How to Play Mahjong Solitaire: Rules and Tiles

Mahjong solitaire is a matching game played with mahjong tiles: you clear the board by removing matching pairs of free tiles, one pair at a time. It shares its tiles with the four-player game of mahjong, but the rules have nothing else in common, and you need no knowledge of the original to play. Here is everything you need for your first game.

The goal

Tiles are stacked in a layout, often several layers high. The classic shape is the Turtle, 144 tiles in a mound with a single tile on top. You win when every tile is gone. You lose when no free pair is left; most games then let you shuffle the remaining tiles or undo.

What makes a tile free

This is the one rule that matters. A tile can be taken only when:

1. Nothing lies on top of it, not even partly, and
2. Its left side or its right side is open: no tile touching it on at least one of those two sides.

Tiles touching above and below on the screen (the short sides) don't block it. Only the left and right sides count. So in a long row, only the two end tiles are free; the middle ones wait until their neighbours go.

Many games dim tiles that are blocked. In Mahjong Garden, free tiles stay bright while Highlight free tiles is on in the pause menu.

What matches what

A traditional set has 144 tiles:

• Three suits numbered 1 to 9 (traditionally Dots, Bamboo and Characters), four of each tile. A tile matches only the same number in the same suit.
• Honour tiles: four Winds and three Dragons, four of each. Each matches the identical tile.
• Seasons and Flowers: four of each, every one different. Here the rule changes: any Season matches any other Season, and any Flower matches any Flower.

Mahjong Garden redraws the faces for its own look: number tiles come in Blossom, Fern and Wave suits, emblems such as koi and fox masks replace winds and dragons, and Season and Gold tiles each match any tile of their own kind. You can even draw your own Season tiles.

A first game, step by step

1. Scan for free tiles. Look at the ends of rows and the tops of stacks.
2. Match pairs that free other tiles. A match that uncovers a tile on a high stack is worth more than a match at the edge of the board.
3. Watch for groups of four. When all four copies of a tile are free at once, you can match them in any order. When only three are visible, think about which two to take: the wrong pair can leave the last copy buried under its twin.
4. Clear long rows from the ends. Middle tiles of a long row can't move until the ends go.
5. Use hints and shuffles sparingly. In Mahjong Garden, unused hints and shuffles add 100 points each at the end.

Is every game winnable?

Not with a random deal. A random shuffle can bury both copies of a tile under each other, leaving no solution at all. Mahjong Garden builds every deal backwards, placing each pair only where both tiles would be free, so a full solution always exists. You can still block yourself with careless matches, which is where undo and shuffle come in.

Scoring and stars in Mahjong Garden

Each match scores 10 points times your combo, which rises when you match again within 3 seconds, up to x5. Clear a layout within its par time for three stars. There are 48 layouts in six gardens, from the 36-tile Stepping Stones to the classic Turtle, plus a Daily layout with a streak.

Ready for the next step? A strategy guide on which tiles to match first is coming next month.