Mahjong – how to play

Mahjong is a calm solitaire played with tiles instead of cards. 144 tiles lie face up in several layers, and you remove them in pairs. Remove them all and you win.

How to play, step by step

Step 1

The tiles on the table

You play with 144 tiles. They lie face up in 5 layers, in the shape of a turtle: highest in the middle, wider lower down. On a screen held upright (a phone, a tablet) the game builds a taller Tower instead, so the tiles are bigger. The tiles you have removed pile up in the top right corner.

Step 2

The tiles

There are three suits with tiles from 1 to 9: circles, bamboos (the 1 is a bird) and characters (the number in the corner says which). Then the winds (four Chinese signs), the dragons (red, green, and white in a blue frame), 4 flowers and 4 seasons. Every ordinary tile comes 4 times, every flower and every season once.

Step 3

Which tiles are free

You can only remove a free tile. A free tile meets two conditions. First, nothing lies on it, not even partly. Second, at least one of its sides is open: the left or the right one, either is enough. Tiles above and below it, in the rows higher and lower, do not matter. A tile in the middle of a row, with neighbours on its left and right, has to wait. The lower layers are a little darker, so you can see what lies higher.

Step 4

Remove pairs of matching tiles

Click a free tile: it gets a yellow frame. Then click a second, matching free tile, and both leave the table. You can also drag one tile onto the other. The tiles must be identical: 3 bamboos match 3 bamboos, but not 7 characters.

Step 5

Flowers and seasons

There are two exceptions. Any flower (a red sign with a blossom in the corner) matches any flower, and any season (a blue sign with a sun) matches any season. A flower and a season do not make a pair.

Step 6

Hint and no moves

Can't see a pair? Click Hint (the bulb in the bottom bar): two matching tiles get a blue frame for a moment. Each hint costs 10 points, so a pair the hint shows earns nothing. When no pair is left, the game shows the No moves window by itself. There you can shuffle the tiles that are left: they move to new places, there are free pairs again and you play on (no penalty). You can also undo a move or start a new game.

Step 7

Winning

You win when you have removed all 144 tiles. Every deal can be solved, but pairs taken in a bad order can block the game. Then undo a few moves and pick another pair.

How to clear the table more often

Start at the top and with the long rows: the highest tiles and the ends of long rows block the most other tiles.
When you see three matching free tiles, remove the pair that frees more tiles.
When all four matching tiles are free, remove them at once: you risk nothing.

Scoring

Move	Points
A pair of tiles	+10
Hint (a pair shown)	−10
Shuffle when no move is left	0

With timed scoring (the default) you lose 2 points for every 10 seconds of play, and a quick win earns a time bonus. You can switch to standard scoring in the Options.

Tips

Watch the stacks: when two matching tiles lie one on the other, the lower one can only pair with another tile of that four.
Don't take a pair just because it is there: first look at what it frees.
Flowers and seasons match within their group, so keep them for when you need them.
Stuck? Undo a few moves, or play the same deal again with Retry game.