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Mahjong solitaire
Match free pairs and clear the board. Every deal can be won.
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Tip: turn your phone sideways for bigger tiles, or tap Bigger tiles and slide the board left and right.
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How to play, in one minute
Take the tiles off the board two at a time. The two tiles have to match, and both have to be free: nothing lying on top of them, and an open side on the left or the right. Clear every tile and you've won.
- Tap a free tile, then a matching free tile. The pair comes off and the tiles under it come into play.
- Tiles you can't take yet look grayer. If you'd rather spot them yourself, switch that off in Settings.
- Any flower matches any other flower, and any season matches any other season. Every other tile matches only its twin.
- Stuck? Undo goes back as far as you like, and you get 3 shuffles a game.
Every tile in the set is pictured on our mahjong solitaire rules page, and our mahjong strategy guide shows which pairs to take first.
Four layouts, easiest first
The turtle is the classic board most people know. The other three are our own, and they're a good way in if the turtle feels like a lot of tiles. To compare them, we let a simple computer player try 1,000 deals of each. It takes the pair that frees the most tiles, plus two simple rules about sets of four (see our mahjong strategy guide).
| Layout | Tiles | Levels | Matches you can make at the start, on average | Cleared by our test player, no shuffles | With up to 3 shuffles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quilt | 72 | 2 | 10.9 | 845 of 1,000 | 981 of 1,000 |
| Barn | 94 | 3 | 14.2 | 709 of 1,000 | 983 of 1,000 |
| Hilltop | 92 | 3 | 2.5 | 643 of 1,000 | 1000 of 1,000 |
| Turtle | 144 | 5 | 18.2 | 593 of 1,000 | 982 of 1,000 |
Our own test, October 2026: 1,000 deals per layout, the same deals for every row. This player never looks more than one move ahead.
Hilltop is the odd one. It has fewer tiles than the turtle, but each tile sits on four below it, so only a handful are free at the start. It's a slow puzzle at first and opens up near the end.
Questions
Is it free?
Yes. No account, no download and no limit on games. If ads ever show up to pay for the site, they'll stay off the board.
Can every game be won?
Yes. We build each board backwards: we take tiles off an empty layout two free ones at a time, then put matching pairs where they came off. So at least one order of matches always clears it. That doesn't mean every order works. A careless pick can still leave you stuck, and that's what undo and shuffles are for. Boards dealt fully at random are different: Wikipedia's mahjong solitaire article cites an analysis of ten million random turtle deals that found about 3 percent can't be cleared even by someone who knows where every tile is.
How does the shuffle work?
A shuffle mixes up the faces of the tiles still on the board, keeping them in the same places, and always leaves a board that can be cleared. You get 3 per game. You can undo a shuffle, but it still counts as used. The one case a shuffle can't fix is a pile where the last tiles sit on top of each other; then undo is the way out.
Can I play on my phone?
Yes. The whole board fits the screen. On the turtle the tiles get small on a phone held upright, so tap Bigger tiles and slide the board with your finger, or turn the phone sideways. Quilt and Hilltop have bigger tiles to begin with.
What do the little letters in the corner mean?
They're a reading aid: the number and suit of the tile. 5D is the 5 of dots, 7B the 7 of bamboo, 3C the 3 of characters. E, S, W and N are the winds, RD, GD and WD the red, green and white dragons. FL is any flower and SEA any season. Turn them off in Settings if you like plain tiles.
How do hints work?
A hint marks a pair with dashed green outlines. Our solver looks ahead first, so the pair it shows keeps the board clearable whenever it finds a way through. If the board can't be cleared from where you are, the hint says so, and you'll know to undo or shuffle. You get 6 hints per game; asking again about the same position doesn't use another one.
Is there a daily puzzle?
Yes. Daily mahjong has one board a day, the same for everyone, on a different layout each day. Clear it to keep your streak going.
Is this the same game as mahjong?
No. It uses the same 144 tiles, but mahjong itself is a game where players draw and discard tiles to build a winning hand. Mahjong solitaire is a matching puzzle for one. Wikipedia credits Brodie Lockard with the first computer version, called Mah-Jongg, written in 1981 for the PLATO system.
Keep playing
- Daily mahjongOne new board a day, the same for everyone, with a streak.
- How to playFree tiles, matching rules and every tile in the set, explained.
- StrategyWhich pairs to clear first, with numbers from 1,000 test boards.
- Daily sudokuThree new number puzzles every day, easy to hard.
- CribbageThe classic card game for two, against the computer or a friend.
- CryptogramsCrack the letter code to reveal a famous saying.
- Large-Print Word SearchBig letters, themed lists, play online or print.