The Charleston is the tile-passing phase before play begins. The first Charleston is required: pass three tiles right, then across, then left. A second Charleston (left, across, right) is optional, plus an optional Courtesy Pass with the player across from you. You may never pass a joker.
You sit down. The tiles are dealt. Before you have a single turn, before you've even read your full rack, someone says "first right" and slides three tiles toward you. Now you pass three of your own to the player on your right and receive three from your left. You haven't even figured out what hand you're going for yet.
That's the Charleston. Three required passes, three optional ones, one optional Courtesy at the end, and exactly one rule you cannot break. It's the most strategic part of American mahjong and the part that confuses new players the most. This is the full picture: what it is, the order of every pass, the rule almost everyone forgets, and the mistakes that cost you the hand before play even starts.
(Brand new to the game? Read the complete beginner's guide to American mahjong first, then come back for the Charleston.)
Charleston passing and stopping explanations updated October 7, 2026. See the NMJL stopping rulings and optional across-pass rulings reproduced by Mahj Life.
TL;DR: The Charleston in 5 lines
- In standard four-player play, the Charleston comes before East’s opening discard. It is waived if East is dealt mahjong.
- You must complete three required passes: First Right, First Across, First Left. Three tiles per pass.
- The Second Charleston is optional to begin. Decide after First Left, before anyone looks at Second Left. Once the second round proceeds, complete left, across and right.
- After the Charleston, you may do an optional Courtesy Pass with the player across from you (0 to 3 tiles, both must agree on the number).
- Jokers can NEVER be passed during the Charleston. Ever. This is the rule players forget most.
| Pass | Required? | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| First Right | Yes | Right |
| First Across | Yes | Across |
| First Left | Yes | Left |
| Second Left | Optional round; decide before anyone looks at Second Left | Left |
| Second Across | Required if the second round proceeds | Across |
| Second Right | Required if the second round proceeds | Right |
| Courtesy Pass | Optional (0 to 3 tiles, both agree on the number) | Across |
One rule covers every row: jokers can never be passed during the Charleston.
What is the Charleston?
The Charleston is the structured tile-passing phase before play in a standard four-player American mahjong game, where players pass three tiles at a time in a set order (right, across, left) to improve their hand before play begins.
The Charleston is a tile-exchange phase that takes place before the first turn of an American mahjong game. After you've been dealt your tiles but before anyone picks from the wall, you pass tiles around the table in a specific sequence. The goal is to swap away tiles you don't want and pick up tiles that fit the hand you're trying to build.
It's not a throwaway phase. It's the most important set of decisions you'll make in the hand. Every Charleston pass shapes your final rack, and the players who treat it like a strategic move (instead of a chore to get through) consistently build stronger hands.
The Charleston is unique to American mahjong. Other styles of the game don't use it. The National Mah Jongg League codifies the rules around it. For a full plain-English breakdown, see the complete American mahjong rules reference.
The First Charleston: three required passes, in order
The first Charleston normally requires three passes: First Right, First Across, First Left, with three tiles per pass. If East is dealt mahjong, the Charleston is waived; see the NMJL guidance reproduced by Mahj Life. Otherwise, complete the first round in order.
First Right: the opening pass
First Right is the first required pass: you slide three tiles face-down to the player on your right, while the player on your left slides three tiles to you at the same time. Every player at the table passes and receives simultaneously, so nobody sees what's coming before they've committed their own three tiles.
Pick the three tiles you most want out of your hand. Don't overthink the first pass. The tiles you pass first are usually the ones that don't fit anywhere on the card or don't match anything you're holding: a lone tile in a suit you're not building, a wind that doesn't match any Winds-Dragons hand you'd consider, a flower when you're not chasing a Flowers hand.
This is also the pass where new players most often freeze. You haven't had a single turn yet and you already have to make three decisions. Give yourself permission to pass "obviously useless" tiles here and save the harder calls for First Across and First Left, once you've seen more of the table.
First Across: keep your useful options
First Across is the second required pass: you pass three tiles to the player opposite and receive three from that player. Sitting opposite someone does not tell you which hand they are building.
Keep tiles that support your strongest hand options, especially useful pairs and tiles that can work in more than one hand. Pass tiles that do not help those options.
Look carefully at the tiles you receive and recheck your options against the card. A passed tile shows what that player let go of on that pass; it does not prove which hand they are building.
First Left: the last required pass
On First Left, pass three tiles to the player on your left and receive three tiles from the player on your right. This is the third and final required pass of the first Charleston. By now you've made two passes and seen two passes come back, so you should have a real sense of which two or three hand families are still realistic.
This is where you start trimming toward your target hand instead of just clearing out junk. If a tile doesn't fit any of the two or three hands you're seriously considering, this is the pass to let it go. Pass three tiles face-down. On First Left, a blind pass can supply some or all of those three tiles.
