About

Mahjong (the solitaire tile-matching version) presents a pyramid of 144 tiles face-up in a stacked arrangement. You remove pairs of matching tiles, but only tiles that are "free" — not covered by another tile and open on at least one side. The goal is to clear the entire board.

The puzzle rewards both pattern recognition and forward planning. Many boards can be cleared multiple ways; others have traps where removing one pair blocks access to the tiles needed to continue. Identifying which matches to take and which to defer is the core skill.

Mahjong solitaire is meditative and well-paced — each match gives a small burst of satisfaction, and a full clear feels like genuine accomplishment. Games last 10–20 minutes.

How to Play

• Click any free tile (not covered, open on left or right side).
• Click a second free tile with a matching face to remove the pair.
• Continue until the board is cleared or no free pairs remain.
• Use hints sparingly — they show available matches but reduce the satisfaction of solving.

Tips

• Prioritize removing tiles from the top of stacks first — they block the most options.
• Avoid removing pairs that would leave identical tiles inaccessible on opposite sides.
• If stuck, look for the rare tiles (seasons, flowers) — they match in groups of four.

History

Mahjong solitaire was created by Brodie Lockard at the AI Lab at Stanford in 1981 and popularized by Activision's Shanghai (1986). It is distinct from the multiplayer Mahjong tile game that originated in China in the 19th century. The solitaire version became one of the most pre-installed computer games of the 1990s and 2000s, reaching hundreds of millions of players through Windows and casual game portals.