Mahjong Solitaire › All layouts › Star Mahjong

Star Mahjong

Star Mahjong is a five-pointed star. One point goes straight up, two go out sideways and two angle down to the bottom corners. The centre is raised to four tiles.

The points are narrow, so their tips free up fast. The tricky part is the row that runs across the two side points and the centre, the longest row on the board.

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 Star layout is built

The top point is a narrow column. The side points join the centre in one long row, and the lower points spread out to the two bottom corners.

Tips for Star Mahjong

• Take the raised centre first. It is four high and covers the long middle row.
• The point tips are free early. Use them as partners for centre tiles.
• Work the long middle row from both ends at once.

Star layout at a glance

Difficulty

Medium

Tiles

144 (72 pairs)

Layers

4

Board size

14 tiles wide, 8 rows deep

Free at the start

32 tiles

Cleared in our tests

About 45%

The Star layout stacks its 144 tiles in four layers: 58 on the table, 52 on layer 2, 28 on layer 3, 6 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 Star it cleared the board without a shuffle in about 45% 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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