Mahjong games to play online

What is mahjong solitaire?

Mahjong solitaire borrows the tiles of the old Chinese four player game of mahjong, but you play it alone and the goal is completely different. The tiles start in a stacked pile, often shaped like a turtle, a pyramid or a fortress. You take them off two at a time by matching identical pairs, and you win when the table is empty.

It looks like a matching game, and at first it plays like one. The real puzzle shows up a few minutes in, when you realize the pair you took early was sitting on top of something you needed. Good players aren't faster at spotting matches. They're better at choosing which match to take.

Which mahjong game should you start with?

New to mahjong, or just want the classic? Start with Mahjong Cloud Steps. The first boards have only 20 tiles, blocked tiles are shaded so the playable ones stand out, and every suited tile shows its number. The boards grow level by level until you reach the full 144 tile summit.

Know the classic and want something new? Try Carousel Tiles. The tiles wrap around a carousel drum, so the board has no edges. You spin the ride to find pairs round the back, and every column you clear wakes a painted horse. It's the same rule as the classic, but the round board changes how you plan.

Like the pairing, want more movement? Frost Pairs is a pairs puzzle on a frozen pond. Two matching tiles melt when they can see each other along a row or column, and you line them up by sliding tiles across snow and ice. It scratches the same itch as mahjong with a very different kind of thinking.

Rather match threes than pairs? Trinket Trio uses a layered pile too, but you pick tiles into a tray and three of a kind clear. We cover that style on our tile match games page.

How to play mahjong solitaire

There's really only one rule to learn: you can only take a tile that is open. A tile is open when nothing sits on top of it and at least one of its long sides, left or right, is clear. Tiles above and below it on the table don't matter.

• Pick an open tile, then pick an open tile with the same face. The pair clears.
• Suited tiles (dots, bamboo and characters, numbered 1 to 9) match only the same suit and number.
• Winds and dragons match only the exact same tile.
• Any flower matches any other flower, and any season matches any other season. That's the one exception, and it's easy to miss.
• A full board has 144 tiles, so 72 pairs. Clear them all to win.

In Mahjong Cloud Steps, blocked tiles are shaded darker, so the bright ones are always the ones you can play, and every suited tile shows its number so you never have to tell tiles apart by color. Early boards start at just 20 tiles, which is a gentle way to learn, and grow to the full 144 by the top of the mountain.

3D mahjong on a round board

Most 3D mahjong games stack tiles into a cube or a tower and let you turn it. Carousel Tiles wraps rings of tiles around a carousel instead. A tile is open when nothing sits on top of it and a spot beside it on its ring is empty. A full ring has no open tiles at all, so each ring starts with a gap, and you eat into it from both sides.

Our tiles there are drawn as fairground suits: stars, ribbons and horseshoes numbered 1 to 9, pennants, lanterns, and two groups that match any member of their own group, balloons of any color and fair treats. Later fairs add a brass ring that matches anything once, frosted tiles that hide their face, and two drums turning side by side.

Why some boards can't be won

In a lot of mahjong games the tiles are dealt at random, and some random deals simply can't be cleared. The classic trap is a pair stacked directly on top of its own twins, so the only two tiles that could open each other are buried under each other. You can play perfectly and still lose.

We build every board backward instead. The game picks two tiles that would be open, gives them the same face, lifts them off, and repeats until the table is empty. That means every deal in Mahjong Cloud Steps and Carousel Tiles comes with at least one real path to a clear, and every Frost Pairs pond is checked by a solver before it ships. You can still dig yourself a hole by taking the wrong pair, which is the fun of it, and Hint, Shuffle and Undo always bring the board back.

Mahjong solitaire tips that clear more boards

• Look before you tap. When three tiles of a kind are open, take the two that uncover the most new tiles and leave the one that blocks nothing.
• All four open? Take both pairs. That's always safe, because no other tile depends on which ones you pair together.
• Work the tall stacks first. A tile buried under three layers is the one that traps you at the end. Open the center early.
• Open long rows from the ends. A row of twelve tiles only opens from its two ends, so a tile in the middle is locked until you work in toward it.
• Watch for twins stacked on twins. If a pair sits on top of its own match, plan for it before it's the last thing left. In Mahjong Cloud Steps the holding tray is perfect for lifting one of them out of the way.
• On a carousel, spin before you commit. The pair you want is often just round the side. Work both ends of each gap so a ring keeps giving you choices.
• Replay for speed. A level always deals the same way, so a second run is a fair shot at the par time.

For a longer read on reading a board, triples and buried pairs, see how to win at mahjong solitaire.

What we added to the classic

Mahjong Cloud Steps climbs a mountain path through six worlds, from the Tea Garden to the Cloud Temple, with 12 levels in each. Each level gives up to three stars: one for clearing it, one for clearing it without a hint, and one for beating the par time. A small holding tray with 4 slots lets you park an open tile to see what's under it, and you can switch it off if you prefer the game the old way.

Some levels hide golden picture tiles. Clear a Teapot pair and it pours away one more pair for you, a Koi pair bumps your streak, a Lantern gives a hint that keeps your star, and a Kite lifts the top layer for a peek underneath. The Daily board gives every player the same deal each day for the leaderboard, and Zen garden has no clock and no score at all.

Carousel Tiles runs through five fairs with a Daily Ride and a new Grand Carousel every Monday, and you collect painted animals as you clear columns. Frost Pairs has a Daily Pond, a weekly Ice Festival shaped like a picture, and a little winter village that grows on the shore as you play.

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