Mahjong: free solitaire game
How to play this mahjong game
Mahjong solitaire is a matching game for one player. The 144 tiles start stacked in a shape, and you clear the board by removing matching pairs. This is the solitaire form of the game, played alone against the layout, not the four-player table game.
Tap two matching tiles that are both free. A tile is free when nothing is sitting on top of it and at least one of its long sides, left or right, is open. Blocked tiles look darker and can't be picked.
Which tiles match
- Suits: bamboo, circles and lanterns each run from 1 to 9. A tile matches the same suit and number.
- Winds and dragons: each matches its own twin, so north goes with north.
- Flowers and seasons: any flower matches any other flower, and any season matches any other season, even when the pictures differ.
Tips for clearing the board
- Start with tiles on the top layers and at the ends of the longest rows. They free up the most new moves.
- When all four tiles of a kind are free, take them both as pairs. You lose nothing by doing it.
- If three of a kind are free, think first. The pair you leave behind may decide which tile gets released next.
- Don't spend your shuffles early. Save them for when no pair is left on the board.
Every board can be solved
Boards are built backwards: the generator takes pairs off the full layout in a legal order and assigns matching tiles along the way, so a full solution always exists. You can still get stuck by choosing a different order, which is why you have three hints, three shuffles, and an undo button.
Need bigger tiles? Turn on Large tiles under the board, or use Display at the top of the page for larger text and high contrast. Want a new challenge every day? Try the daily mahjong board or browse all layouts.