The Charleston in Mahjong, Explained Tile by Tile

The tiles are dealt and standing on everyone's rack, and East (the dealer) says "first right." That's the Charleston: before the first tile is drawn, every player passes three tiles to the right, then across, then to the left, so you can trade away what doesn't fit and pick up what might.

Here is each pass, shown with tiles, and how to choose what to give away.

What is the Charleston in mahjong?

The Charleston is a series of tile swaps that happens after the deal and before play starts. Each pass is three tiles, face down, to one player at a time. The first round (right, across, left) is required. A second round going the other way is optional, and a small courtesy swap can follow.

It exists because the card is so specific. Each line on the League's yearly card is one winning hand (how to read the card), and fourteen random tiles almost never fit one, so the game gives everyone a chance to shape their hand before it begins.

How to do the Charleston: right, across, left

1. 1RequiredFirst rightThree tiles to the player on your right.
2. 2RequiredFirst acrossThree tiles to the player facing you.
3. 3RequiredFirst leftThree tiles to the player on your left. A blind pass is allowed here.

Everyone passes at the same time: pick your three, place them face down in front of the player you're passing to, then pick up the three placed in front of you. Don't look at what you received until you've passed.

Then East, the dealer, still holds 14 tiles and everyone else holds 13. Nothing about the Charleston changes that.

When can you stop the Charleston?

After the first left, the table can play a second round in the opposite order: left, across, right.

1. ·Your callStop?Any one player may stop the Charleston here.
2. 4OptionalSecond leftThree tiles left.
3. 5OptionalSecond acrossThree tiles across.
4. 6OptionalLast rightThree tiles right. A blind pass is allowed here.

Any single player can stop it. If one person says "stop" after the first left, there's no second Charleston for anyone, and you go straight to the courtesy pass. You don't have to explain why. Usually it's because your hand is already close and you don't want to give anything up.

Honestly, for your first few games I'd let the second Charleston happen. Two more passes means two more chances to fix a messy rack, and that's worth more than protecting a hand you're still learning to read.

The courtesy pass

Last comes the courtesy pass, with the player across from you only. You agree on a number from zero to three, and you both pass that many. If one of you wants two and the other wants three, you pass the lower number. It's optional, and plenty of tables skip it.

What is a blind pass?

A blind pass means passing on tiles you just received without looking at them. You can do it on two passes only: the first left and the last right. If you don't have three tiles you want to give away, you pass along one, two or all three of the tiles coming to you, unseen, to make up your three.

It's useful when you've already decided your hand and don't want to break it up.

What not to pass in the Charleston

Two more things to hold on to early:

• Soaps. The soap is the white dragon, and on the card it also counts as zero. In a year like 2026 that makes it part of the year line, so new players who pass soaps as "useless" often regret it.
• Flowers. Many lines on the card use them. Keep them until you know which hand you're playing.

What to pass first

By the first left, try to narrow your hand to two or three lines on the card. Then pass, in roughly this order:

1. Lone winds and dragons that fit none of your lines.
2. Numbers outside your plan: odd numbers if you're leaning toward even hands, and the reverse.
3. Pairs that none of your possible hands need.

Try it on a dealt rack. You're leaning toward even numbers:

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