Follow the passing order
| Stage | Directions | What to choose |
|---|---|---|
| First Charleston | Right → across → left | Three tiles per pass. |
| Second Charleston | Left → across → right | Three tiles per pass, if all players continue. |
| Courtesy exchange | Across | Up to three tiles; the smaller offer determines the number exchanged. |
The screen identifies the current direction. Check it before confirming instead of relying on where you last passed. Tiles travel privately; this is an exchange with another rack, not a discard that anyone can call.
Decide what matters before choosing three tiles
Look for pairs, larger matching groups and combinations that connect to the same card line. Keep your joker: it cannot be passed. Then compare two possible targets and identify tiles that help neither. Those are sensible first candidates, although no fixed discard formula guarantees the best result.
A pair deserves attention because jokers cannot complete it. But do not keep every pair forever. A pair outside both plausible plans may be less useful than a single natural tile needed by either plan. The card gives those tiles their value.
Work through one actual lesson
Our opening example gives you three 1 bamboo, three 1 characters, two 1 dots, two Easts, one joker and the loose 2, 6 and 9 bamboo. Passing those three loose bamboo tiles preserves the existing groups and your joker.
The preserved tiles point toward Crosswind: a same-number pung in each suit, a wind pung and a dragon pair. The lesson is protecting a connected plan, not treating every isolated number as unwanted.
| Keep | Reason |
|---|---|
| Three 1 bamboo; three 1 characters | Two complete pungs for Crosswind. |
| Two 1 dots; two Easts | Each is one tile short of a required pung. |
| One joker | Can fill either incomplete pung, but cannot supply the missing dragon pair. |
After passing 2, 6 and 9 bamboo, you have kept 11 tiles. For a separate what-if example, suppose the incoming tiles are 1 dots, East and one red dragon. You now have 14 tiles: four complete natural pungs, one red dragon and a joker. That is not a win: the joker cannot become the second red dragon. Counting to 14 is not the same as completing the card.
Compare a different hypothetical incoming pass: East and two red dragons. Now the joker completes your 1 dots pung, the East pung is complete, and the natural dragon pair is present. That rack matches Crosswind. These are teaching examples, not promised results from the prepared lesson.
What does a blind pass mean?
Air Mahjong permits blind passing on the first left and final right. You can supply fewer than three tiles from your rack and forward the remaining number from the incoming pass without inspecting them. The total passed is still three.
For example, two chosen tiles plus one blind tile completes that pass. Blind passing protects useful tiles you already hold, but gives up the chance to inspect part of the incoming offer. It is an option at those stages, not permission to look at a tile and then describe it as unseen.
Continue only when another round helps
After the first three passes, Air asks whether to continue. Any player declining skips the second Charleston. Consider whether you still have three dispensable tiles and several plausible improvements; do not agree just because more passing feels like progress.
For the courtesy exchange, opposite players may offer different numbers. If you offer three and your opposite player offers one, only one is exchanged. An offer of zero means no exchange for that pair. Jokers remain in the rack here too.
Keep the exercise simple
Before confirming any pass, check: correct direction, three tiles in total, no joker, and a clear reason for each tile you are giving away. If you cannot spare three, do not simply send fewer; blind passing is available only on the specified passes. During the first right, you must choose three natural tiles from your rack.
Finish this practice by naming the exact missing groups after an incoming pass. Then use the card-reading guide to check them. When passing finishes, the dealer already has the opening extra tile and starts ordinary play by discarding.