The blind pass: still three tiles in total
A blind pass lets you make up your three tiles using tiles from the incoming pass instead of your own rack, without looking at them first. It is allowed only on two passes in the whole Charleston: First Left (the pass you're on right now) and Last Right, which is the third and final pass of the Second Charleston (also called Second Right).
If you genuinely cannot spare three tiles from your own rack on First Left, you may "steal" one, two, or all three of the tiles being passed to you and slide them straight along to the next player, face-down, without looking. You are not allowed to peek at a blind tile before passing it on. Saying "passing blind" out loud is considered courteous, but Mah Jongg Made Easy does not require you to announce it.
Want a quick reference beside your rack? Get the free one-page Blind Pass guide to keep the permitted passes and tile counts handy.
Second Charleston (Optional): three more passes, only if the whole table agrees
After the first three passes, decide whether to continue. Any player may stop the second Charleston without giving a reason, provided nobody has looked at the incoming Second Left pass. If the second Charleston goes ahead, complete all three passes: left, across and right.
Make the decision after First Left and before anyone looks at Second Left. If nobody stops the second round, the table continues with these three passes:
- Second Left (three tiles to your left, received from your right)
- Second Across (three tiles across, received from across)
- Second Right, also called Last Right (three tiles to your right, received from your left)
The blind pass rule applies again here, on Second Right/Last Right only, the same way it applied on First Left: if you can't spare three tiles from your rack, you may pass along tiles from your incoming pass without looking at them.
After the first three passes, look again at your strongest hand options. If you want to stop, tell the table before anyone looks at Second Left. You do not need another player's permission. If the second round goes ahead, complete all three passes.
Courtesy: the optional pass after the Charleston ends
The courtesy pass is the optional across pass in NMJL play. After the first Charleston—or after both rounds if you continue—you and the player opposite may exchange up to three tiles. Use the smaller number requested. If either player chooses zero, that pair does not exchange. A mush is a separate house rule and should not be described as the courtesy pass.
You and the player opposite agree on the count before passing. If you want to pass three tiles and the other player wants to pass one, you both pass one. You cannot pass more than three tiles, and either player may choose not to exchange.
Finish the courtesy pass before East's opening discard. Before play begins, ask the player opposite how many tiles they would like to exchange, from zero to three.
One important note: jokers still cannot be passed in the Courtesy Pass. The no-jokers-in-the-Charleston rule extends all the way through the Courtesy.
What to pass and what to keep
The mechanics of the Charleston are simple. The strategy is where it gets interesting. Here's the framework I teach my students:
Look at the card first, not your tiles
Before you decide what to pass, look at the 2026 NMJL card and identify two or three hand families that could realistically work with what you've been dealt. Don't lock in on one hand. The Charleston exists because most starting racks aren't anywhere near a complete hand yet, and the tiles you receive during the Charleston may reshape your options.
Pass the truly useless first
Your First Right pass is for the tiles that don't fit anywhere. The lonely 7 Bam when you have nothing else in Bams. The single flower when you're not building a Flowers hand. The wind that doesn't match any wind hand you'd consider. Those go first.
Watch what comes back to you
Use incoming tiles to reassess your own hand options. A passed tile is only a clue about what someone released at that moment: it may have traveled through another player, and plans can change. Receiving several 5s does not prove that nobody needs 5s or that a 5 will be safe to discard later.
Don't pass tiles that could become flexible
Tiles that could fit multiple hands are worth holding. A pair of 2s might fit a 2026 hand, a Like Numbers hand, or a Consecutive Run. Don't pass flexibility just because you don't have a use for it yet.
Never pass a joker
This is the hard rule. We'll get to why in the next section.
Common Charleston mistakes (and the fix for each)
Mistake 1: Passing tiles before looking at the card
What goes wrong: You start passing the tiles that "look useless" without checking what hands they might fit. Then on your fourth pass you realize you needed those 4 Dots for a hand you didn't see at first.
The fix: Spend the first 30 seconds reading the card. Identify two or three plausible hands BEFORE you pass anything. Your starting rack is rarely close to a complete hand, but it's almost always closer to two or three hands than you'd think.
Mistake 2: Locking in on one hand too early
What goes wrong: You see a hand you like, decide "that's my hand," and start passing every tile that doesn't fit it. Then the tiles you need don't come. Now you're stuck.
The fix: Keep two or three hand options open through the First Charleston. Commit to one hand only after you've seen what tiles the table is feeding you.
Mistake 3: Passing jokers
What goes wrong: You have a joker but the hand you're building doesn't need it (yet), so you pass it. Now your opponent has a free joker for their hand.
The fix: You cannot pass jokers in the Charleston. Not in any pass, not in the Courtesy. If you receive a joker in a pass, your opponent has made a mistake. We cover this in detail in the full joker rules guide.
Mistake 4: Passing your pairs
What goes wrong: You have a pair of 6 Crak and you don't see a hand that uses it, so you pass both. Then on your next pass you pick up a hand option that needed exactly that pair.
