How to Play Mahjong Solitaire
Mahjong Solitaire is a calm, one-player puzzle played with the colorful tiles of a Mahjong set. The tiles are piled up in layers, and you clear them away two at a time by finding matching pairs. There are no points to count and no opponents to watch. The rules fit on an index card, yet a big layout can keep you thinking for a pleasant half hour. This page explains the rules our free game uses, shows you what every tile means, and walks through a few example moves.
Mahjong Solitaire Is Not the Four-Player Game
If you hear "Mahjong" and picture four friends around a card table, racks of tiles and someone calling out "Pung!", you are thinking of the classic four-player game. That game is about drawing and discarding tiles to build a winning hand, a little like gin rummy, and it has its own scoring cards and table manners.
Mahjong Solitaire uses the same tiles but nothing else. It is a matching puzzle for one person, and it became popular on home computers in the 1980s. You don't need to know any Mahjong hands to play it, and you don't need to read Chinese characters: in our game every tile has a big number or letter in its corner.
What You Need
- A Mahjong set of 144 tiles (our biggest layout uses all of them; smaller layouts use some).
- A table, and some patience. Online, the game sets out the tiles and keeps track of everything for you.
The Goal
Take every tile off the table. You do it by removing pairs of matching tiles, but only tiles that are free. When the last pair is gone, you have won.
Which Tiles Are Free?
A tile is free, and can be taken, when both of these are true:
- Nothing is on top of it. Even a tile that only half covers it counts as on top.
- Its left side or its right side is open. At least one of the two long sides has no tile touching it on the same layer.
Tiles above and below it in the picture (toward the top or bottom of your screen) don't matter. Only left and right count. Think of sliding the tile out sideways, the way you would slide a book off a crowded shelf: you can do it if there is room on one side and nothing is resting on it.
In our game: blocked tiles are shaded darker, so the free ones stand out. If you tap a blocked tile, a message tells you why it is blocked. You can turn the shading off in Settings.
Example: A Row of Five
Picture a single row of five tiles on the bottom layer, with one more tile resting on the middle one. The two tiles at the ends of the row are free, because each has an open outside edge. The second and fourth tiles are blocked: each has a neighbor on both sides. The middle tile is blocked twice over, by its neighbors and by the tile on top. The tile on top is free. Take the top tile and one end tile, and the row starts to open up.
Which Tiles Match?
- Most tiles match only an identical tile. A 4 of Dots matches another 4 of Dots, never a 4 of Bamboo or a 5 of Dots. An East Wind matches only an East Wind.
- Flowers match any Flower. There are four different Flower tiles, one of each, and any two of them make a pair.
- Seasons match any Season. The same goes for the four Season tiles. A Flower never matches a Season.
Mahjong Tile Meanings: A Guide to Every Tile
A full set has 144 tiles in 42 different designs. Most designs come four to a set; the Flowers and Seasons come one of each. Here is what each group is, how to recognize it, and the corner label our game puts on it.
| Group | What it looks like | How many |
|---|---|---|
| Dots (also called Circles or Coins) |
Round coins, from one large coin up to nine. The number of coins is the number of the tile. Corner label: the number with a small coin. | 1 to 9, four of each: 36 |
| Bamboo (also called Sticks) |
Green bamboo sticks, two to nine of them. The 1 of Bamboo is traditionally drawn as a picture instead of a single stick (often a bird); ours is one tall cane with leaves. Corner label: the number with a small stick. | 1 to 9, four of each: 36 |
| Characters (also called Craks or Numbers) |
A Chinese numeral from one to nine on top and, underneath in red, the sign for "ten thousand." You don't have to read them: the big number in the corner tells you which one it is. | 1 to 9, four of each: 36 |
| Winds | East, South, West and North. Our tiles show the letter in the corner and a compass arrow pointing that way. | 4 kinds, four of each: 16 |
| Dragons | Red, Green and White. The Red Dragon is a bold red sign, the Green Dragon a green plant, and the White Dragon an empty blue frame. The color is written in the corner, so you can tell them apart even without seeing color. | 3 kinds, four of each: 12 |
| Flowers | Plum, Orchid, Chrysanthemum ("Mum") and Bamboo, labeled FLOWER. Any Flower matches any other Flower. | 4 different, one of each: 4 |
| Seasons | Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, labeled SEASON. Any Season matches any other Season. | 4 different, one of each: 4 |
Add them up and you get 36 + 36 + 36 + 16 + 12 + 4 + 4 = 144. In the four-player game the Dots, Bamboo and Characters are the "suits," and Winds and Dragons are the "honors." In Mahjong Solitaire those names don't change anything; a tile's only job is to find its partner.
How a Game Goes
- Look the table over. Find the free tiles: the top of each stack and the ends of each row.
- Tap a free tile. It lifts up and gets a thick outline. The message box tells you what it matches.
- Tap its match. If the second tile is free and matches, both tiles disappear. If it doesn't match, the new tile becomes your selection instead.
- Watch what opens up. Taking a pair may free the tiles that were under it or beside it.
- Repeat until the table is empty.
Example: Choosing Between Pairs
Say three East Winds are free: one at the left end of a long bottom row, one on the very top of the stack, and one sitting alone on the right where nothing depends on it. You can only take two. Take the top one and the one at the end of the long row, because both are holding other tiles in place. Leave the lonely one; it will still be free later, ready for the fourth East Wind when that one turns up.
Example: Flowers and Seasons
The Plum is free, and so is the Chrysanthemum. They look different, but both are Flowers, so they are a pair. The Spring Season could not be matched with either of them; it needs another Season.
Can Every Game Be Won?
With a real set shuffled by hand, no: sometimes the last two tiles of a kind end up one on top of the other, and nothing can save that game. Our game is different. Every deal is built to be solvable. The computer starts with an empty table and places the tiles two at a time, each pair on two spots that would be free at that moment. Taking the pairs off in the opposite order clears the board, so a solution always exists.
You can still paint yourself into a corner by taking pairs in an unlucky order. That is part of the puzzle, and it is why the game gives you three helpers:
| Button | What it does | Any cost? |
|---|---|---|
| Undo | Puts the last pair back. Press it again to go further back, all the way to the start. | None |
| Hint | Marks two free tiles that match, choosing a pair that keeps the board clearable when it can. If no pair is free, it says so. | None |
| Shuffle | Mixes the tiles that are left into new spots, again arranged so the board can be cleared. | Counted in your results, nothing more |
Layouts
The shape the tiles are stacked in is called the layout. Our game has five, from a 34-tile starter to the full 144-tile Turtle, the shape most people picture when they think of Mahjong Solitaire. Smaller layouts have bigger tiles on a phone and are a good way to learn. You choose the layout when you press New Game. See all the layouts on the variations page.
Winning and Statistics
When the last pair comes off, the game shows your time, how many shuffles you used and how many games you have won on that layout. There is no score and no time limit; the timer is hidden unless you turn it on in Settings. Each game has a deal number. Press Replay This Deal to try the same table again, or type a deal number in Settings to play the same game as a friend.
Quick Answers
- Does it matter which of two matching tiles I take? Only through what they free. Each pair you take should open up the most.
- Can I take a tile that is partly covered? No. Any overlap from above blocks it.
- Do tiles above and below on the screen block each other? No, only left and right neighbors on the same layer.
- Where can I learn more? Our strategy guide has tips for the big layouts. If you enjoy calm one-player games, try FreeCell too.