How to play mahjong solitaire

1. Look for an open pair. Scan the board for two identical tiles that are both open.
2. Remove the pair. Tap or click the first tile, then the second. Both leave the board.
3. Repeat until the board is clear. If no open pairs are left, shuffle the remaining tiles or undo a few moves.

A tile is open, and can be removed, when both of these are true:

• No other tile lies on top of it, not even partly.
• Its left side or its right side is clear. One clear side is enough.

The middle tile is blocked: it has neighbours on both sides.

Most tiles come in sets of four identical tiles, and a tile matches any of its three twins: a 7 of dots with another 7 of dots, a north wind with another north wind.

The eight bonus tiles are the exception. Any flower matches any other flower, and any season matches any other season, even though the pictures differ. A flower never matches a season.

Every board here is dealt so that it can be cleared, but the order you take pairs in matters. You can still reach a point where no open pairs are left. You have three ways out:

• Undo takes back your last pair. Press it several times to go back further and try a different route.
• Shuffle rearranges the tiles that are left into an order that can still be cleared.
• Hint lights up an open pair. It picks the pair that uncovers the most tiles, so it teaches good play.

• Open the long rows first. Tiles at the ends of long rows block the tiles beside them. Clearing the ends gives you more choices later.
• Uncover stacked tiles early. A tile that sits on top of others is worth more than a tile that blocks nothing. Prefer pairs that reveal new tiles.
• Choose carefully when three of a kind are open. Take the pair that frees the most tiles, and keep the third for later. When all four are open, remove them all.
• Save flowers and seasons. They match each other freely, so keep them for the moment you need to open a stubborn stack.
• Use the hint to learn. The hint suggests the pair that uncovers the most tiles, not just any legal move.
• Count what's left. If two of a kind have already been removed, the last two must be matched with each other. Make sure one of them isn't buried under the other.
• Think about stacks. Two identical tiles stacked directly on top of each other can only be matched with other tiles, so free their partners early.

Mahjong solitaire uses the tiles of mahjong, but it is a different game. Traditional mahjong is played by four people, who draw and discard tiles to build winning hands. Mahjong solitaire is a matching puzzle for one player.

The solitaire game was first made for computers by Brodie Lockard in 1981 and became widely known as Shanghai in 1986. Its classic layout, the turtle, is still the most played board.

Press Tab to move between open tiles and Enter or Space to pick one. Blocked tiles are skipped, so the keyboard only ever lands on tiles you can play.