Mahjong Solitaire
This is Mahjong Solitaire in its classic form. There are 144 tiles stacked in the Turtle shape, and your job is to clear them all by taking away matching pairs. It is free, it runs in your browser, and there is nothing to install or sign up for.
If you played Mahjong Titans on an old Windows PC, or Shanghai on a Mac or a games console, this is the same game.
How to play
- Find a free tile. A tile is free when nothing sits on top of it and its left or right side is open. Free tiles are bright. Blocked tiles are shaded.
- Click its twin. Pick two free tiles with the same picture and both disappear.
- Keep going. Each pair you take away can free the tiles it was covering or pinning.
- Clear the board. Remove all 72 pairs and you win.
There are two exceptions to the “same picture” rule. Any flower matches any other flower, and any season matches any other season. The how to play guide goes through it with pictures.
What you get here
- 24 layouts, from the gentle Butterfly to the five-level Fortress. See them all on the layouts page, or try Daily Mahjong for a new board every day.
- Every deal can be won. Boards are built backwards from an empty table, so a solution always exists.
- 5 hints, 3 shuffles and unlimited undo in every game. Hints pick the pair that frees the most tiles.
- A daily deal. Everyone gets the same board each day, so you can compare times.
- Your game is saved on this device. Close the tab and pick up where you left off.
- Ten table designs, relaxing music and sound effects, all saved between visits.
Turtle Mahjong, the classic layout
The Turtle is the layout most people picture when they think of Mahjong Solitaire. It has 144 tiles in five layers: a wide base of 87 tiles, then smaller blocks of 36, 16 and 4, and one tile on the very top. Three tiles stick out as a head and tail on the left and right.
About 35 tiles are free when you start. That is enough to give you choices without making it easy. The single tile on top and the three tail tiles are free from the start, and the tail tiles stay free for most of the game, so there is no rush to take them.
A few tips to start
- Take tiles from the top first. High tiles block the most and are rarely a trap.
- Look before you match. If you can see three or four copies of a tile, choose the pair that frees more tiles.
- Don’t strand a pair. If two copies are buried under the same stack, matching the other two can leave them with no partner.
The strategy guide goes into more detail.
Controls and keyboard shortcuts
Everything works with a mouse or a finger. Click or tap a tile to select it, then click its partner. Click a selected tile again to put it down.
On a computer you can also use the keyboard:
- H shows a hint.
- U or Ctrl + Z undoes the last pair.
- S shuffles the tiles that are left.
- N starts a new game.
- Esc closes any open menu and clears your selection.
Settings and table designs
Open Designs at the bottom of the screen to change the table. There are ten, including Crimson, Violet, Jade, Walnut and Slate, the colours of our other games, plus Holly for Christmas. Under Settings you can turn sound effects, the shading on blocked tiles and the small numbers in the corner of each tile on or off, and switch to large tile faces if you find the pictures hard to read. Music has five relaxing tracks. Everything you choose is saved on your device.
Other names for this game
Mahjong Solitaire goes by a lot of names, and they all mean the same puzzle: Shanghai, after the 1986 Activision game; Mahjongg or Mah-Jongg Solitaire; Taipei, the name of an early Windows version; Kyodai; Mahjong Titans, the Windows Vista and 7 game; tile matching; and plain Mahjong. If you know it by any of those, you are in the right place.
Mahjong Solitaire or Mahjong?
They are two different games that share the same 144 tiles. Mahjong is played by four people, who each build a winning hand. It is a game of skill, reading the other players and some luck. Mahjong Solitaire is a puzzle for one person, where you take matching pairs off a stacked board. Our rules page covers both, and this post sets out the differences in plain terms.
Is it good for your brain?
There is real research on Mahjong and memory, though most of it is about the four-player game. Trials in Hong Kong and Taiwan found that people who played regularly held on to their memory better than people who didn’t. Mahjong Solitaire uses some of the same skills: scanning for matches, remembering where a tile was, and planning a few moves ahead. It is a good habit, not a medicine. Our post Is Mahjong good for your brain? goes through what the studies found.
