIALS
Players take a random tile from the wall in front of them and they place it in the middle of the table. Each player can exchange one of their tiles for one of the specials. The tiles left on the table are mixed and put back into the wall.

Question from a player:  Some people I play with introduced “mushing” and I don’t know how the hot and cold wall works.

Answer from the NMJL:  “Mushing, hot or cold walls are all examples of “table rules”, not NMJL rules. Usually, the members of a particular game decide on these modifications.”

Source:  National Mah Jongg League Q&A (2023)