The fix: Pairs are valuable. Hold pairs through the First Charleston unless you're 100% sure they don't fit any hand you're considering. The same goes for matched flowers, matched winds, and dragons.
Mistake 5: Treating the Second Charleston as automatic
What goes wrong: You blindly do the Second Charleston because that's what the table did last time. But your hand is already strong and three more passes risk losing the tiles you've built up.
The fix: Check your rack after the First Charleston. If you're already close to a complete hand, tell the table you want to stop before anyone looks at Second Left. Doing the Second Charleston when you don't need it is one of the most common ways players hand away the hand they were building.
Mistake 6: Forgetting the Courtesy Pass
What goes wrong: You and the player opposite skip the Courtesy out of habit without considering whether either of you wants to exchange tiles.
The fix: Before East's opening discard, ask the player opposite if they want to do a Courtesy. Even one tile traded can be the difference between a winning hand and a hand that dies on the wall.
Mistake 7: Overlooking the tiles you receive
What goes wrong: You set incoming tiles aside without checking whether they improve your hand or give you another workable direction.
The fix: Look at each group you receive before choosing your next pass. Recheck your strongest options against the card and stay flexible. There are no discards during the Charleston, and passed tiles do not prove which hand another player is building.
When you can NOT pass jokers (this is the hard rule)
You cannot pass a joker in the Charleston, on any pass, ever. This includes the right pass, the across pass, the left pass, the blind pass, and the Courtesy. Jokers stay on your rack for the entire Charleston, no exceptions.
You can NEVER pass a joker in the Charleston. Not in any of the three required passes. Not in the Second Charleston. Not in the Courtesy Pass. Not blind. Not on purpose. Not by accident.
If you mistakenly pass a joker, the receiving player gives it back and a symbol tile is swapped in. NMJL does not declare the hand dead, because the game has not officially begun until East discards the first tile. Tournament tables can enforce stricter etiquette around this, but the official ruling is "give it back and continue."
This is the rule new players forget most often, usually because the joker doesn't seem useful for the hand they're starting to build. Pass it now, problem solved, right? Wrong. Your hand is in flux through the entire Charleston. The hand you're considering on the First Right is rarely the hand you end up playing. A joker held through the Charleston is a joker you can use later, in any pung, kong, quint, or sextet.
The Charleston summary you can put on a sticky note
- First Charleston (required): First Right, First Across, First Left. 3 tiles per pass.
- Second Charleston (optional to begin): decide before anyone looks at Second Left. If it proceeds, complete Second Left, Second Across and Second Right. 3 tiles per pass.
- Courtesy Pass (optional, opposite players agree on number): 0 to 3 tiles between you and the player across.
- Blind pass allowed on the First Left and the Last Right only. You can pass 1, 2, or all 3 tiles blind.
- NEVER pass jokers. Not in any pass. If one slips through, it's given back and a symbol tile is swapped in (no dead hand, but don't make a habit of it).
That's the full Charleston. Three required passes, three optional ones, one Courtesy, and one rule about jokers that you do not break. Memorize this and you'll be ahead of most of the players at your first table.
The Charleston is where the hand actually starts
Most beginners think the game starts when the first tile gets picked from the wall. It doesn't. The game starts the moment you slide the first three tiles to your right. Every pass after that is shaping the hand you'll play.
Your Charleston shouldn't be "pass fast and hope." It should be "read the card and decide." This is the part of the game that takes the longest to feel intuitive, and it's the part that separates someone who knows the rules from someone who actually plays well. Slow down on your next Charleston. Read the card before you decide what's "useless." Watch what flows past you. Ask for the Courtesy out loud, every hand, until it becomes a habit.
And if you've been nodding along to this and want to actually drill the Charleston with real hands and real feedback, that's exactly what the Charleston Confidence Mahjong Skill Builder is for. It's a Confidence Challenge month focused on Charleston decisions, with practice hands, prompts, and the chance to see how other players are passing through the same tiles. The Charleston is the highest-leverage practice you can do, and it's the fastest way to feel like a stronger player at the table.
Charleston reps stick fastest with real people across the table, and you can practice reading a live Charleston inside The Confidence Club every week.
It also helps to know exactly what you are passing: American mahjong tiles explained covers all 152 tiles in the set. And because every pass is in service of a payout, how American mahjong scoring works shows what the hand you are shaping is worth.
If you're a brand-new player and the rest of the game is still a question mark, start here. If you want the one-page summary you can bring to your next game, grab the free cheat sheet. And if you want to look up any term in this post that didn't quite land, the mahjong glossary has every definition in one place.
The Charleston moves fast, and having this next to you the first few times makes it click a lot sooner. Grab the guide and bring it to your next game.
Download the Charleston Guide (PDF)See you at the table.
Lara
Ready to connect the Charleston to the rest of your decisions? Continue with the American mahjong strategy guide for hand selection, jokers, switching, defense, and practice.
