American Style Mahjong Rules

The Charleston

One of the main differences between the American Style Mahjong and the other Mahjong Styles is "the "Charleston" sequences before the game play. The Charleston is basically series of tile exchanges among the players. This creates opportunities to get rid of tiles that the players do not want by passing them to other players during the Charleston.

Note: that Jokers cannot be passed during the Charleston.

The Charleston is divided into three stages: First Charleston (required), Second Charleston (optional), Courtesy Pass (option). Let's look at each stages in more details:

First Charleston

First Charleston is a required step, even if a player has drawn a complete set of hand from the wall. This step consists of three passes:

a.	1st pass - each player passes three tiles to the player on the right.
b.	2nd pass - each player passes three tiles to the player across.
c.	3rd pass - each player passes three tiles to the player on the left. For this step, a player may choose to perform "Blind Pass" -- players may take one, two, or three tiles that being passed to them and pass them to the player on the left without looking at the tiles.

Second Charleston

The Second Charleston is optional and can be performed only when ALL players agree. This step consists of three passes:

a.	1st Pass - each player passes three tiles to the player on the left.
b.	2nd pass - each player passes three tiles to the player across.
c.	3rd pass - each player passes three tiles to the player on the right. For this step, a player may choose to perform "Blind Pass".

Courtesy Pass

After the First Charleston and/or Second Charleston have been completed, two players who sit across may want to perform one last pass. In this step, one, two or three tiles may be passed, based upon the lesser tile request. Thus, if a player does not want to exchange any tiles, then there will be no courtesy pass performed between this particular player and the player across.

Once all the Charleston steps are completed, the game is ready to start!

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