Mahjong solitaire is a single-player matching game played with mahjong tiles. The tiles are stacked in a layout, and you clear the board by removing pairs of identical tiles that are free. It shares only its tiles with Mahjong, the four-player game of drawing and discarding.
What makes a tile "free"
A tile can be picked only when both of these are true:
- Nothing is on top of it, not even partly.
- Its left side or its right side is open: no tile is directly touching it on at least one of those two sides.
Tiles blocked on both the left and right, or covered from above, cannot be taken yet. Most games dim the tiles you cannot pick.
What matches with what
A classic set has 144 tiles:
| Group | Tiles | Copies | How they match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dots (circles) | 1–9 | 4 of each | Identical tile only |
| Bamboo | 1–9 | 4 of each | Identical tile only |
| Characters | 1–9 | 4 of each | Identical tile only |
| Winds | East, South, West, North | 4 of each | Identical tile only |
| Dragons | Red, Green, White | 4 of each | Identical tile only |
| Flowers | 4 different | 1 of each | Any flower with any flower |
| Seasons | 4 different | 1 of each | Any season with any season |
That adds up to 108 + 16 + 12 + 4 + 4 = 144 tiles.
How to win
Remove all the tiles. If no free pair is left, you are stuck. Most browser versions then offer a shuffle or a hint, sometimes at a cost in score or time.
Strategy tips
- Open the long rows first. Tiles at the end of long horizontal rows block many others. Freeing them early opens up the board.
- Work on tall stacks. A tile under three others is harder to reach than the whole bottom layer. Clear the top of stacks before the flat parts.
- Count the copies. Each normal tile has 4 copies. If 3 copies are free, take the pair that does not leave the fourth trapped under something.
- Don't grab the first match you see. If there are two possible pairs, choose the one that uncovers more tiles.
- Save shuffles. Use a hint first; shuffle only when there is truly no free pair.
Variants you will meet
- Mahjong Connect: all tiles lie flat, and you can match two identical tiles if they can be joined by a line with no more than two bends that passes through empty space. Mahjong Connect: Spooky uses this rule.
- Triple-match (tile collection): you tap tiles to move them into a tray at the bottom, and three identical tiles in the tray disappear. If the tray fills up, you lose. Trays often have about 7 spots.
- Themed sets: many games replace the classic symbols with fruit, candy or pictures, but the free-tile rule stays the same.
Where to practice
Mahjong Master 2 follows the classic pyramid layouts, Mahjong Solitaire: World Tour adds a level-by-level journey, and Mahjong Solitaire: Tile Blast is a relaxed take on the standard rules.
