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MAHJ — Ways to Play

3-Handed Mahjong

How to play with three players — official rules and the popular house rules version

Goal: Both ways to play with three people — the official NMJL® method and the ghost-player house rule — so you can play no matter who shows up

Estimated time: 9–12 minutesNeedsLesson 15

Why it matters: Someone cancels last minute. Now what? Three-handed Mahjong means the game goes on.

Step 1 of 11

Someone Cancelled. Now What?

Four players is the standard. But sometimes you only have three — and that's okay. American Mahjong works with three players.

There are two ways to do it:

Official rule

Three players, no Charleston, no passing — clean and simple, straight from the NMJL® rulebook.

Both use the same NMJL® card, tiles, and scoring — only the setup and the Charleston differ.