THREE-PLAYER MAH JONGG (Article 188)

Commentary: When there are fewer than four players, the National Mah Jongg League’s official rule is to omit the Charleston. This prevents complications and ensures a fair game.

The purpose of the Charleston is to allow players to improve their dealt hand through a series of three-tile passes. Passing can be a strategic move—sometimes defensive, sometimes risky. A risky pass might give the receiving player a powerful boost.

In a three-player game, simulating the missing player’s passes introduces serious fairness issues:

• Random wall draws: Tiles passed “on behalf” of the absent player may include flowers, jokers, pairs, or like numbers—tiles most players would willingly pass.
• No-risk passes: When players pass to the absent seat, they can discard strong tiles without fear of helping another player.

This creates two specific imbalances:

1. The player to the left of the missing seat could receive two passes in a row filled with tiles that would almost never be passed in a four-player game.
2. The player to the right of the missing seat could make two risky passes in a row to the wall, creating a significant hand development advantage.

Both situations undermine the balance of the game and can accelerate hand building unfairly.

Despite these drawbacks, some groups enjoy the Charleston so much that they invent ways to include it in three-player play. These adaptations are house rules, not official rules. If your group decides to use one, you’ll need to agree on the logistics in advance—such as how to simulate the absent player’s passes and when to push out the walls. Some groups push out the walls in the regular order, but some groups push out the missing player’s wall last.

Here’s a video demonstrating three common methods: https://youtu.be/uYUja7aZ3bE

From the NMJL:  Four walls are built. The three players draw tiles from the wall, four at a time, until everyone has twelve tiles. Wall without a player does not draw any tiles. Each player then picks one tile in turn, for a total of 13 tiles, with East then picking a 14th tile from the wall. The Charleston is omitted, and East starts the game by discarding the first tile.

Source:  Mah Jongg Made Easy (2024 page 26)

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