Definition
The courtesy pass is an optional exchange of up to three tiles with the player across from you after the Charleston, where each of you names a number and the lower one is used.
It is the one pass where fewer than three tiles may change hands, and zero is a legal answer. No joker may be passed in it, because the no-jokers rule runs through the courtesy pass as well.
At the table
The courtesy pass is a cheap fix that is easy to skip, because by then everyone wants to start playing. Use it to shed the last tile of a direction you abandoned. The mistake is agreeing to three tiles out of politeness when one would have done, or breaking a pair to fill the number.
Read the full guide: The Charleston in American Mahjong: Rules, Order & Strategy.
Lesson 4, The Charleston I: Mechanics, teaches this in its step "The courtesy pass". It comes with the Club. See what Lesson 4 covers.
See it on real tiles. The AI coach reads a dealt hand, free, and names the direction it goes for, what to keep and what to pass, at the free read.
Want the coach on call? The Club adds the coach for your own tiles and for each morning’s hand, all 10 lessons, and every new NMJL card taught the week it lands, for $14.99 a month, cancel anytime. See what the Club includes.
Related: Charleston, Joker, Blind pass, Joker exchange. All 52 terms.