Mahjong Solitaire › All layouts › Heart Mahjong

Heart Mahjong

Heart Mahjong is a heart shape. Two rounded lobes at the top are stacked three tiles high, and the heart narrows row by row down to a single point.

The bottom half is easy because the rows get shorter as you go down. The top half takes more thought, because the two lobes join into long rows across the middle.

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 Heart layout is built

The lobes are separate in the top row and join below it. The point at the bottom is a short stack of tiles that is free from the start.

Tips for Heart Mahjong

• Clear the raised lobes first. They are the highest tiles and they cover the longest rows.
• The short rows near the point open quickly. Use them for partners while you work on the top.
• The widest row runs right across both lobes. Work it from both ends.

Heart layout at a glance

Difficulty

Medium

Tiles

144 (72 pairs)

Layers

3

Board size

12 tiles wide, 8 rows deep

Free at the start

26 tiles

Cleared in our tests

About 35%

The Heart layout stacks its 144 tiles in three layers: 62 on the table, 62 on layer 2, 20 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 Heart it cleared the board without a shuffle in about 35% 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 medium 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. Pyramid MahjongMedium Four tiers stacked into a solid block. Peel it from the edges. Bridge MahjongMedium A long double-deck span between four towers. Castle MahjongMedium Outer walls, corner towers and a keep in the middle. Crab MahjongMedium A domed shell with claws reaching out at each corner. Fish MahjongMedium A rounded body with a raised middle and a split tail.

See all 24 layouts, sorted by difficulty

Questions people ask

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