Match pairs of identical free tiles to remove them. A tile is free when nothing rests on top of it and either its left or right side is unblocked. Clear all 72 tiles to win.
Plan ahead — bad early matches can lock the board. When you see four of a kind exposed, match all four; otherwise, match pairs that unblock the most tiles. Use HINT when stuck, or SHUFFLE if no moves remain.
Mahjong Solitaire is a single-player tile-matching puzzle using the 144-tile mahjong set. Match pairs of identical (or matching-category) free tiles to remove them from a stacked layout. Despite the shared name and tile set, this is a different game from full Mahjong (the four-player draw-and-discard game). Mahjong Solitaire was invented in 1981 for early personal computers and popularized as Shanghai in 1986.
Tap two matching free tiles to remove them as a pair. A tile is free when (1) no tile sits on top of it AND (2) at least one of its left or right edges has no tile directly beside it. Win by clearing every tile from the layout. You can lock yourself out by removing tiles in the wrong order even on a solvable board, so plan ahead — tiles buried deeper require their cover removed first.
| Category | Tiles | Count | Match rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bamboo (1–9) | One suit, 4 of each | 36 | Exact tile |
| Characters (1–9) | One suit, 4 of each | 36 | Exact tile |
| Dots / Circles (1–9) | One suit, 4 of each | 36 | Exact tile |
| Winds (E, S, W, N) | Honor — 4 of each | 16 | Exact tile |
| Dragons (Red, Green, White) | Honor — 4 of each | 12 | Exact tile |
| Flowers (4 unique) | Bonus — 1 each | 4 | Any flower matches |
| Seasons (4 unique) | Bonus — 1 each | 4 | Any season matches |
| Total | — | 144 | — |
Tap two matching free tiles to remove the pair. Repeat until the board is empty. A tile is free when nothing is on top of it AND its left or right side is open.
(1) No tile sits on top of it. (2) At least one of its left or right edges has no neighbor. A tile blocked on both sides is not selectable until a neighbor is removed.
108 suit tiles (Bamboo, Characters, Dots — each 1–9 in 4 copies), 16 Winds, 12 Dragons, 4 Flowers, 4 Seasons. Suits and honors require exact match; Flowers and Seasons match any tile of the same category.
Many implementations (this one included) generate guaranteed-solvable boards. Even on a solvable board, removing pairs in the wrong order can lock you out — foresight matters.
Full Mahjong is a four-player turn-based draw-and-discard game similar to Rummy, scored by hand value. Mahjong Solitaire is a single-player tile-matching puzzle. They share the tile set; nothing else.
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