Mahjong Solitaire

Quick Rules

Mahjong Solitaire is a one-player matching puzzle played with the 144 tiles of a Mahjong set. The tiles are stacked in layers. Your goal is to clear the whole table by taking away matching pairs.

  • Match two tiles that are the same, such as two 5 of Bamboo or two East Winds.
  • Flowers and Seasons are special. Any Flower matches any other Flower, and any Season matches any other Season.
  • Only free tiles can be taken. A tile is free when nothing sits on top of it and its left side or right side is open.
  • Tap one tile, then its match. Both disappear. Tap a selected tile again to put it back.
  • You win when every tile is gone. If no free pairs are left, use Undo or Shuffle.

Read the full rules and the tile guide

Is This the Same as Mahjong?

Not quite. The four-player game of Mahjong, with its racks, walls, discards and calls of "Pung!", is about building a winning hand. Mahjong Solitaire borrows only the tiles. It is a quiet puzzle you play by yourself, closer to a game of patience than to a Tuesday-afternoon Mahjong club. If you know the tiles from the club game, you already have a head start.

Tips for Clearing the Board

  • Work from the top and the ends. Tiles high in the stack and at the ends of long rows hold up the most other tiles.
  • When all four of a kind are free, take them. Taking both pairs can never hurt.
  • When three are free, think before you pick. Leave the one that is not blocking anything.
  • Don't rush the easy pairs. A pair sitting on the open floor will still be there later.
  • Use Hint and Undo freely. There is no score to lose and no time limit.

More Mahjong Solitaire strategy

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this Mahjong Solitaire free?

Yes. You can play as many games as you like for free, with no account, no download and no pop-up ads.

Can every deal be won?

Yes. Every deal is built backwards from an empty table, two matching tiles at a time, so there is always at least one way to clear it. You can still get stuck if you take pairs in an unlucky order. If that happens, use Undo, or Shuffle, which mixes the tiles that are left into a new arrangement that can still be cleared.

Why can't I pick up a tile?

Only free tiles can be taken. A tile is free when no other tile sits on top of it, even partly, and its left side or its right side is open. Tiles above and below it in the picture do not matter. Blocked tiles are shaded darker so the free ones stand out.

Do I need to know Chinese characters?

No. Every tile shows a large number or letter in its top-left corner: 1 to 9 for the three suits, E, S, W or N for the winds, and RED, GREEN or WHITE for the dragons. Flowers and Seasons are labeled too.

Is this the same as the Mahjong my mother played with friends?

Not quite. Four-player Mahjong is a game of drawing and discarding tiles to build a winning hand, with betting or scoring. Mahjong Solitaire uses the same tiles but is a one-player matching puzzle: you take pairs of matching tiles off a stacked layout until the table is clear.

Can I make the tiles bigger?

Yes. Use the + button above the table to make the tiles bigger and the − button to make them smaller. Fit brings back the size that shows the whole layout. Smaller layouts such as First Steps and Pyramid have bigger tiles on a phone.

Does the game save my progress?

Yes. Your game is saved in your browser after every move, so you can close the page and continue later on the same device. Your wins for each layout are saved the same way.

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