Before anyone discards, the table passes tiles. Nothing like it exists in any other mahjong. It is where beginners lose games and where good players quietly win them.
The rules
- The first Charleston is compulsory: three tiles to the right, then three across, then three to the left.
- A second Charleston runs the other way (left, across, right) only if all four players agree. One no and it does not happen.
- After that, a courtesy pass across the table, by agreement between the two players opposite each other.
- Every pass is three tiles, face down, and every player passes at the same time. You give before you get.
- Jokers are never passed. Not in the Charleston, not in the courtesy pass.
| Pass | To | Can be blind? |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | right | no |
| 2 | across | no |
| 3 | left | yes |
| 4 (second Charleston) | left | no |
| 5 | across | no |
| 6 | right | yes |
| Courtesy | across | no, 0 to 3 tiles |
Read down the "To" column and the six passes go right, across, left, left, across, right.
The blind pass
On the last pass of each Charleston (pass 3 and pass 6) you may not want to give up three of your own tiles. Instead you may pass on some of the tiles you have just been handed, without looking at them. That is a blind pass, and players also call it stealing. You still pass three tiles in all.
One tile from your rack, the 9 Dot, and two of the three tiles just passed to you, still face down: three tiles go on to your left.
- Pass three of your own tiles and none blind.
- Pass two of your own and one of the new tiles blind.
- Pass one of your own and two blind.
- Pass none of your own and all three blind.
A tile you were dealt is never passed blind, and you must not peek at the tiles you pass blind.
Stopping after the first Charleston
Any player may stop the second Charleston, without giving a reason, but they must say so before anyone looks at the tiles from its first pass. Once those tiles have been seen, the second Charleston goes ahead. Either way, the courtesy pass comes next.
The courtesy pass
After the Charleston, each player may swap up to three tiles with the player opposite. The player who wants to pass fewer decides the number: if you want to pass three and the player across wants to pass one, you each pass one. If either wants none, that pair does not swap. The other two players decide for themselves.
A joker passed by mistake
If a joker goes across in a pass, it is handed straight back, and the player passes a real tile instead.
What to pass
The habit: decide your direction before the first pass, then pass the tiles none of your candidates need.
A rack after the deal. The pairs of 2 Bam, 4 Crak and North stay; the loose 5 Bam, 8 Crak and 9 Dot are the first pass to the right.
After the deal you have two or three candidate lines (see How to read the card). The tiles that appear in none of them are your pass. Usually there are more than three, so pass the ones least likely to matter later: isolated honours you are not collecting, a single of a number far from your runs, the odd suit in a two-suit plan.
Some particular rules of thumb:
- Keep pairs. A pair is halfway to a pung and all the way to the pair most lines need. Break a pair only when the whole plan has changed.
- Pass the same suit early. If you are leaning toward bams, your loose craks and dots go first. Suit tells are cheap this early; nobody remembers the first pass.
- Do not pass what you just watched someone want. If a tile you are about to pass right is one the player on your right could not stop staring at, it is now a gift. Passing blind is the answer when you have three you are happy to lose anyway.
- The second Charleston is a vote about you. Say yes when your plans are still open and more tiles would help; say no when you are already close and every tile in your rack is working. You are allowed to be selfish.
- The courtesy pass is a negotiation. Offer the number you actually want to move, not the maximum.
What comes back
Three winds from your left. The player on your left is not collecting winds, so a winds hand of your own just got easier.
The tiles that arrive are information. Three honours from your left means the player on your left is not collecting honours. Three of one suit from across means that suit is free for you. Read the incoming tiles for what the others are dropping, then settle your candidates for the last time before play begins.
Practise it
At the school's table the Charleston is played exactly as above, blind passes and all, and the report card after each game shows every pass next to the three tiles a strong player would have sent. The Charleston lesson goes through one pass at a time, the drills deal you thirteen tiles and ask which three you would pass, and the placement test includes three passes.
Questions
What is the Charleston in mahjong?
The passing of tiles in American Mah Jongg before play begins. Every player passes three tiles to the right, then three across, then three to the left, all at the same time. No other kind of mahjong has it.
Is the second Charleston required?
No. The first Charleston is compulsory; the second, which goes left, across and right, happens only if all four players agree. One player saying no stops it.
Can you pass a joker in the Charleston?
No. Jokers are never passed, not in either Charleston and not in the courtesy pass.
What is a blind pass?
On the last pass of each Charleston, the left pass of the first and the right pass of the second, you may pass on tiles you have just received without looking at them. You still pass three in all, and a tile you were dealt cannot go blind.
What is the courtesy pass?
After the Charleston, the two players opposite each other may swap up to three tiles, by agreement. Both pass the same number, set by the player who wants to pass fewer, so one pair of players can swap two while the other swaps none.