Mahjong Solitaire and the Mahjong Strategy
Did you know there is actually a difference between Mahjong (also spelled mahjongg, mah-jong, or mah-jongg) and Mahjong Solitaire? Mahjong is actually a 4 player game involving skill, strategy, calculation, and luck; while Mahjong solitaire is a tile matching, single player game.
‘Mah-jong’ can be translated from Chinese as ‘clattering sparrow’, ‘flax sparrow’ or possibly as ‘hemp bird’. The tiles when shuffled make a melodious noise reminiscent of the noise of numerous sparrows squabbling over scattered food crumbs.
Since many of us are addicted to this little game, I thought I’d put it up here in case we are ever away from our computer but have access to an Internet connection that way we can hustle on over here and get a fix! (Get to it already!)
How to Play
The goal is to clear the board by removing all the tiles from the layout. Layouts can differ in pattern, size and height. There exist hundreds of different layouts. You must remove the tiles in pairs. A pair consists of two tiles which both are a) “free” and b) identical (or of the same type).
A tile is “free” when:
- no other tile is lying above or is partially covering it
- no other tile is lying to the left or to the right of it
Two tiles are identical if they look exactly the same (of course…). An exception to this are the Flowers and Seasons tiles. They are non-identical matching tiles and belong to the same type. All the Flowers tiles match one another and all the Season tiles match one another. You should study them before starting a game.
Each tile appears four times in a standard solitaire mahjongg game. Again an exception for the Flowers and Seasons tiles who appear only once each during a game.
It’s not as easy as it sounds; you can end up with having matched the “wrong” pairs and you may find yourself stuck, with unmatchable tiles blocking other key tiles so you can’t clear the layout. You must be careful before removing a pair, you should look for where the remaining pair is in the layout and plan ahead. If all four of an identical tile are free, remove them to ‘unclutter’ the field. It’s not only a game of pure luck, you have to play strategic.
Strategy
- Remember that there are four of each tile. When removing a pair, an identical pair exists in the layout. Is it trapped by your removal of the first pair?
- Concentrate your efforts on long rows and tall stacks.
- Plan ahead as many moves as you can.
- If all four of a tile are available, remove them all to unclutter the field.
- Identify as many matching pairs as possible. Check for tiles that need to be unblocked.
- Beware of triples (three matching free tiles); choose carefully which pair you remove. Leave the one that’s blocking the least important tiles.
- Concentrate on removing pairs that will unblock the most tiles.
Mahjong Solitaire
And don’t forget… I’ve got over 30 more games for your amusement!
For more information head over to the mother of all Mahjong sites.
One email per post. Twenty years of this, still going. Unsubscribe whenever.
I’m missing something. Is there a link in this post to a mahjong solitaire game? The “Get to it already” link just goes to the one-window instructions box on this page.
Has anyone ever soved / beat puzzle #115: Star?
I love this game! I am almost convinced it helps with my Dyslexia!
very fun game, gets a bit annoying though when it restarts the board without restarting the time limit :[
mahjong has a bug; after 2 games and with time still remaining, it freezes up.
hi how are you i what to talk to you now
just really addicted to that game… Whenever you are in Asia, try to visit a place where they play the “real” one, very noisy and fun to watch
I am just hooked to this game,
In HK you find next to the 4-player places where chinese are playing very noisy also the Solitair version as a Slotmachine version with touch screen everywhere. The HK-chinese all watch you if you as a Long-nose play mahjong solitair
cheers
Rhoody
Go ahead–make me feel bad–15689.
I didn’t think I’d be any good at this game but gave it a try anyway. Sixth go and I CLEARED THE BOARD!! I WON! I’m a prodigy and I didn’t even think I’d do well at all. Then it started all over again. :-( Oh well, hooked now. Guess I’ll keep on goin’.
mahjong and tetris were the first two games I played on a PC :)
I’ll give this one a shot since I have a few mins.
Doesn’t seem to be one. I got down to the point where no moves are possible and it didn’t give me that message.
25313 Points… What are your scores?
I thought I was done when I cleaned the first board…
Mahjong is a fun and addictive game… It’s 5.15AM here and I am still playing…
Kim:)
Great! You made me waste another 12 minutes of my life. :) Is there a “no more moves” message in this version.
That flash game is pretty well done. I’m enjoying it. Have you ever played the “real” version of Mahjong? It’s a totally different game, and perhaps even more interesting.
I used to play this game a lot in my office after work hours.Offlate i have not played this game much but i guess i will get to play it again now
Thnx for reminding me of this wonderful game
Cheers
Abhishek
And now if you are ever traveling, or away from your computer, and bored, and near another computer, with an internet connection (I realize that is a lot of ‘ifs’…) you can still play it. :-)
I just got a new IBM thinkpad with Vista – and the Mahjong on there is awesome! Well, aesthetically speaking, that is! ;) I am having a lot of fun with it!
I am super happy to learn that the name comes from birds – I love birds, so that’s really cool!
Now, this is one game I have spent hours playing. It came bundled with the kdegames package on a lot of Linux installs I’ve had and I spent more time playing it than getting real work done.
Great fun.