How to play Mahjong Solitaire
Mahjong Solitaire, also called Mahjongg or Shanghai, is the tile-matching puzzle built into Windows for decades. Match pairs of free tiles to clear the stack.
Steps
- A tile is free when nothing sits on top of it and its left or right side is open.
- Click two identical free tiles to remove them.
- Flowers match any flower, seasons match any season.
- Clear the whole board to win. Use hint, shuffle or undo if you get stuck.
Tips that actually help
- Always clear the top layers first — a buried tile is worth nothing.
- Never take a pair just because it is visible; check what it unlocks underneath.
- Save flowers and seasons for the end, when they act as a wildcard.
What is Mahjong Solitaire?
Mahjong Solitaire is a single-player matching puzzle that uses a full set of 144 mahjong tiles stacked in a layered shape. The best known layout is the turtle, the one Microsoft shipped with Windows as Mahjong Titans and later Microsoft Mahjong.
Is this the same as playing mahjong?
No. The four-player game is a competitive tile game with scoring rules and drawing from a wall. Mahjong Solitaire only borrows the tiles. It is a pure puzzle: no opponents, no scoring hands, no luck of the draw.
Why it stays popular
The rules take ten seconds to learn, but a hard layout takes real planning. That combination — easy to start, hard to master — is why it has survived in browsers for more than twenty years.
Keep playing
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4 players · vs AI
American Mah Jongg
The four-player American game — jokers, the Charleston and the card.
Mahjong Connect
Link matching tiles with a line of no more than two turns.
Mahjong Dimensions
Match tiles on a rotating 3D tower.
Mahjong Pyramid
Four stepped layers of tiles, tapering to a single one at the top.
Mahjong Blast
Swap two tiles, line up three, blast the row.
Mahjong Memory
Flip the tiles, remember where they are, match every pair.
Mahjong Tower
A tall stacked tower — clear it from the top down.
Mahjong Triple
Sort tiles into the tray and clear them in groups of three.
Merge 2048
Slide the tiles, merge the numbers, reach 2048.
Minesweeper
Clear the field with logic alone. One wrong tap and it is over.
Klondike Solitaire
The classic patience game — build all four suits from ace to king.
Sudoku
Every digit once per row, column and box. Pure logic, no guessing.
Mahjong Snake
Steer the tile snake, swallow every tile, chase the golden one.
Mahjong Bubbles
Aim, shoot, and pop groups of three before the wall reaches the bottom.
Spider Solitaire
Build descending runs across ten columns and clear every suit, from king to ace.
Golf Solitaire
Clear seven columns by pairing cards of equal rank, then deal the rest back onto the board.
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