Cross Mahjong

How to Play Cross Mahjong

In a nutshell: Four stacked arms meeting at a raised center - Balance to win. You clear 100 tiles stacked up to 3 layers high, it's rated hard, and about 50% clear when all four arms are worked in balance.

Cross Mahjong arranges its tiles into a bold plus-sign: four equal arms of stacked tiles meeting at a raised central hub. Each arm is free at its far tip, but the hub where all four meet is stacked highest and opens last, so the puzzle is keeping the four arms retreating in balance so the center collapses cleanly at the end. Clear one arm too fast and the hub seals off from that side; ignore an arm and its buried tiles get stranded. With a compact footprint and a tall center, the Cross offers fewer free tiles than it looks like it should, which is what earns it a spot among the Challenge layouts. The rules never change - match identical free tiles, Flowers and Seasons matching within their groups - and every Cross on Mahjong.now is generated solvable, so the hub always opens for a balanced player.

Cross at a glance

Goal	Clear all four arms and the central hub by matching free tiles in pairs until the whole cross is gone.
Tiles	100 mahjong tiles (50 matching pairs)
Layers	Stacked up to 3 layers high
Difficulty	Hard
Chance of clearing	About 50% clear when all four arms are worked in balance
Family	Challenge Layouts

Step by step

History of Cross Mahjong

The cross, or plus, is one of the most balanced shapes a layout designer can build: four identical arms around a shared center, symmetric on two axes. That symmetry makes it a natural Mahjong Solitaire puzzle, because the center becomes a contested space that all four arms feed into.

Its challenge comes from that shared hub. A cross cannot be solved arm by arm; it has to be solved evenly, with all four arms arriving at the center together. That demand for balance, on a deliberately compact footprint, makes the cross tougher than its modest tile count suggests.

On Mahjong.now the Cross closes out the Challenge family. It looks simple and clean, but it is a disciplined test of keeping four arms in step so the raised hub falls cleanly at the very end.

How to Clear Cross: Strategy

💡 Top tip: Retreat all four arms at the same pace - the hub only collapses cleanly if every arm reaches it together.

Winning tips, in order of importance

1. Work opposite arms in pairs so the center stays balanced on both axes.
2. Clear each arm from the tip inward; an arm frees one tile at a time, so half-clearing all four wastes open edges.
3. Match fully-free foursomes immediately so no copy ends up buried in the hub.
4. Trace the arm-to-hub junctions, which pin both an arm and a side of the raised center.
5. Hold Flowers and Seasons back for the late game when the hub's twins are the last buried tiles.
6. Use Hint when the hub genuinely stalls; the compact shape hides fewer moves than it appears to.

Advanced tactics for Cross

1. Balance the Cross on two axes at once: keep the north-south arms even with each other and the east-west arms even, so the hub settles symmetrically.
2. The four arm-to-hub junctions are the highest-value tiles - each opens a side of the raised center, so free them deliberately, not by accident.
3. The tall hub is where stacked twins hide directly above one another; plan the order you unstack the center before you reach it.
4. Count pairs against open positions; the Cross dries up faster than its size suggests, so stop spending easy arm tips if the hub is still sealed.
5. When two matches exist, prefer the one that opens a hub side over the one that only shortens an arm.
6. Keep a reserve pair on at least two arms so a late shuffle near the hub stays optional.
7. If you shuffle, do it before the arms are gone - a shuffle with only the hub left has almost no room to rebuild a clear path.

Common Cross mistakes to avoid

• Clearing one arm much faster than the others - that seals the hub from that side, so keep all four arms retreating together.
• Forgetting the hub hides stacked twins - plan the order you will unstack the raised center before the arms are gone.
• Ignoring the arm-to-hub junctions - each one opens a side of the center, so free them deliberately, not by accident.
• Shuffling once only the hub is left - do it while arms remain, because a shuffle with just the center has no room to find a clear.

Cross Variations

Even Cross

The classic four-equal-arm plus shape you play here, with a raised central hub.

Long Cross

A house variant with two longer arms and two shorter ones, breaking the symmetry for a different balancing act.

Saltire

A version rotated to an X, with diagonal arms, which changes which tiles start free.

Daily Cross

The shared daily version - the same solvable Cross for everyone, ranked on time.

Race Cross

The multiplayer version where two players balance identical Crosses and race to finish first.

Cross FAQ

Still have a question about Cross Mahjong? Browse the full Mahjong FAQ, look up a term like free tile or challenge layouts in the Mahjong glossary, or compare Cross with the other layouts in the rules for every Mahjong layout.

Last updated 2026-07-03.