How do you play Mahjong Match?
Pick two free tiles with the same picture, remove them, and keep going until the whole stack of 144 tiles is gone. It is the one player puzzle usually called mahjong solitaire: it borrows the tile pictures from mahjong, but it is a matching game.
Tap a tile and it turns yellow. Tap a matching free tile and both vanish. The clock starts with your first pair and your time is saved when the board is clear.
Which tiles can you pick?
Only tiles with nothing resting on top and an open left or right side. These are called free tiles.
- Covered tiles: even a tile overlapped by half of another is locked. Clear the one on top first.
- Tiles boxed in on both sides: if the same layer has tiles touching both the left and the right side, the tile is locked.
- Neighbors above and below: tiles touching the top or bottom edge on the same layer do not block.
- Locked tiles: they are drawn slightly darker and wobble when tapped.
- Phones held upright: the board is turned 90 degrees so the tiles are bigger. Then a tile with an open top or bottom side is free.
What tiles are there and what matches what?
There are 42 designs and 144 tiles. Most tiles match an identical tile. The four flowers match any flower and the four seasons match any season.
| Group | Picture | Tiles | Matches |
|---|---|---|---|
| Circles | Dots 1 to 9 | 9 kinds × 4 = 36 | Same number |
| Bamboo | Sticks 1 to 9 | 9 kinds × 4 = 36 | Same number |
| Characters | Chinese numerals with 萬 | 9 kinds × 4 = 36 | Same number |
| Winds | 東 南 西 北 (E S W N) | 4 kinds × 4 = 16 | Same wind |
| Dragons | 中, 發, white (blue frame) | 3 kinds × 4 = 12 | Same dragon |
| Flowers | Plum, orchid, chrysanthemum, bamboo leaf (pink corner) | 4 | Any flower |
| Seasons | Spring, summer, autumn, winter (blue corner) | 4 | Any season |
How is it different from Sichuan?
Both clear matching pairs, but Sichuan is one flat layer where the two tiles must be joined by an empty path, while Mahjong Match is a stack of layers where you can only take tiles that are open on top and on one side.
| Sichuan | Mahjong Match | |
|---|---|---|
| Board | One flat grid | Five layouts, 3 to 5 layers high |
| When a pair clears | An empty path with at most two turns joins them | Both tiles are free (open top, open left or right) |
| Distance | Any distance if a path exists | Does not matter |
| What to watch | Tiles blocking the path | Tiles buried under tall stacks |
Our Sichuan uses fruit and animal tiles. This game uses mahjong style circles, bamboo and characters, redrawn as soft clay tiles.
Is this real mahjong?
No. There are no mahjong rules, no scoring hands and no betting. It is a solo matching puzzle, so you only need to spot identical pictures.
Can every board be cleared?
Yes. Each board is built backwards from an empty table, filling two free spots at a time with a matching pair, so every new deal can be cleared to the last tile. The order you choose can still get you stuck halfway.
- Shuffle (S): mixes the pictures of the remaining tiles into an arrangement that can still be finished. The button pulses when no pairs are left.
- Undo (Ctrl+Z): unlimited, one pair at a time. A shuffle can be undone too.
- Hint (H): flashes a good pair in blue.
- Top line: always shows tiles left and how many pairs are open right now.
Tips
- Take down the tall stacks early. Many tiles hide under the central towers, and leaving them for last is the usual way to get stuck.
- Work both ends of long rows. Digging from one end only makes the far end harder to reach.
- Think when three of a kind are free. Which one you leave decides whether the buried fourth can still be freed.
- When all four of a kind are free, take both pairs. Nothing is lost either way.
- Watch the open pairs count. When it drops to one or two, play the pairs that uncover new tiles first.
What are the controls?
- Mouse or touch: tap two tiles in a row. Tap a picked tile again to cancel.
- Keyboard: arrow keys move between free tiles, Enter or Space picks. H hint, S shuffle, U or Ctrl+Z undo, N new game, Esc cancel.
Your best time for each layout is saved in this browser. The daily puzzle is the same board for everyone that day, and a friend who opens your shared result link gets exactly your board to race your time.