Mahjong Solitaire

How to play

1. The goal. Clear all 144 tiles from the table by removing them two at a time. The game is won when the table is empty and lost when tiles remain but no open pair is left.
2. Open tiles. A tile is open when no tile lies on top of it and at least one of its left or right sides is free, so it could slide out sideways without disturbing anything. Tiles under the stack or wedged between two neighbours must wait.
3. Matching. Click an open tile to select it, then click a second open tile of the same kind: the pair is removed. Any flower matches any flower and any season matches any season; every other tile matches only an identical tile. Clicking a blocked tile does nothing; clicking a different open tile moves the selection; clicking the table deselects.
4. The turtle. The classic layout: 87 tiles on the table, 36 on the second layer, 16 on the third, 4 on the fourth and one apex tile that blocks the four beneath it. Three tiles stand alone at the sides: one on the left that blocks both middle rows, and two on the right that must go in order.
5. Every game can be won. Game numbers run from 1 to 32767 (as many as Taipei offered). Each is built by placing the tiles in reverse, two open positions at a time, so a winning order of play always exists from the first move. Random deals are not all winnable: about 3 percent of turtle deals cannot be solved even with knowledge of the hidden tiles.
6. Mahjong Solitaire scoring. Each pair scores 10 points, plus a set bonus of 10 when it belongs to the same set as the previous pair (same suit, winds, dragons, flowers or seasons). A hint costs 5, a shuffle costs 50, undo is free. On a win you receive a time bonus of 600 minus the seconds taken (never below zero). These figures are this page's own.
7. Hints, undo, shuffle. Press H (or F8) or click the Pairs panel for a hint; press again to cycle through the open pairs. Undo with Ctrl+Z and redo with Ctrl+Y as often as you like. Shuffle (S or F9) re-deals the remaining tiles over the same positions, solvably, when you are stuck.

What is replicated, what is added

• The 144-tile set: Circles, Bamboo and Characters 1 to 9 four times each, the four Winds and three Dragons four times each, four Flowers and four Seasons once each.
• The exact turtle layout (87 / 36 / 16 / 4 / 1), the open-tile rule, identical-kind matching with flowers and seasons matching within their group, win and no-more-moves detection.
• Numbered, shareable games: 1 to 32767, every one solvable by construction. The numbering is this page's own and not that of any other program.
• Layouts: Turtle plus three original 144-tile layouts of ours, Pagoda, Bridge and Garden. Tile sets: Traditional and Large print (two originals; Mahjong Titans had four). Backgrounds: Green felt, Dark slate, Oak, Blue silk and Parchment, all drawn in code.
• Hints that cycle through the open pairs, unlimited undo and redo, shuffle of the remaining tiles, a "no more moves" dialog offering Shuffle, Undo or a new game.
• Options: highlight open tiles, show the timer, sound (short clicks, off by default), animations, messages.
• Statistics per layout: played, won, win percentage, best time, best score, current and longest winning streak.
• Game, Select Game, Restart, Layout, Statistics and Options on the Game menu with F2, F3, F6, F7, F4 and F5; Pause (P) hides the board, as the Windows games did when minimised; a labelled addition.
• The status bar with Tiles, Pairs, Score, Time and the game number and layout, in a classic window. Exit closes the window onto a little desktop; click the icon to reopen it.
• Original vector tile art following the traditional drawing conventions (multicolour 1 Circle, the bird on 1 Bamboo, blue numerals over a red wan on the Characters), with a small Latin label in the corner as Western sets have.

Deep links such as mahjong-solitaire.skillsafe.ai/#12345-1 open game 12345 on layout 1 (0 Turtle, 1 Pagoda, 2 Bridge, 3 Garden). Your game in progress, options and statistics are kept in this browser only.

Keyboard