A short history
The one-player game was written in 1981 by Brodie Lockard on PLATO, an early computer network run from the University of Illinois. Activision released it as Shanghai in 1986, and that version made the Turtle the layout most people picture. Twenty years later Mahjong Titans came with Windows Vista and Windows 7 and put the game on millions of home computers. When Windows 8 left it out, players went looking for it online. The history of Mahjong tells the whole story, from 1800s China onwards.
More ways to play
- Daily Mahjong: one board a day, the same for everyone.
- Easy Mahjong and Hard Mahjong: our gentlest and toughest layouts.
- Christmas Mahjong: six festive layouts for December.
- Mahjong Titans layouts: the six layout names from the Windows game.
- Animal Mahjong: seven layouts shaped like animals.
Turtle layout at a glance
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Tiles
- 144 (72 pairs)
- Layers
- 5
- Board size
- 15 tiles wide, 8 rows deep
- Free at the start
- 35 tiles
- Cleared in our tests
- About 50%
The Turtle layout stacks its 144 tiles in five layers: 87 on the table, 36 on layer 2, 16 on layer 3, 4 on layer 4, 1 on top.
How we rate difficulty. We had the computer play 200 games on each layout, picking moves the same way our Hint button does. On Turtle it cleared the board without a shuffle in about 50% of games. People who plan ahead do better than that, but the order of the layouts stays much the same. The full list is on the all layouts page.
24 layouts to choose from
Every layout uses the same 144 tiles and the same rules. The shape is what changes, and the shape decides how hard the game is.
Turtle MahjongClassic The classic 144-tile board. Five layers, a long tail at each end. 
Butterfly MahjongEasy Two open wings and a slim body. The gentlest board to learn on. 
Garden MahjongEasy Four small courtyards that never block each other. Quick and calm. 
Pyramid MahjongMedium Four tiers stacked into a solid block. Peel it from the edges. 
Dragon MahjongHard Long and low with a tall ridge down the middle. 
Fortress MahjongHard Five walls, one inside the next. The hardest board here. See all 24 layouts, sorted by difficulty
Questions people ask
How do you play Mahjong Solitaire?
Click two matching tiles to remove them. You can only pick a tile that is free, which means nothing is sitting on top of it and its left or right side is open. Clear all 144 tiles to win.
What is the Turtle layout in Mahjong?
The Turtle is the classic Mahjong Solitaire layout and the one most versions start with, including Mahjong Titans on Windows. It stacks all 144 tiles in five layers that look a little like a turtle from above, with single tiles sticking out at each end as the head and tail. Some sites call it the Tortoise or simply the standard layout.
How many tiles are in Mahjong Solitaire?
144. That is 36 dots, 36 bamboo, 36 characters, 16 winds, 12 dragons, 4 flowers and 4 seasons, which makes 72 pairs.
Is Mahjong Solitaire the same game as Mahjong?
No. Mahjong is a four-player game where you build a winning hand. Mahjong Solitaire is a one-player puzzle from 1981 that uses the same tiles. Our rules page covers both.
Do flowers and seasons match each other?
Any flower matches any other flower, and any season matches any other season. A flower does not match a season. Every other tile needs an identical partner.
Can every game be won?
Yes. Each board is dealt so that at least one full solution exists. You can still get stuck by taking pairs in the wrong order, which is what Undo and Shuffle are for.
Can I play Mahjong Solitaire on my phone?
Yes. The game works in any phone or tablet browser. On a phone held upright, the board turns sideways so the tiles stay big enough to tap.
Is this Mahjong Titans?
It is the same game. Mahjong Titans was Microsoft's version for Windows Vista and 7, and it started on the Turtle too. Our Mahjong Titans layouts page has all six of its layout names. This site has no connection to Microsoft.
Is there a Christmas version?
Yes. Christmas Mahjong has six festive layouts: a tree, snowman, bell, stocking, wreath and present.
Is it free?
Yes. Every layout is free, runs in your browser and needs no download or account. The site is paid for by ads.