Chapter 6 of 12 · Section 2 of 2
All 19 steps of this section, written out on one page. The pictures and activities aren’t included: to see them, open a step in the lesson.
Why come back to the Charleston? In Chapter 5 you learned the passing rules without aiming for any hand. Now you can scan your rack for candidates (Section 1), so each pass can have a purpose.
In this section, your plan is your lead line, plus a backup when you have one. Each pass asks the same question: which tiles does my plan need, and which 3 can I give up?
Your lead line: even Bams with a pair of Flowers
Your lead line uses your Flowers and even Bams. It has no use for the 7 Crak, 3 Dot, North Wind or White Dragon. On the First Right, 3 of them go face down to your right.
Strategy is advice, not a rule. Even a legal pass can make your hand weaker. We’ll explain both.
This browser saves your answers and your place on this device, so you can leave and come back.
As in Section 1, group matching tiles together before you choose a pass. Keep the Bams, Craks and Dots apart, then put the numbers in order within each suit. Place Winds, Dragons, Flowers and Jokers where you can find them quickly.
The same 13 tiles as dealt, then sorted, with the pairs of 2 Bams and 4 Bams side by side. The other players see only the backs of your tiles.
Two 2 Bams and two 4 Bams are easier to spot when each pair sits side by side. A 9 Dot on its own stands out as well. But “on its own” doesn’t always mean “useless”—check the card before you let it go.
At a real table, you sort the tiles on your own rack. Keep their faces turned toward you; the other players should not see your hand.
Tap the tiles in this order: Bams, Craks, Dots, from low to high in each suit; then North, Red Dragon, Flower and Joker. Each tap places a tile on the rack below. This is one helpful order, not a rule.
Your 13 tiles, as dealt · tap them in the order given
Start with the lowest Bam.
Begin with the tiles you already hold: pairs, several tiles in one suit, or useful Winds and Dragons. Look over the card for 2 or 3 lines that use those tiles. Read each line in full, including its pair, its suit instructions and its X or C.
Two related teaching lines
Fictional lines for practice, not from an NMJL card.
Line A · 2468
Line A in Bams
Line B · 2468
Line B in Bams
Lines A and B share a pair of Flowers and pungs of 2s, 4s and 6s, outlined in green. Read in Bams, Line A ends with 8 Bams and Line B with Green Dragons.
On your rack from step 1, the 2, 4 and 6 Bams and the 2 Flowers help both lines.
Keeping those shared tiles helps both lines for now. If 8 Bams arrive, Line A moves ahead; if Green Dragons arrive, Line B does.
A run like 2–3–4 doesn’t automatically count as a winning group. In American Mah Jongg, the exact line on the card decides which tiles go together.
A 2, 3 and 4 Bam in a row: not a group unless a line on the card says so.
Stays in your hand
A Joker is never passed.
May be passed
Any tile except a Joker: numbered tiles, Winds, Dragons and Flowers.
As in Chapter 5: every tile may be passed except a Joker.
You’re not allowed to pass a Joker in any part of the Charleston, including the courtesy pass. Chapter 7 lets you practice where Jokers can go.
Flowers appear in many lines, so keeping one can leave more choices open. But “always keep Flowers” is not a rule. If the lines you could actually make don’t need one, passing it may make your hand better.
In this exercise, your plan is the lead line and the backup shown. You are not the dealer, so you hold 13 tiles. Choose 3 tiles to pass to the right without weakening your plan.
To clear a tile you chose, tap it again. The page checks your choice but won’t choose for you.
A teaching example, not a line from the current NMJL card. X means exposures are allowed. You need all 14 tiles.
3 × 1 Crak
3 × 2 Crak
3 × 3 Crak
3 × 4 Crak
2 × 5 Crak
A teaching example, not a line from the current NMJL card. X means exposures are allowed. You need all 14 tiles.
3 × 2 Crak
3 × 3 Crak
3 × 4 Crak
3 × 5 Crak
2 × 6 Crak
Your 13 tiles · in rows, larger, so you can tap each one
Tiles you select will appear here.
Show a hint
Look for the tiles that help neither line.
A pair gets you started on a group. It matters even more if your line needs that exact pair: a Joker can’t replace either tile in a pair.
Your lead line: even Dots
A Joker can’t fill a pair, so keep both 2 Dots.
Your lead line needs a natural pair of 2 Dots, and you hold both. It has no use for your two 4 Bams.
A pair that fits none of the lines you could actually make may be worth passing. If other tiles are equally unhelpful to you, avoid giving one player a ready-made pair or a closely linked group.
If you choose to give up both tiles, you can often send them in different passes to different players. This is a defensive preference: it avoids helping another player. It is not a reason to break up a better hand of your own.
First Right: one 4 Bam goes to the player on your right.
First Across: your other 4 Bam goes across, to a different player.
You passed to the right and got 3 tiles from your left. Put the new tiles next to their matches, then compare your candidates again.
On the First Right, every player passes to their own right. So your new tiles come from the player on your left.
Line A: 11 of 14 places
Line B: 11 of 14 places
Your rack from step 1 after the First Right. The new 4 Bam, 6 Bam and Green Dragon are outlined. Lines A and B from step 4 now cover 11 of 14 places each.
Here both lines gained, so keep both for now. Before you switch lines, look at your whole rack, not only the newest tiles.
Your next pass goes across. You may pass a tile you received if it doesn’t help your plan. You don’t have to keep it until a later pass.
