Mahjong Garden

Tips for Mahjong Garden

In Mahjong Garden a tile is only free when nothing rests on it and its left or right side is open, so the tiles to clear first are the ones that are trapping others. Work on the tall stacks and the long rows early, since freeing a tile at the end of a row opens the next one along. When you can see three or four matching tiles, think before you lift a pair: take the two that free up the most tiles underneath, and keep the other two for later. Remember that any season matches any season and any flower matches any flower.

Every deal can be cleared, so if you get stuck, it is the order of your moves, not the deal. Undo puts the last pair back, which is often better than a Shuffle, since shuffling costs a little score in Classic. If you are new to the game, start in Relaxed, where there is no clock and hints and shuffles are free, and try the Turtle layout before the others.

How to play Mahjong Garden

The goal in Mahjong Garden is to clear the table. A hundred and forty-four tiles are stacked into a layout, and you take them off two at a time until none are left.

You may only take free tiles. A tile is free when no other tile rests on top of it and its left or right side is open. Pick two free tiles that match and they lift away. Most tiles have to match exactly, but the seasons and flowers are looser: any season pairs with any other season, and any flower with any other flower. Tiles in the middle of a row or under a stack only become free once you clear the tiles around them, so the order in which you take pairs matters. Every deal can be cleared, so a dead end always comes from that order, never from the deal itself. Undo puts the last pair back, Hint lights up a good pair, and Shuffle re-deals the faces still on the table into an arrangement that can be finished.

Choose Classic for a clock, a score and a best time on each of the eight layouts, where a shuffle costs a little score; Relaxed for no clock, no score and free hints and shuffles; or the daily garden, which is the same for everyone that day. On a computer you click two tiles, or move with the arrow keys and pick with Enter, with H for a hint, U to undo, S to shuffle, P to pause and M to mute. On a phone or tablet you tap the tiles, and on a small screen the magnifier zooms in while you drag to look around.

About Mahjong Garden

Mahjong Garden is mahjong solitaire, a puzzle for one played with the tiles of mahjong, the traditional Chinese game for four. Instead of building hands against other players, you clear a stacked layout pair by pair, and the puzzle became popular on computers, where a fresh deal needs no setting up. The Turtle, the layout most players know, is one of the eight in Mahjong Garden, alongside a stepped Pyramid, a walled Fortress, a Butterfly, a coiled Dragon, a moon Bridge, a Garden of hedges and blooms, and a Spiral.

It suits anyone who likes a calm puzzle with a clear finish. There are no rivals and no hurry unless you want one: Relaxed takes the pressure off completely, while Classic gives you a time and a score to beat on every layout. What sets this version apart is that every deal is built so it can be cleared, so you are never left with an impossible table, and the daily garden gives you one shared puzzle each day and a streak to keep up. The tiles, the koi pond and the drifting cherry petals are all drawn by the game itself.

Frequently asked questions