What are the rules of Mahjong Solitaire?
Mahjong Solitaire has one of the shortest rulebooks in gaming. There are really only three rules, and once you know them you know the whole game.
The three core rules
Everything comes down to this:
- Match in pairs. You always remove two tiles at once, and they must show the same picture.
- Only free tiles move. A tile is free when nothing is stacked on top of it, and at least one of its left or right sides is not touching another tile.
- Clear the board to win. Keep removing pairs until all 144 tiles are gone.
The matching exceptions
Nearly every tile only pairs with an identical twin. The bonus tiles are the exception. There are four Flower tiles and four Season tiles, and they are special: any Flower matches any other Flower, and any Season matches any other Season. This makes bonus tiles a little easier to clear.
What is not allowed
You cannot remove a single tile on its own, and you cannot pull a tile that is pinned on both sides or buried under another. If a tile looks stuck, it is because one of those rules is blocking it. For the full official write-up with pictures, see the rules page.
Related questions
How do you play Mahjong Solitaire?
You play by removing matching pairs of free tiles from the layout. A tile is free when no tile sits on top of it and either its left or right side is open. Click one free tile, then click its match to remove both. Keep going until every tile is cleared.
What does it mean for a tile to be free?
A tile is free when two things are true: no tile is stacked on top of it, and at least one of its left or right long sides is open. Only free tiles can be selected, so understanding this rule is the key to the whole game.
How do matching tiles work?
Most tiles match only another tile that looks exactly the same, such as two Bamboo 3s or two West Winds. The special case is bonus tiles: any Flower matches any other Flower, and any Season matches any other Season, even if the pictures differ.
What are Flower and Season tiles?
Flowers and Seasons are the 8 bonus tiles in a mahjong set: 4 Flower tiles and 4 Season tiles. Unlike every other tile, they do not need an exact twin. Any Flower matches any other Flower, and any Season matches any other Season.