When playing American Mahjong with three people …

When playing with three people …so you have the dummy ( silent person) that we call “Alice” set up….if you get a joker from Alice during the Charleston, do you get to keep it? There is one person in our group that says you have to give it back. Is this true?

Here's a solution since Jokers are not permitted to be passed during the Charleston.

The NMJL version does not include a Charleston, but, you can certainly add The Charleston as a house rule. When the Charleston is added to the National Mah Jongg League version, it is considered a table rule. In this case, I prefer the version, "Playing with Sally (or whatever name you give the dummy wall),"

Here are the steps to playing with Sally:

1. Before setting up 4 walls, each player picks one tile, looks at it it's a joker, you put it back among the tiles and pick again. Those 3 tiles are set aside for now.

2. Next, set up 4 walls.

3. Let's name the dummy wall, Sally.

4. Now take the 3 tiles that everyone picked and place them in front of Sally's wall.

5. These 3 tiles become Sally's first right.

6. Proceed with the Charleston as you normally would.

Playing this version of the game ensures a Charleston experience as in the 4-player version and assures no one will get a Joker from Sally, the dummy wall.

Play be League rules:

When playing with three people, follow these steps and important points about the game:

1. Build the Walls: The walls are built just as in four-handed Mah Jongg.

2. Tile Distribution: Tiles are dealt out with East taking the first tile, the next player takes the next tile, and this continues until all players have 13 tiles.

3. East’s 14th Tile: East takes their 14th tile.

4. Empty Seat: No tiles are given to the empty seat.

5. The Charleston: The Charleston phase is omitted from this version of the game.

Starting the Game: East begins the game by discarding their 14th tile but does not pick, just like in the 4-handed Mah Jongg.

6. Continuing Play: Play continues with each player picking and discarding as usual.

Source: Mah Jongg Made Easy 2024 page 26