Mahjong

Puzzle · plays in your browser, no download

Clear the board two tiles at a time. Every deal can be solved.

Where it comes from

Mahjong solitaire, which borrows the tiles of the Chinese four-player game and nothing else: no hands, no winds, no scoring, just the layout and the pairs. The pile shaped like a turtle is the one that became standard, and it is the one here.

How to play

Clear the board by taking tiles away two at a time.
You can only take a tile that has nothing on top of it and a free left or right side. The ones you cannot take are shaded.
Stuck? ⇄ reshuffles what is left. You get three reshuffles.
💡 points at a pair you can take.

What makes this one different

Every board can be finished, but the order matters, and that is the game: a tile you take now is a tile you cannot use to free something else later. You only get three reshuffles, so being stuck is a real outcome and not a reset button.

A tile can only be taken when nothing sits on top of it and one side is free, and the ones you cannot take are shaded so you are never hunting. Any two flowers go together and any two seasons, which is the one place the matching rule relaxes. There is a hint button for when the board has gone quiet.

▶ Play Mahjong