Mahjong Solitaire - Tile matching puzzle

Introduction

Mahjong Solitaire is a variation of the traditional Chinese game of mahjong.

The objective is to clear all tiles from the board. You can only eliminate paired tiles that are free, meaning there are no other tiles directly adjacent to them on either side.

If you're unable to locate any pairs, you have the option to shuffle the tiles at any time, though this will incur a time penalty.

Mahjongg Solitaire is a popular game that combines the elements of Mahjongg and Solitaire.

The goal of the game is to remove all of the tiles from the board. The game can be quite challenging, and whether you are a Mahjongg pro or a Solitaire novice, Mahjongg Solitaire is sure to provide you with hours of challenging fun.

Mahjong Solitaire is a free solitaire matching game that using mahjong tiles.

Simple rules and engaging game play.

Features

- 150 different board configurations.

- 6 unique backgrounds.

- 3 distinct tile designs.

- options to shuffle and get hints

- automatic save feature

- block shadow effect

- automatic zoom in functionality

How to Play Mahjongg Solitaire

-Spot the patterns

Mahjong is a tricky puzzle game. There are so many tiles, many of which look the same but feature slight differences. Along with the need to spot these patterns, you can’t move any pieces with both sides blocked. The left or right side needs to be accessible, at least.

-Use hints when you’re stuck

Mahjongg Solitaire features hints if you get stuck, but unlike some other mahjong games, it does not have a shuffle feature. The games are also timed, meaning there is some urgency to how many tiles you can match.

When the game ends, you’ll get a score for the tiles you matched and a bonus for how far you got in the game before your time ran out.

-Tile groups in Mahjongg Solitaire

Mahjongg Solitaire features 144 tiles divided primarily into three suits. The primary suits are:

-Dots - feature circles

-Bamboo - feature lines

-Characters - feature Chinese characters

In Mahjongg Solitaire, you’ll also notice special tiles that can be matched even without the same image. These are highlighted in blue or green.

Mathematical analysis

Playing Mahjong solitaire optimally in the sense to maximize the probability of removing all tiles is PSPACE-complete, and the game is NP-complete if looking below tiles is allowed. It has been proven that it is PSPACE-hard to approximate the maximum probability of removing all tiles within a factor of nϵ, assuming that there are arbitrarily many quadruples of matching tiles and that the hidden tiles are uniformly distributed.The perfect-information version of this puzzle is where the player knows, before the game starts, the position of every tile. In this case, however, it is NP-complete to decide whether all tiles can be removed.

An analysis of ten million games with the default layout, "the turtle", found that about 3 percent of the turtles cannot be solved even when looking below tiles is allowed.

Game history

The computer game was originally created by Brodie Lockard in 1981 on the PLATO system and named Mah-Jongg after the game that uses the same tiles for play. Lockard claimed that it was based on a centuries-old Chinese game called "the Turtle". The computer game was released for free and was played using a CDC-721 touch screen terminal.

Activision released Shanghai in 1986 for the IBM Personal Computer, Commodore Amiga, Macintosh, Atari ST and Apple IIgs. The Macintosh version was created by Brodie Lockard, and the Apple IIGS version was ported from the Macintosh by Ivan Manley with Brad Fregger as the producer. Around 10 million copies were sold. The game has since been ported to many different platforms. The name "Shanghai" was trademarked by Activision.

As the game is based on mahjong tiles, some confusion arose with the 4-player mahjong game. Although the name mahjong solitaire is widely used, other names include The Turtle, Shanghai Solitaire, Taipei, and Kyodai.

A version of this game was also included in the Microsoft Entertainment Pack for Windows 3.x in 1990 under the name Taipei. It was subsequently included in the Best of Windows Entertainment Pack. Premium editions of the Windows Vista operating system and Windows 7 include a version of the game known as Mahjong Titans.

Mahjong solitaire was adapted into several puzzle video games such as Mahjong Trails, listed as one of the top-grossing games on Facebook.

Mahjong Solitaire was added to Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics for Nintendo Switch. It includes a two-player version.

FAQ

-Is it spelled mahjong or mahjongg?

Both words are correct and are used to describe the same game.

-Is Mahjongg Solitaire a difficult game?

Mahjong is generally a tricky game, but this is probably a medium-difficulty mahjong game compared with others. There are no shuffles, but you have 10 minutes and unlimited hints which balances the game nicely.

-Is Mahjong Solitaire a free game?

Yes, you can play Mahjong Solitaire online for free at CrazyGames.

-Is Mahjong good for the brain?

Puzzle games are often cited as keeping the mind sharp and maintaining brain health.

Have fun!

Mahjong Tiles

Tile Groups

Overview

Tiles (also know as cards) are used to play the game of Mahjong. There are many different variations of tiles which can made out of different materials (plastic, wood, ivory etc.) and have different imagery on them. This page is just to give a general idea of Mahjong tiles and the groups which they fall into. The pictures on your tiles might vary a little from the ones displayed here.

Main groups

A Mahjong set consists out of 144 tiles, which can be divided into three main groups – Suit, Honor and Bonus Tiles. The suits are divided into Circle, Bamboo and Character tiles. Each suit contains 4 sets of tiles numbered from 1 to 9. (108 Suit tiles in a Mahjong set) The Dragons and Winds makes part of the Honor tiles, 4 sets of the 4 kinds of Winds and 4 sets of the 3 Dragons. (28 Honor tiles in a set) Bonus tiles consists of 4 kinds of Flowers and 4 Seasons. Usually a set also have 4 Blanks to replace lost tiles.

Circles Tiles

(Also called dot, cash, wheel or ball)

Decorated with different numbers of circles, from 1 to 9. Usually coloured as follows: 1,3,5 & 9 – multi-coloured. 2 & 4 – blue and green. 6 & 7 – red and green. 8 – blue.

Bamboo Tiles

(Also called bams or sticks)

Decorated with different numbers of little bamboo pictures, from 1 to 9. The 1 of bamboo can be one bamboo shoot or a bird. The coloring for bamboos is usually green, while 1 & 7 can be multi-colored, 5 & 9 red and green and the picture for the 1 green or multi-colored.

character Tiles

(Also called cracks)

Usually contains the Chinese number symbols from 1 – 9. The numbers are usually blue, with a red wan symbol (Chinese for ten thousand) at the bottom and may have a green Western number in the upper left corner.

Wind Tiles

East, South, West and North decorated with the Chinese symbol for the wind directions. The 4 players are also named according to the 4 wind directions and play commences in the anti-clockwise order East – South – West – North.

Dragon Tiles

Red (with Chinese symbol), green (with Chinese symbol) and white (blank or framed) tiles.

Flower Tiles

Usually plum, orchid, chrysanthemum and bamboo (or lily). Sometimes numbered from 1 to 4. These are bonus and only used in some versions.

Season Tiles

Winter, Summer, Autumn and Spring decorated with pictures that may bear resemblance to the season.