How to Play Mahjong Solitaire
Mahjong Solitaire is a tile-matching puzzle. The tiles are stacked in a layout. You remove them two at a time by matching pairs, and you win when the table is empty. It uses Mahjong tiles but it's a different game from four-player Mahjong, and you don't need to know any Mahjong to play.
The tiles
A full set has 144 tiles:
- Characters, Bamboo and Dots, numbered 1 to 9, four of each (108 tiles).
- Winds: East, South, West and North, four of each (16).
- Dragons: Red, Green and White, four of each (12).
- Flowers: plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum, one of each (4).
- Seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter, one of each (4).
kawu's tiles show an English letter or a number in the corner, so you don't need to read the Chinese characters. See the tile guide for every tile.
Matching
Pick two free tiles that match and they're removed.
- Ordinary tiles match exactly the same tile: a 5 of Dots with a 5 of Dots, East with East.
- Any two Flowers match each other, and any two Seasons match each other.
- Plum (Flower)Flower
- Bamboo (Flower)Flower
- Spring (Season)Season
- Winter (Season)Season
Free tiles
You can only pick a tile that is free:
- Nothing is on top of it. Even a tile that covers it only partly blocks it.
- Its left side or its right side is open. At least one side must not touch a tile on the same layer.
Tiles at the end of a row, and the top tile of a stack, are usually the free ones. A tile in the middle of a row stays blocked until a tile at one end of it has gone.
kawu dims the tiles you can't pick. You can switch this off in the settings for a harder game.
Getting stuck and shuffling
If there are no matching free tiles, you're stuck. You can:
- undo as far back as you like, or
- shuffle: the remaining tiles are rearranged on the same spaces. You get three shuffles per game.
Winning
Remove all the tiles to win. Your time is recorded for each layout. The daily board uses the Turtle layout and is the same for everyone that day.
Layouts
| Layout | Tiles | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Turtle | 144 | The classic shape, five layers high in the middle |
| Garden | 112 | Low and wide, a good place to start |
| Fortress | 144 | Long rows leave few free tiles, so it's harder |
Every deal can be solved
Many Mahjong Solitaire games deal tiles at random, so plenty of games can't be won. kawu builds every deal backwards. It starts from an empty table and adds one matching pair at a time, only where both tiles would be free. Removing those pairs in the reverse order clears the table, so a solution always exists. Finding it is up to you.
Ready for tips? Read the Mahjong Solitaire strategy guide.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mahjong Solitaire the same as Mahjong?
No. Mahjong is a four-player game of collecting sets. Mahjong Solitaire is a one-player matching puzzle that only uses the same tiles. You don't need to know Mahjong to play it.
What makes a tile free?
Two things: no tile lies on top of it, even partly, and at least one of its long sides, left or right, is not touching another tile on the same layer. Tiles above or below on other layers don't count for the left/right rule.
Can every Mahjong Solitaire game be won?
On kawu, yes. Every deal is built backwards from an empty table, so at least one way to clear it always exists. You can still get stuck by removing pairs in the wrong order. Then use undo or a shuffle.
Which Flowers and Seasons match?
Any Flower matches any other Flower (plum, orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum), and any Season matches any other Season (spring, summer, autumn, winter). A Flower never matches a Season.
How does shuffling work?
Shuffle puts the remaining tiles back on the same spaces in a new order. kawu rebuilds them so the board can still be cleared whenever possible, and always leaves at least one pair. You get three shuffles per game, and the result shows how many you used.
Last updated 2026-10-17