Meld Parlor

What is Meld Parlor?

In the classic table game, players build a hand out of melds: three of the same tile (a pung, or set) and three numbers in a row in one suit (a chow, or run). Most mahjong solitaire games just match pairs. We wanted the real melds back.

So in Meld Parlor you clear a layered layout of tiles three at a time. The tiles are the full set: Dots, Bams and Cracks from 1 to 9, the four winds, the three dragons, and later flowers, seasons and jokers, all drawn by us for the game. It's free, it runs in your browser on a phone, tablet or computer, and there's nothing to download.

How to play

• Free tiles only. A tile is free when nothing sits on top of it and its left or right side is open. Tiles you can't take yet look a little dimmer.
• Make a meld. Tap three free tiles that make a set (three identical tiles, like three Red Dragons) or a run (three numbers in a row in one suit, like 3, 4, 5 Bam). The meld slides onto the rack under the table.
• Winds and dragons only make sets. There is no run of East, South, West.
• Helpful glow. Pick two tiles that could start a meld and the free tiles that would finish it glow softly. It's the easiest way to learn runs.
• Clear the table. When the last meld lands on the rack, the table is clear and you get your stars.

Long-press any tile to see its name ("6 Crack", "North Wind"), and every so often a friend at the table calls your meld out loud.

Your hand, kongs and the hand card

The hand

From level 12 you get two hand slots beside the rack. Park any free tile there and use it in a meld later. A parked tile counts as free, so you can hold a 5 Bam while you dig out the 4 and 6.

Kongs

From level 50, when you make a set and the fourth matching tile is free or in your hand, a Make a kong button appears. Tap it and the fourth tile joins the set for a bonus. If the fourth tile is still buried, no rush: it can join any set already on your rack once it comes free.

The hand card

From level 20 every table deals a hand card with two bonus patterns (some later tables deal three), such as Three Suits, Dragon Pair, One Two Three, Four Winds, Three Sisters, Long Road and Double Kong. Patterns pay bonus points and count toward your stars, but they never stop you clearing the table.

The five rooms

Each new rule arrives with a short, gentle table to try it on. A table marked Tricky shows up now and then, and the one after it is always a breather.

Stars, scoring and helpers

Clear a table with no hints or shuffles and at least one hand card pattern for 3 stars. Any clear without a shuffle is 2 stars, and any clear at all is 1. Stars bring new friends to the club (Mabel and June are there from the start, then Hal, Rosa, Lin and more, twelve in all) and furnish the parlor with a brass lamp, a record player, a parlor cat and new tile backs.

Helpers are Hint (the first one on each table is free, and it explains the meld), Undo (your first undo on a table is free too), Shuffle (re-deals the tiles still on the table so it can always be cleared) and Joker (pick two tiles that could start a meld and it fetches the third from anywhere, even under a pile). When you're truly stuck, with no meld and no room in your hand, Shuffle is free, though that table then ends at one star. You earn more helpers from Today's Goals, Club Night stamps, new friends and gifts. Restart is always free.

Daily Table and Club Night

The Daily Table is the same 66 tile table for everyone on the same UTC day. Your first finished run posts to the daily leaderboard, and replays after that are practice. Restart on today's table keeps it counted. If you're stuck you can tap End here, which asks once more and then posts your score as it stands, without the clear bonus. Finish on consecutive days for a streak, and one missed day a week bends the streak instead of breaking it. Three goals each day, like Make 8 runs, each pay a helper.

Club Night is a big 90 tile table that changes every Monday, with a three pattern hand card. Clear it to stamp your club card and pick up a Joker and a Shuffle.

Tips and strategy

• Think in runs, not just sets. A 4 Dot can go with 2 and 3, 3 and 5, or 5 and 6, so it has far more partners than a dragon. Clear honors as sets when all three are free, and keep number tiles flexible.
• Open the long rows first. Each meld from the end of a row frees the next tile in, and tiles under a stack only open once the top comes off.
• Count the copies. There are four of each tile. With two 7 Bams already on your rack, the other two must go into runs.
• Park the middle number. A parked 5 can finish 3-4-5, 4-5-6 or 5-6-7. A parked 1 or 9 is much less useful.

Controls on phone and computer

Tap tiles to pick them, tap again to put one back. On a keyboard, the arrow keys or Tab move a ring between free tiles and Enter picks. P parks, K makes a kong, H hint, U undo, S shuffle, J joker, Esc pauses. Settings has high contrast and large tiles.

Questions