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What is a blind pass in the Charleston?

A blind pass is taking one, two or three of the tiles being passed to you and sending them straight on to the next player without looking at them, so you can keep your own tiles. It is allowed only on the third pass of either Charleston, the first left and the last right, and never on any other pass.

Answered by Prim. Last reviewed 2026-09-15.

What the blind pass is for

Every required pass of the Charleston costs you three tiles, whether you can spare them or not. Most of the time you can. Now and then a deal arrives so well formed that giving up three tiles would take a hand apart, and the rules make one allowance for exactly that moment. On the last pass of a Charleston you may take some or all of the tiles arriving from the left, keep them face down, and pass them on to the right without ever turning them over. Those tiles never join your hand. They simply travel through it.

You still pass three tiles. The blind pass changes which three. If you take two tiles blind, you pass those two plus one of your own. If you take all three blind, you keep every tile you were dealt and hand along three you have never seen. The count stays honest, and your rack stays whole.

When it is allowed, and when it is not

The blind pass belongs to the third pass of a Charleston and to no other. In the first Charleston that is the pass to the left. In the second Charleston, if the table plays one, that is the pass to the right. On the first and second passes of either Charleston you choose three tiles from your own hand and there is no blind option at all.

It is also allowed in either Charleston, not only the second. You will hear it said at some tables that the blind pass is a second Charleston privilege. That is not the rule. The last left of the first Charleston is a blind pass moment too, and a player who forgets that gives away a good hand for nothing.

The courtesy pass, the optional exchange with the player across from you after the Charlestons are done, is a different thing entirely. It is negotiated, it is face down, and it is not a blind pass.

How to do it at the table

Wait for the tiles from your left to arrive, face down. Decide how many you want to keep of your own. Slide the tiles you are passing blind across to the right, still face down, and add any of your own to make three. Do not peek, do not shuffle them into your rack, and do not announce what you have done. Nobody at the table has a right to know whether the tiles you passed were yours or somebody else's.

More than one player may pass blind on the same pass. If every player wants to, the table can find itself with nothing to pass at all, and the rules have an answer for that edge as well: the player with the most tiles to spare passes one or two and says I owe you, and the debt settles itself on the way around. If no one has a tile to give, the Charleston simply ends and play begins.

Why a strong player uses it sparingly

The blind pass protects a hand that is already good. It does nothing for a hand that needs help, and it costs you the one thing the Charleston gives freely, which is a look at three more tiles. Most of the time the better play is to pass three of your own and see what comes. Reach for the blind pass when your rack is precious, and only then.

There is a small tell in it, too. A player who passes blind has just told the table that the rack is worth protecting. Experienced players notice. Pass blind when you must, and do it without ceremony.