when Activision licensed Lockard's design and ported it to home computers as Shanghai. The game shipped on the Macintosh， 650+ layouts， White， one of each (4 tiles) — any matches any Flowers — Plum， Dragon，。
South。
Flowers. All tiles visible from the start — no hidden information. Rules Free tile. A tile is free when no tile sits on top of it AND at least one side (left or right) is open. Matching. Click two identical free tiles to remove them. Wildcards. Any Season matches any other Season. Any Flower matches any other Flower. = = = No replacement. Removed tiles stay removed. No time limit. Take your time. Tile categories Dots (Circles) — 1–9， Crab， Brodie. Mah-Jongg (1981). Original PLATO implementation， typically the Turtle shape. Tile categories: Dots， where he called it Mah-Jongg. Activision licensed and renamed it Shanghai for personal computers in 1986， Dragons， Amiga， Winds， Atari ST， University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The earliest single-player tile-matching version. Activision. Shanghai (1986). The commercial release that introduced the Lockard ruleset to home computers across multiple platforms. Microsoft. Mahjong Titans (Windows 7， NES， Flowers， North， Summer， Play Mahjong Solitaire — 144 Tiles， rewarding aggressive play from the start. Tile values Characters: 2 points per tile remaining Dots: 4 points per tile remaining Bamboos: 6 points per tile remaining Winds: 8 points per tile remaining Dragons: 10 points per tile remaining Flowers: 12 points per tile remaining Seasons: 14 points per tile remaining (highest) Chain multiplier Match tiles of the same suit consecutively to build a chain multiplier: 1st match. ×1 (base points). 2nd consecutive same-suit match. ×1.5. 3rd consecutive. ×2. 4th consecutive. ×2.5. The multiplier grows by ×0.5 for each additional consecutive same-suit match. The chain resets when you match a different suit. Look for opportunities to chain several pairs of the same suit for big bonuses. Scoring tips Match high-value tiles (Seasons， and several other platforms over the next decade. Microsoft included a version called Mahjong Titans in Windows 7 (2009)， Characters， Winter， West。
and others Animal and symbolic shapes for variety. Our version includes 650+ layouts in total. A Short History Mahjong Solitaire is a digital invention. Brodie Lockard developed it on the PLATO computer system at the University of Illinois in 1981. He drew on the tile art of traditional Mahjong but replaced the four-player strategy game with a single-player matching puzzle. PLATO users played his version in the early 1980s under the name Mah-Jongg. The version that broke through to the mainstream came in 1986， two remain. Note where the remaining copies sit before committing to a match. If both remaining copies are deep in the same stack， MS-DOS， Japanese。
Autumn， Korean， memory， Seasons， four of each (36 tiles) Bamboos (Sticks) — 1–9， Bamboos， so they unlock faster. Removing the outer ring exposes the inner cluster. This pattern reduces the chance of trapping tiles in unreachable positions. 6. Use Hint sparingly Hint shows a legal pair when you're stuck. Use it after you've tried to find one yourself. Pattern recognition is the main skill in Mahjong Solitaire. Hints short-circuit the practice. How Scoring Works This Mahjong uses a dynamic scoring system that rewards strategic tile selection and consistent play. Base points Each match earns points based on two factors: the tile type value and the number of tiles remaining on the board: Base Points = Tile Value × Tiles Remaining Early matches (when more tiles remain) score more， four of each (16 tiles) Dragons — Red， 2009) and the Mahjong portion of Microsoft Solitaire Collection. Microsoft Solitaire. Solvability ranges (~25–40% for random Turtle shuffles) reflect aggregated solver-experiment estimates. No single peer-reviewed solvability paper covers Mahjong Solitaire to the same depth as Yan et al. (2005) covers Klondike. Other Puzzles to Try ， which kept the game in front of mainstream Windows users for another decade. About This Version This Mahjong runs in your browser — free， depending on tile placement. Many digital versions (including this one) bias the shuffle toward solvable boards so most games can be won with careful play. Common LayoutsTurtle (Classic) The most iconic layout， Clear the Layout Mahjong Solitaire is a single-player tile-matching puzzle that uses the 144 tiles from a traditional Chinese Mahjong set. Match pairs of identical free tiles to remove them. Clear every tile to win. The game is also called Shanghai Solitaire after the 1986 Activision port that introduced it to a wide computer audience. Free in your browser。
no download，016 base points. Build chains by matching the same suit consecutively for the multiplier. Balance scoring against board management — don't get stuck chasing points. Mahjong Solitaire vs Traditional Mahjong The two share tile art and almost nothing else. AspectMahjong SolitaireTraditional Mahjong Players 1 4 Goal Match free pairs to clear the board Build winning hands of melds Created 1981 (digital) 19th-century China Skill type Spatial puzzle， which is the version most older players remember. Is Every Mahjong Layout Winnable? No. Random shuffles can produce unwinnable boards — a position where every remaining match locks the next one. Estimates from solver experiments put solvable random shuffles at roughly 25–40% on the standard Turtle layout， no sign-up. 650+ layouts. Six tile-art themes (default composite plus Chinese。
Orchid， resembling a turtle shell with a tall center and sloping edges. Pyramid Symmetrical pyramid with tiles stacked in decreasing layers. Four Bridges Multiple separated sections connected by bridges of tiles. Cat， and any two free tiles in the group match. Save them for moments when you need to clear a blocker. 4. Track tile counts Each regular tile has exactly four copies. After matching one pair， four of each (12 tiles) Seasons — Spring。
and Medieval cultural sets). Daily challenges， Match Free Pairs， two trapped below with no way to reach them. Example: removing two 5-Bamboos that expose two more 5-Bamboos beneath. Always check what your match will reveal before clicking. 3. Save Seasons and Flowers Seasons and Flowers are wild within their group. Any Season pairs with any Season; any Flower with any Flower. They never lock — there are only four of each， one of each (4 tiles) — any matches any Six Strategies That Actually Work1. Clear top tiles and edges first Top-layer tiles should go first when you can. Removing them frees the tiles underneath. Clear edge tiles to open more sides on adjacent tiles. Prefer tiles that block many others over tiles that block none. 2. Avoid creating locked pairs Don't match a pair if doing so exposes the only other identical pair underneath. That's how four copies of a tile end up locked — two visible up top， pattern recognition Strategy， Green， and unlimited undo. Install as an app on your phone or computer; once installed it works offline. References Sources Lockard， four of each (36 tiles) Winds — East， statistics， Dragons) early while many tiles still remain. A Season match at the start (144 tiles) earns 14 × 144 = 2。
no sign-up. Works offline once the page has loaded. How Do You Play Mahjong Solitaire? Goal: remove all 144 tiles by matching identical free pairs. Setup 144 tiles from the standard Chinese Mahjong set. Stacked layout — tiles arranged in 3D layers， Bamboo， social play Mahjong Solitaire was designed in 1981 by Brodie Lockard on the PLATO computer system at the University of Illinois， Chrysanthemum， you may not be able to reach them. 5. Work from outside to inside Outer tiles have more free sides， four of each (36 tiles) Characters (Numbers) — 1–9， Indian。