Solitaire and the real thing
One hundred and forty four tiles, matched in pairs, cleared from the top down.
They share a set of tiles and almost nothing else. Mahjong is a four player game from China, played for well over a century, where you draw and discard tiles to build a winning hand. Mahjong Solitaire is a single player puzzle, popularised by computer versions in the 1980s, where you clear a stacked layout by matching pairs. Knowing one teaches you the tiles and none of the tactics of the other.
The four player game
Four players, thirteen tiles each, drawing and discarding in turn to complete a hand of sets and a pair. Hands score differently depending on how they are built, and reading what your opponents are collecting from what they throw away is most of the skill.
It is a game of incomplete information and social pressure, closer in spirit to a card game than to a puzzle.
The solitaire puzzle
One player, a stacked layout, and one rule about which tiles may be taken. There is no hidden information, no opponent and no scoring beyond finishing. The whole challenge is choosing the order you take pairs in.
It arrived on computers in the early 1980s and became one of the most played puzzle games ever written, largely because it explains itself in one sentence.
Which one you are playing here
The solitaire puzzle, with the full 144 tile set and boards that are guaranteed solvable. If you came looking for the four player game, this is not it, but the tiles are exactly the ones you would use.
It is not a bad way in, either. Play a few boards and the suits stop being decoration: you start reading characters, bamboo and circles at a glance, and the winds and dragons become familiar faces rather than strange symbols. That recognition is most of what a beginner needs before sitting down at a real table.
Play a game
Reading about a game is practice for playing it and nothing more. The board is open, it is free, and nothing needs installing.
Common questions
- Is Mahjong Solitaire the same as Mahjong?
- No. It uses the same tiles but is a single player matching puzzle, not the four player draw and discard game.
- Can you play real Mahjong on this site?
- Not currently. The Mahjong here is the solitaire puzzle.
- Which came first?
- The four player game, by roughly a century. The solitaire puzzle was popularised by computer versions in the 1980s.
More on Mahjong Solitaire
How to win at Mahjong Solitaire
Every board here is solvable, so losing is a choice you made forty moves ago. The order to clear tiles in, and the habits that keep a board open.
Which tiles are free
A tile can be matched when nothing sits on top of it and one long side is clear. How the rule works on a stacked board, and the shapes that trip people up.
The 144 tiles
The 144 tile set on the board: three suits of nine, four winds, three dragons, and the flowers and seasons that match differently from everything else.
This site is built around Xiangqi, Chinese chess. If you enjoy Mahjong Solitaire, the rules of Xiangqi take about five minutes, and there is always somebody to play.