Mahjong solitaire: free online tile game

Match the tiles, clear the board

This free mahjong solitaire plays with a mouse, a finger or the keyboard, with no sign-up. The goal is simple: remove the tiles two at a time by matching identical free tiles until the board is empty. Every deal offered here can be cleared, so when you get stuck, it comes from a choice of pair, not from bad luck. Your game, timer and best times stay in this browser and nothing is sent.

The rules

• A tile is free when no tile rests on it, even partly, and its left side or its right side is open.
• Two identical free tiles make a pair and leave the board. The exception: any flower matches any other flower, and any season matches any other season.
• You win when the last pair goes. The game is stuck when no free pair is left.

The 144 tiles

• Three suits numbered 1 to 9, four copies each: dots (circles), bamboos (sticks) and characters (a number above a red sign). That is 3 × 9 × 4 = 108 tiles.
• Winds: east, south, west and north, marked E, S, W and N with a small red arrow pointing their way, 16 tiles.
• Dragons: red, green and white (an empty blue frame), 12 tiles.
• Four flowers (pink frame, red number) and four seasons (blue frame, blue number), one of each.

108 + 16 + 12 + 8 = 144 tiles, or 72 pairs to find in the turtle.

Four layouts

The turtle is the classic layout: 87 tiles on the bottom layer, then 36, 16, 4 and a single tile on top. The pyramid and the cross use part of the tile set, drawn at random for each game. The easy layout uses only dots and bamboos, 18 different tiles in four copies, so you often have several pairs to choose from.

How to play here

1. Pick a Layout. A game starts with a random number.
2. Click a free tile, then its match. With "Shade blocked tiles" ticked, tiles you can't take yet are greyed out.
3. The "Open pairs" counter shows how many pairs you can play right now. Three identical free tiles count as 3 pairs, because there are three ways to match them.
4. "Hint" highlights a free pair. "Undo" puts the last pair back, with no limit. "Shuffle" deals the remaining tiles again on the same spots while keeping the game winnable, and it can be undone too.
5. "Restart" replays the same deal from the start; "New game" draws a new one.

On the keyboard, Tab moves from one free tile to the next, Enter selects, H gives a hint and U undoes. The − and + buttons change the tile size, handy on a phone.

Replay a game by its number

Each deal has a Game # between 1 and 999,999. Type it into "Game number" and press "Play this number": with the same layout you get exactly the same tiles in the same places, so a friend can try the very same deal and compare times. The timer starts with your first move, and the "Best times" table keeps, for each layout, the number of games won and your fastest clear.

Solitaire versus four-player mahjong

Traditional mahjong comes from China and is played by four people around a table. Each player holds a hand of 13 tiles, draws and discards in turn, and tries to build runs and sets of three to complete the hand. Mahjong solitaire borrows only the tiles. It is a game of observation and patience for one player, and you don't need to know the four-player rules to enjoy it.

Strategy

• Open up the long rows first. In the turtle, the top and bottom rows hold 12 tiles each, and only the two end tiles are free. You must remove 11 tiles from a row before you reach the last one, so start early.
• Clear the lone end tiles. The single tile on the left of the turtle blocks two full rows.
• Keep your multiple pairs. If three 5 of bamboos are free and the fourth is buried, take the pair that frees the most tiles, or wait. When all four copies are free, remove them all: that move is safe.
• Watch out for stacked tiles. If the last two green dragons sit one on top of the other, the game is lost.

Frequently asked questions

Can every game be won?

Yes. Each deal is built from a sequence of pairs that empties the board. You can still get stuck by taking the wrong pair; "Undo" lets you step back.

Why isn't a visible tile free?

A tile on the layer above covers it, even by half, or it has a neighbour on both its left and right.

Can a shuffle ruin my game?

No. "Shuffle" looks for an arrangement of the remaining tiles that can be cleared. If none exists, for example when the last two tiles are stacked, the message says the tiles were shuffled at random.

Is my game saved if I close the page?

Yes, in this browser: remaining tiles, undo history and timer come back when you return.