Mahjong solitaire is one of the most soothing games ever put on a screen. A heap of tiles sits in front of you, you find two that match, they vanish, and slowly the mountain gets smaller. It looks like a test of eyesight, and at first it is. Play for a while, though, and you discover that the order in which you take pairs matters far more than how fast you spot them.

This guide explains where the tiles come from, how the matching rules work, and the handful of habits that turn a lot of stuck boards into clean wins.

Two different games with one name

First, a common mix-up. Mahjong proper is a four-player game from China, played with the same kind of tiles but with rules closer to the card game rummy: players draw and discard tiles to build sets and complete a winning hand. It became a craze far beyond China in the 1920s and is still played around the world, often with fierce family loyalty to a particular set of house rules.

Mahjong solitaire borrows the tiles but not the rules. It is a one-player matching puzzle that grew up on computers; an early version was written for the PLATO educational computer system in 1981. Every tile in the solitaire game exists only to be paired and cleared.

The traditional tile set

A standard set has 144 tiles. Knowing the groups makes a traditional board much easier to read, because tiles that look busy at first glance turn out to follow simple patterns.

  • Dots, also called circles or coins: numbered 1 to 9, shown as that many circles. Four copies of each, 36 tiles in all.
  • Bamboo, also called sticks: numbered 1 to 9, shown as bamboo stalks. The 1 of bamboo is traditionally drawn as a bird, which surprises many new players. 36 tiles.
  • Characters: numbered 1 to 9, each carrying the Chinese numeral above the character for ten thousand. 36 tiles.
  • Winds: East, South, West and North, four copies of each, 16 tiles.
  • Dragons: red, green and white, four copies of each, 12 tiles. The white dragon is often drawn as a blank tile or a simple frame.
  • Flowers and seasons: four unique flower tiles and four unique season tiles, 8 in total.

Add those up and you get 108 suit tiles, 28 honour tiles and 8 bonus tiles, making 144.

How matching works

In most traditional mahjong solitaire games, you match two identical tiles: a 3 of bamboo with another 3 of bamboo, a North wind with another North wind. Because there are four of each, every design can be cleared in two pairs.

The exceptions are the flowers and seasons. Since each of those tiles is unique, traditional versions usually let any flower match any other flower, and any season match any season.

Our Mahjong Solitaire uses picture tiles instead of the Chinese suits: lanterns, pandas, cherry blossom, a red dragon and more. There are 36 different pictures with exactly four of each, still 144 tiles, and there are no loose groups. A tile only ever pairs with its identical twin, which makes the board easier to read for beginners, since you never have to remember which tiles count as a family.

What makes a tile free

This is the single rule that turns a matching game into a puzzle. You may only pick a tile that is free, which means two things are true at once.

  • Nothing is resting on top of it, not even partly.
  • Its left side or its right side is open, with no tile touching it on the same layer. One open side is enough.

Tiles above and below each other on the board, top and bottom on the screen, do not block each other. Only left and right neighbours, and anything stacked on top, count. Our version dims locked tiles and gives a little shake if you tap one, so you never make an illegal move by accident.

The turtle

The best-known layout is the turtle, and it is the one our game uses. It is five layers high: a wide base of 87 tiles, then a six by six block of 36, a four by four block of 16, a two by two square of 4, and a single crown tile on top. Little caps stick out at the ends of the middle rows, like the head and tail of the turtle.

At the start, only the crown, the outer caps, the ends of the rows and the edges of the upper blocks are free. Everything else is locked until you dig it out.

Habits that clear more boards

  • Look before you tap. Our timer only starts on your first move, so take a moment to scan the free tiles.
  • Prefer pairs that unlock something. Clearing the crown tile frees all four tiles of the square beneath it. Removing a cap opens the end of a long row. A pair that frees nothing is rarely urgent.
  • Work down the middle of the stack. Tiles in the upper layers sit on tiles below. Every tile you lift from the centre starts to uncover more, while tiles at the far ends of the base cover nothing.
  • Count the copies. If two matching tiles are free and the other two copies are already gone, matching them is pure gain. If the other copies are still hidden, ask where they are first.
  • Never bury a twin. If two identical tiles are stacked one on top of the other and the other two copies are gone, that last pair can never be cleared. Use one of the spare copies to release the stacked one first.
  • Hold all four for later. When all four copies of a picture are free and blocking nothing, there is no rush. Keep them as a safety net for when the board runs dry.

Hints, shuffles and luck

Not every random deal can be cleared, even with perfect play. That is why many versions offer shuffles, which rearrange the remaining tiles. Our game gives you three hints and two shuffles per board. A hint simply shows a legal pair, not necessarily the best one, so treat it as a nudge. A shuffle keeps every tile in place but rearranges the pictures among those spots, so save it for when there is genuinely no pair left. There is no undo, which is a good reason to think before each tap.

Two relatives worth trying

If you enjoy matching tiles, two cousins put a twist on the idea. Our Tile Pairs is based on the Japanese game known as Shisen-Sho. All the tiles lie flat in a single layer, and you can take a matching pair only if an imaginary line can join them through empty space with no more than two turns. Every removal opens new lanes, so the board keeps changing shape.

Triple Tile works differently again. You tap uncovered picture tiles into a tray, and three matching tiles in the tray disappear. The tray holds only seven, so grabbing a tile you cannot pair soon can box you in.

Why it is so relaxing

Mahjong solitaire hits a sweet spot. It asks for attention without stress, there is no opponent hurrying you, and progress is always visible as the stack shrinks. It is easy to share as well: one person spots pairs, another checks whether the move frees anything. Start slowly, enjoy the pictures, and let the strategy come as you play.