Mahjong Solitaire › How to play

How to play Mahjong Solitaire

Mahjong Solitaire is a one-player puzzle. 144 tiles are stacked into a shape, and you clear them by taking away matching pairs. There is one rule to learn, and it decides which tiles you are allowed to pick.

Which tiles you can pick

You can only pick a tile that is free. A tile is free when both of these are true:

1. Nothing is on top of it. If a tile on the layer above covers any part of it, it can't move.
2. Its left or right side is open. At least one of those two sides must have no tile touching it on the same layer.

Tiles in the rows above and below do not matter, only left and right. That is why a tile in the middle of a long row can't be picked even though you can see all of it. As soon as one of its neighbours goes, it is free.

In our game, free tiles are bright and blocked tiles are shaded, so you don't have to work it out by eye. You can switch the shading off in Settings if you want more of a challenge.

What counts as a match

Two free tiles match when they show the same face. A 4 of bamboo matches a 4 of bamboo. A red dragon matches a red dragon. Each of these faces appears four times in the set, so every tile has three possible partners.

There are two exceptions:

• Flowers. The four flower tiles (plum, orchid, chrysanthemum and bamboo) all match each other. In our set they share a pink label.
• Seasons. The four season tiles (spring, summer, autumn and winter) all match each other. They share a teal label.

A flower does not match a season. The tile guide shows every face if you want to learn them.

A game step by step

1. Look for free tiles. A tile is free when nothing sits on top of it and its left or right side is open. Free tiles are bright and blocked tiles are shaded.
2. Click a matching pair. Click one free tile, then another free tile with the same face. Both are removed.
3. Remember the two exceptions. Any flower matches any other flower, and any season matches any other season, even though the pictures are different.
4. Work from the top down. Each pair you remove can free the tiles it was covering or pinning. Tiles on the highest layer are nearly always safe to take.
5. Clear all 144 tiles. Remove all 72 pairs to win. Use a hint if you cannot see a move, or a shuffle if no pair is left.

Hints, undo and shuffle

• Hint (5 per game). Lights up a pair you can take. It picks the pair that frees the most tiles. Keyboard: H.
• Undo (as many as you like). Puts the last pair back. Handy the moment you see you buried something. Keyboard: U or Ctrl+Z.
• Shuffle (3 per game). Mixes up the faces of the tiles still on the board. The shape stays the same and the new board can still be cleared. You can't undo past a shuffle. Keyboard: S.

Five beginner mistakes

1. Taking the first pair you see. If three or four copies of a tile are free, check which pair frees more before you click.
2. Leaving the top layer for later. High tiles block the most tiles and are almost never a trap.
3. Using up the row ends early. The ends of long rows stay free all game. Keep them as spare moves.
4. Spending flowers and seasons straight away. They match more freely than anything else, which makes them useful later.
5. Shuffling too early. A shuffle with 100 tiles left changes little. With 20 left it can save the game.

The strategy guide goes deeper.

Which layout to start with

Start with Garden or Butterfly. Both are shallow and give you lots of free tiles. Move to the classic Turtle once the free tile rule feels natural, then try Dragon and Fortress.

Questions people ask