Mahjong Solitaire All layouts Cat Mahjong
Cat Mahjong
Cat Mahjong is a cat face: two pointed ears at the top, raised eyes, a raised nose and a rounded chin. It is mostly two tiles deep all the way across.
Don't be fooled by the friendly shape. The face is twelve tiles wide and almost every row runs the full width, so the middle of each row is pinned for a long time.
How to play
The rules are the same on every layout. Click two free tiles with the same face to remove them. A tile is free when nothing sits on top of it and its left or right side is open. Any flower matches any flower, and any season matches any season. Clear all 72 pairs to win. The how to play guide has pictures.
How the Cat layout is built
The ears are single columns that start the game free. The eyes and nose are the only spots stacked three high.
Tips for Cat Mahjong
- Take the eyes and nose early. They are the highest tiles and each one covers a tile in a long row.
- Work every row from both ends. A twelve-tile row opens one tile at a time from each end.
- Leave the ear tips for later. They stay free all game, which makes them useful spare moves.
Cat layout at a glance
- Difficulty
- Hard
- Tiles
- 144 (72 pairs)
- Layers
- 3
- Board size
- 12 tiles wide, 8 rows deep
- Free at the start
- 22 tiles
- Cleared in our tests
- About 25%
The Cat layout stacks its 144 tiles in three layers: 72 on the table, 68 on layer 2, 4 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 Cat it cleared the board without a shuffle in about 25% of games. That is harder than the classic Turtle, which comes in at about 50%. 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.
More hard layouts and favourites
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. 
Dragon MahjongHard Long and low with a tall ridge down the middle. 
Fortress MahjongHard Five walls, one inside the next. The hardest board here. 
Arrow MahjongHard A long shaft and a raised head pointing right. 
Cloud MahjongHard A soft-looking puff with a deceptively stubborn middle. 
Owl MahjongHard Big stacked eyes, ear tufts and two little feet. See all 24 layouts, sorted by difficulty
Questions people ask
Is Cat Mahjong easy?
It is harder than it looks. Most rows are twelve tiles long, so the middle of the face stays blocked for much of the game.
How many tiles are in Cat Mahjong?
The standard 144, in three layers.
Is Cat Mahjong free?
Yes, free in your browser with no download or sign-up.