A faithful reader of this blog, DianeG, has sent in an explanation of what to do

when your 4th player doesn’t show up and you don’t want to play without a

Charleston. Please note: in this picture the book the middle dog is reading is “How to

Play Mah Jongg.” And it looks as if the little white doggie doesn’t really know how to play

because he is about to cheat!

 As Diane reminds us, “this is a fun game and…a blind Charleston is…not according to the

regular rules. Just to keep up going with only three.”

Walls are built and set in front of each of four racks as usual. The empty 4th seat will by my dog, “Chili”. I am East; he is on my Right.  Three players put their tiles on their racks to view. Chili’s tiles are placed face down on the top (exposure area) of his rack. I pass 3 tiles to my Right (Chili) and place them face down on the near end. The person to Chili’s right takes any 3  tiles except the 3 I have just placed at the other end. The Chili’s tiles are mixed up. The passing goes on as usual. For passing across, again; player opposite Chili passes 3 tiles to the end of Chili’s rack and  takes any random 3 from the remaining tiles. Chili’s tiles are then mixed. The Charleston continues in this “blind” manner until done. Then Chili’s tiles are all added to the end of the wall, and we play “threesies”.  We call it “blind” because Chili’s tile are random, and no one is really making any decision as to which ones to pass.

Diane notes that the official rules say to abandon the Charleston altogether when only playing with 3. This is just her group’s fun variation. And the OMs have played this way, as well. Have you?