What to Play After the Tiles
There is a point in a long Mahjong session where the tiles stop resolving and you need a different kind of board in front of you. This page is a shortlist of 19 games worth the switch - all free, all instant in the browser, none of them asking you to download or sign up for anything.
There are five families here. The puzzle and arcade end shares the most with tile matching - a busy field, a piece that unlocks others. Cards trade that for hidden information you can deduce. Boards remove the clock, dice games hand the randomness to you openly, and one entry is a clock rather than a game.
Tetris - Eleven ways to play the falling-block game, from a calm endless mode to 20G instant gravity. Play Tetris online →
Puzzle - Logic grids, sliding tiles, matching boards and number puzzles - the natural next stop when you want a break from falling blocks but not from thinking. Play free puzzle games →
Pac-Man - Learn the maze, learn the four ghosts, and find out how far pattern beats reflex. Play Pac-Man online →
Solitaire - Klondike, Spider, Pyramid, TriPeaks and the rest of the patience cabinet, dealt fresh each time. Play Solitaire online →
FreeCell - Every card face up, four free cells, and a deal that is almost always winnable if you plan it. Play FreeCell online →
Hearts - Dodge every heart and the queen of spades, or shoot the moon and hand the penalty points to everyone else. Play Hearts online →
Spades - Partnership trick-taking built around a contract you announce before the first card. Play Spades online →
Rummy - Build sets and runs and go out before your opponents, across the classic Rummy variants. Play Rummy online →
Gin Rummy - Ten cards, one draw, and a running argument with yourself about when to knock. Play Gin Rummy online →
Canasta - Melds of seven, wild cards, frozen discard piles and the deep partnership scoring that made Canasta a household game. Play Canasta online →
Blackjack - Seventeen variants and a strategy chart - the correct move is known, following it is the hard part. Play Blackjack online →
Checkers - Compulsory capture turns every sacrifice into a forced sequence you can calculate to the end. Play Checkers online →
Reversi - A minute to learn, a lifetime to master - corner control, mobility and the counter-intuitive value of owning fewer discs mid-game. Play Reversi online →
Dominoes - Tile matching with a scorekeeper attached, across Draw, Block, All Fives and more. Play Dominoes online →
Ludo - Race four tokens home, and learn to count the six squares behind each of them. Play Ludo online →
Tic Tac Toe - Three in a row, plus the larger grids and inverted rules where it stops being trivial. Play Tic Tac Toe online →
Yahtzee - The dice-and-scorecard classic, where the upper-section bonus quietly decides most games. Play Yahtzee online →
Craps - Eight variants and one bet on the table that carries no house edge at all. Play Craps online →
Chess Clock - A free browser clock that makes draughts, dominoes and Scrabble move a great deal faster. Use a free online chess clock →
Or go back to the tiles
Plenty of reasons to stay with Mahjong, too. If you would rather stay, the main game is one click away, the rules hub covers how everything works, and the FAQ answers the common questions.
Tile-player questions
How long does a game take?
It varies enormously. The dice and arcade games are usually done inside five minutes. Card games run ten to twenty. A board game against a thinking opponent can take half an hour, and the tile puzzles take as long as you let them - there is no clock on most of them.
Can I play any of these with someone else?
Several of them, yes. The card and board games include head-to-head modes, and a few run real-time multiplayer where both players see the same position. The puzzle and arcade entries are solo by nature, though scores are comparable.
Which should I try first?
The list is ordered with the closest relatives at the top, so the first group is the safest bet. If you would rather pick by mood than by category, the shorter the game the easier it is to abandon - start with something that takes five minutes.
What other free games can I play?
Nineteen are listed on this page, all free in the browser with no download and no signup. They cover puzzle and arcade games, a full card cabinet, board and tile games, dice games and a free chess clock. Every one of them plays instantly as a guest.