By the third pass, you may see which candidate is strongest. Keep the tiles your lead line needs, plus a backup that shares tiles with it. Don’t hold on to unrelated candidates only because each might turn into something.
Teaching card
Fictional lines for practice, not from an NMJL card.
Even Bams · 2468 Lead
11 of 14 places.
Consecutive Bams · Consecutive Run Backup
9 of 14, and 8 of them use the same tiles as the lead line.
Odd Bams · 13579 Drop
1 of 14, and it shares no tiles with the lead line.
As in Section 1: Even Bams leads and Consecutive Bams is the backup. Odd Bams is dropped, since it shares no tiles with the lead line.
The First Left allows a blind pass. For example, pass 1 unwanted tile from your rack along with 2 incoming tiles you haven’t looked at. You still pass 3 tiles in all.
1. 3 tiles arrive face down from Right
from
Right
Don’t turn them over.
2. Send 2 of them on to Left, still unseen, with 1 of your own
Your own
to
Left
Dashed: the 2 unseen tiles. Gold: your own White Dragon, turned face down.
1 of your own + 2 unseen = 3 tiles
3. Only now, look at the tile you kept
It stays face down until your pass has gone.
13 − 1 + 1 = 13 tiles
A blind pass on the First Left, as in Chapter 5.
Blind passing lets you keep tiles you already value, but you lose the chance to look at the tiles you pass along. It’s a choice, not a promise of a stronger hand.
After the First Left, pause and look at your hand as it is now. If a second Charleston would force you to break up useful groups, you can stop it. If several tiles still don’t fit, it may improve your hand.
Any player may stop the second Charleston, without saying why, before anyone looks at the Second Left tiles. Once anyone has looked at them, all 3 passes must be finished. Even if it’s skipped, the courtesy pass can still follow.
Still time
The Second Left tiles are set down, face down. No one has looked at them yet, so anyone may still say no.
Too late
Someone has looked at their Second Left tiles. Now the Second Left, Second Across and Last Right must all be finished.
Anyone may still stop it while the Second Left tiles lie unseen. Once someone has looked at them, it’s too late.
No general rule says “3 unwanted tiles means you go on.” Compare what you could give up with what you might gain.
Pass 4
Second Left
Pass 5
Second Across
Pass 6
Last Right
On the Second Left, every player passes to their own left. So your new tiles come from the player on your right.
Some tables set the 3 tiles of the Second Left in a small pyramid, 2 below and 1 on top. The shape is a table custom; the direction you pass in is what matters.
A small pyramid of 3 face-down tiles.
Go on checking each new set of tiles against your plan. On the Last Right, blind passing is allowed, as it was on the First Left.
Three face-down tiles: 2 on the bottom, 1 on top.
At tables that use the small pyramid, what does it mark?
A pass can tell you something, but you can’t see the whole hand it came from. A player may pass some Dots and keep other Dots. A Flower might be a spare, not a sign that they need no Flowers.
Right passed you a 3 Dot, 5 Dot and 7 Dot. Right’s other 10 tiles stay hidden, so you can’t tell what Right kept.
Instead of asking what they must be playing, ask whether these new tiles make one of your candidates stronger. If 3 helpful Dots arrive, a Dot line may be worth comparing with your earlier Bam line.
In the same way, your pass tells the player who gets it only which tiles you gave up. If you have other passes that are equally good for you, avoid sending a set of tiles that is plainly useful to them. But don’t give up your own progress only to hide every clue.
A 3 Dot, 5 Dot and 7 Dot, passed to you.
You receive these 3 Dots. Which thought do the facts support?
The courtesy pass is with the player directly across. Each of you may offer 0 to 3 tiles, and you both pass the lower number. Offering 0 is allowed.
You offer 3 and Across offers 2, so you each pass 2 face down. Right and Left sit across from each other too: Right offers 1 and Left offers 0, so they pass nothing.
You each pass 2. Pick the 2 tiles that help your own hand the least. Don’t add an extra tile to be polite: the numbers have to match.
You may agree to a 1-tile pass even if you were hoping for 3. Before you agree, decide whether there’s really a tile you want to give up. Make the pass face down, and never include a Joker.
You offer 2
Across offers 1
You offer 2 face-down tiles, and Across offers 1.
You offer 2 tiles for the courtesy pass, and the player across offers 1. What do you pass?
For each hand, your plan is the lead line shown. Pick 3 tiles to pass in the direction given. These are separate examples, not 4 passes in a row.
Some hands have more than one good answer. If you’re stuck, open the hint.
Hand 1 of 4
Your first pass goes to the right.
A teaching example, not a line from the current NMJL card. X means exposures are allowed. You need all 14 tiles.
2 × 2 Dot
4 × 4 Dot
4 × 6 Dot
4 × 8 Dot
Your 13 tiles · in rows, larger, so you can tap each one
Tiles you select will appear here.
Show a hint
Look for the tiles your line doesn’t use. If 2 of them make a pair, think about who gets them.
Answer 7 questions about the choices you practiced in this chapter. For this attempt, your first answer to each question is what counts.
Read each explanation, then go on to the next question. Afterward, you can practice the questions you missed.
Question 1 of 7
Your lead line
Line A · 2468
Your rack from step 1.
Line A is your lead line. Which 3 tiles from this rack make a sensible first pass?
Using a real rack or the 5 practice hands, pick 3 tiles to pass. Explain why each helps less than the tiles you kept. Name the line you’re aiming for and one tile that would make you rethink it.
Go on to Chapter 7: Taking Turns, Calling & Jokers
Back to Section 1: Scanning the Card