HOP TOI, A BIT OF MAGIC (ARTICLE 230)

There is not only zen in the game of mah jongg where the wall is concerned, but also a bit of magic.

Depending on where the wall is broken for the distribution of the tiles to the players, someone may get the last stack of tiles from one wall and the first stack of tiles from the next wall – this is a hop toi (Fig. 1). When this happens, the player says, “I believe,” as a declaration of magic or good luck in those tiles. “Hop” means to ‘shut in’ and “toi” means “table” to “keep the dragons (e.g., jokers, flowers, keepers) inside the breached walls on the table.” No one should touch another player’s hop toi because that messes with the magic.

Some people call a hop toi a ming toi, but that is incorrect. A ming toi (Fig. 2) is a little container of seat wind indicators. The ming toi can also be used as a wind of the round indicator when playing Asian versions of the game.