About Mahjong Solitaire
Mahjong Solitaire is the classic free mahjong tile-matching game: a big stack of ivory tiles is laid out in a shape like a turtle or a pyramid, and you clear the board by removing matching pairs one at a time. It takes a minute to learn and much longer to master, because the order you remove tiles in decides whether the last few pairs come apart or lock up.
This is the one-player puzzle, not the four-player mahjong game with hands, draws and scoring. You only need to spot matching tiles and think a few moves ahead.
Play mahjong online here for free with no download or sign-up. Pick one of five hand-built layouts or take on the daily board, which is the same for everyone and gets a new layout every day. Every deal is built so it can be cleared, and your progress saves automatically, so you can pick up where you left off.
How to play Mahjong
- 1
Find a free tile
A tile is free when no tile sits on top of it (even partly) and at least one of its long sides, left or right, is open. Blocked tiles are dimmed while Free tiles is on, so you can see your options at a glance.
- 2
Match it with its twin
Click or tap a free tile, then click a free tile with the same face. The pair lifts off the board. Numbers must match exactly (the 4 of Bamboo only pairs with another 4 of Bamboo), except for Flowers and Seasons: any Flower matches any Flower, and any Season matches any Season.
- 3
Open up the stack
Removing tiles uncovers the ones underneath and opens up the ends of rows. On larger screens, the Moves counter shows how many matches are available right now.
- 4
Clear the whole board
Remove every tile to win. The clock starts with your first tile and stops on the last pair, and your time goes on the leaderboard for the Daily, Turtle, Pyramid and Fortress boards.
- 5
Use your helpers wisely
If you run out of matches, the game offers a Shuffle that rearranges the remaining tiles into a layout that can still be cleared. You also get three free hints per board and unlimited undos.
Controls
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| Click / tap | Select a free tile, then its match |
| Arrow keys | Jump between free tiles |
| Enter or Space | Select the highlighted tile |
| H / U or Z / S | Hint / Undo / Shuffle |
| F | Dim or show blocked tiles |
| P or Esc | Pause and resume the clock |
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Mahjong tips and strategy
Work on the long rows first
Tiles in the middle of a long row stay blocked until one end is cleared. Freeing the ends of the longest rows early keeps the most options open for later.
Uncover the tall stacks
A tile buried under three layers can hold up a whole game. When you have a choice, take the match that removes a tile from the top of a high stack rather than one from the edge of the board.
Take all four when you can
Most faces appear four times. If all four copies are free at once, clear both pairs right away. It can never hurt you, and it gets rid of a tile you'd otherwise have to keep track of.
Think before splitting a set of three
When three copies of a tile are free, pick the pair that leaves the third one where it won't be needed to unlock something. Ideally, leave it next to the fourth copy, which is still buried.
Watch for twins in the same stack
Two matching tiles sitting directly on top of each other can never be paired together. Use the top tile with a different partner, or the bottom one will be stranded.
Don't match just because you can
An easy match on the edge of the board is still there later. Matches that uncover new tiles are usually worth more than ones that don't change anything.
Save your hints for the end
The endgame is where boards lock up. Whenever possible, a hint shows a pair that keeps the board winnable, so it's most useful when only a few pairs are left and every choice matters.
Mahjong Solitaire vs. mahjong
Traditional mahjong is a four-player game from 19th-century China, played for points with hands of tiles. Mahjong Solitaire borrows the same beautiful tile set but is a one-person matching puzzle. It started as a computer game: Brodie Lockard wrote Mah-Jongg for the PLATO system in 1981, and Activision's Shanghai (1986) made it a hit on home computers.
You may also see Mahjong Connect (also called Shisen-Sho), a flat, single-layer version where two matching tiles can be removed if they can be joined by a path with no more than two turns. The stacked, layered game on this page is the classic solitaire version.
Know your tiles
A full set has 144 tiles:
- Dots (also called circles or coins), numbered 1–9. The 1 is a single large decorated circle.
- Bamboo, numbered 1–9. The 1 of Bamboo is traditionally drawn as a bird.
- Characters, numbered 1–9, showing a Chinese numeral above the character 萬 (wàn). A small number in the corner makes them easy to read.
- Winds: East 東, South 南, West 西 and North 北, with a letter in the corner.
- Dragons: the red 中, the green 發 and the white dragon, drawn as a blue frame.
- Flowers (plum, orchid, chrysanthemum, bamboo) and Seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter). There's only one of each, so any Flower pairs with any Flower and any Season with any Season. On our tiles, Flowers have a pink frame and Seasons have a blue one.
Every other face appears four times, so there are always two pairs of each kind to find.
Layouts and the daily board
The three ranked layouts each use the full 144-tile set. Turtle is the classic layout with its tall center stack and single tiles at each end. Pyramid is built from four stepped layers, and Fortress has corner towers, walls and a raised keep. Bridge (84 tiles) and Cloud (72 tiles) are quicker boards with bigger tiles, great for phones and short breaks.
The daily board rotates through compact layouts, including Lotus and Butterfly, which only appear in the daily. Everyone gets the same deal, so you can compare times on the daily leaderboard and share a spoiler-free result. It splits your solve into eight stretches and marks any stretch where you used a hint, shuffle or undo.
Every board is generated by playing the game backwards: pairs are placed only where they could legally be removed, so each deal has at least one complete solution. Shuffles use the same method, so a shuffled board can always be cleared too. If you enjoy calm, thoughtful matching, try Solitaire, Spider Solitaire or Memory Match, or browse more card games.
Frequently asked questions
Is this Mahjong Solitaire free to play?
Yes. It's completely free, runs in your browser on phone, tablet or computer, and needs no download or account. Your progress and personal best times are saved on your device.
Can every Mahjong Solitaire board be solved?
Every board here can. Each deal is built backwards from an empty table, so at least one complete solution always exists. You can still get stuck by matching the wrong pair, which is why Undo and Shuffle are there.
What does it mean for a tile to be free?
A tile is free when no other tile covers any part of it and its left or right side is open. Tiles blocked on both sides, or covered from above, can't be selected until their neighbors are cleared.
Which tiles match in Mahjong Solitaire?
Tiles match when they are identical, such as two 7 of Dots or two East Winds. The exceptions are Flowers and Seasons: any Flower matches any other Flower, and any Season matches any other Season.
What happens when there are no moves left?
The game spots it right away and offers a shuffle. The shuffle rearranges only the remaining tiles, using the same method as a new deal, so the board can still be cleared. You can also undo moves instead.
What is the difference between Mahjong Solitaire and Mahjong Connect?
Mahjong Connect is played on a single flat layer, and two matching tiles can be removed if they can be linked by a line with no more than two turns. Mahjong Solitaire, the game on this page, uses stacked 3D layouts where tiles must be free to be matched.
How does the daily mahjong board work?
A new daily board unlocks at midnight in your time zone, and everyone gets the same layout and deal. Clear it to post your time on the daily leaderboard, keep your streak going and share your result.