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Can you play American Mahjong with three people, or only two?

Yes, both. The League's rules allow a game of three and a game of two. You still build all four walls, the empty seat takes no hand, and there is no Charleston: the deal is played as it lands, and East opens by discarding.

Answered by Prim. Last reviewed 2026-10-11.

Three at the table

A fourth player is a pleasure, never a requirement. When only three arrive, the game goes on with one seat empty. All four walls are still built, nineteen stacks each against the racks, so the whole set of 152 tiles is in play exactly as it would be with four.

The empty seat simply takes no hand. Nothing is dealt to it, nobody plays for it, and it never discards. East is always one of the three players at the table, so the empty seat is never East. The rulebook does not say which of the other seats should be the empty one, so settle it as you sit down and keep it for the evening.

The deal for three

The deal runs as it always does, only around three players instead of four. Four tiles at a time go to each player until everyone holds twelve. Then each player takes one more in turn, and East takes a fourteenth. That puts forty tiles in hands and leaves the rest in the wall, which is a great deal more wall than a table of four ever sees.

You may hear of a version in which East takes two tiles at the end while the others take one. The count comes out the same, and the rulebook's order is the one above.

No Charleston

This is the part that surprises people. With fewer than four players the League drops the Charleston entirely. There is no first Charleston, no second, and no courtesy pass. The hand you are dealt is the hand you start with. East discards the fourteenth tile, naming it, and play moves to the right as usual.

Some groups miss the passing so much that they invent a way to pass to the empty seat. That is a house rule, not the League's. A table is free to agree on one before play, and it should say so plainly before the first tile moves.

Two at the table

Two can play as well. The players sit across from each other, and each builds a wall in front of their own seat and the wall to their right, so all four walls stand as usual. The two empty seats take no hand, there is no Charleston, and East opens by discarding.

A game of two is a fine way to practice. With fewer eyes on the discards and more tiles in the wall, it rewards patience, and it teaches you to read one opponent very closely. Calling, Jokers, exposures and Mahjong itself all work exactly as they do at a full table.

New to the words? East · Wall · Charleston