Somebody cancels, and three of you are left at the table. You can still play. Here is the official rule, the house rule most tables actually use, and a third way.
1. The League's rule: four walls, no Charleston
The National Mah Jongg League's rule for three players:
- Build four walls as usual, using all 152 tiles.
- Deal nothing to the empty seat. The dealer takes 14, the other two 13.
- Skip the Charleston. The dealer throws first.
- Play exactly as with four: draw, throw, call, win.
Tournaments play three-player tables the same way: no Charleston.
2. The house rule most tables use: a ghost wall
Many players do not like losing the Charleston, so most home tables keep it with a ghost (or dummy) player: you build the empty seat's wall but never play its hand, and the ghost takes part only in the passing. Groups differ in the details, such as how many tiles the ghost wall holds and what happens if a joker turns up in a pass from it, so agree before you start.
A rack building a run in craks. With three players the hand is the same; only the passing changes.
This is a house rule, not the League's. As one long-time columnist puts it, there are no mah jongg police: a table may set its own rules, as long as everyone knows them before the deal.
3. Play the four-seat game with three people
If you want the game exactly as it is played with four, the Charleston and three opponents' throws included, three people can have it online. At Mahjongg School, one of you starts a table and sends the link to the other two; when you start, the empty seat is taken by one of the school's strong computer players, who reads the discards and never sees your tiles.
Questions
Can you play American Mah Jongg with three people?
Yes. The National Mah Jongg League's rule is to build four walls, deal to the three players only, and skip the Charleston. Many tables keep the Charleston with a ghost wall instead, as a house rule.
Do you do the Charleston with three players?
Not under the League's rule, or in tournaments. Many home groups do, passing through a ghost player's wall; that is a house rule.
How many tiles does each player get with three players?
The same as with four: the dealer 14, the other two 13 each. The empty seat is not dealt any.
Sources
The League's three-player rule, as quoted from its rulebook, and the reader letters on house rules: Sloperama, Mah-Jongg FAQ 13a. Ghost wall: Southern Sparrow. Tournaments: Mah Jongg Master Points rules. "No mah jongg police": Sloperama, column 532a.