How to play Mahjong solitaire: the rules, free tiles and tips that clear the board

The goal

Mahjong solitaire is a one-player puzzle played with the 144 tiles of the Mahjong set, stacked in layers into a shape. The classic shape is the Turtle: a wide base, a pyramid of smaller layers in the middle and a single tile on top. You win by taking every tile off the table, two at a time.

Which tiles are free

You can only take free tiles. A tile is free when both of these are true:

1. Nothing is on top of it, not even a tile overlapping it by half.
2. Its left side or its right side is open: no tile on the same layer touches it there. Above and below don't count, only left and right.

So the tiles at the ends of each row are free, and the ones in the middle aren't until their neighbours on one side have gone. On the Turtle, the single tile on top is free from the start, and the lone tiles at the far left and right ends block their whole rows.

What matches

Two tiles match when they're exactly the same: the 4 of dots with the 4 of dots, the North wind with the North wind, the red dragon with the red dragon. There are four of each, so each kind comes off as two pairs.

The exception is the flowers and the seasons. There's one of each, and any flower matches any other flower, any season any other season. A flower never matches a season.

In Yuzool's Mahjong every tile has its number in the corner (1 to 9 for the suits), so you can play without reading the Chinese characters.

When you're stuck

If there are tiles left but no free pair, the game is stuck. In a real set you'd start again; on a screen you can:

• Undo a few pairs and take a different tile of the kind you matched.
• Shuffle the tiles that are left. Yuzool's shuffle puts them in an order that can still be cleared.

Most stuck games come from matching the wrong two tiles when three of a kind were free. The fourth tile was usually buried under something that needed the one you took.

Tips that clear the board

• Work on the long rows and tall stacks. The tiles at the ends of the longest rows and on top of the highest stacks hold the most tiles back.
• With three free, choose carefully. Keep the tile that frees the least when it goes; take the two that open up the most.
• All four free? Take both pairs. When every tile of a kind is free, clearing them never hurts.
• Watch for pairs in the same stack. If two of a kind sit one on top of the other, the top one must go with one of the other two, or neither ever comes off.
• Free the ends of the Turtle early. The single tiles at each end block their rows; taking them opens two rows at once.
• Don't rush the easy pairs. A pair that's free now will still be free later. Take the pair that opens new tiles first.

Layouts

The Turtle is the classic, but any shape works. Yuzool's Mahjong has eleven: Turtle, Pyramid, Fortress, Butterfly, Bridge, Harbour, Lighthouse and Terraces use all 144 tiles; Tower, Garden and Kite are quicker games with fewer. Taller stacks make a harder game; wide flat layouts are gentler. There's also a new daily layout every day, the same for everyone.