Mahjong Garden

Quick start in 3 steps

1. Pick a board (Blossom, Pyramid, Fortress, Heart or Daily) and a picture theme.
2. Tap a free tile. Then tap another free tile with the same picture. Both disappear.
3. Clear every tile from the table. A new plant grows in your garden.

What is Mahjong Garden?

Mahjong Garden is a free mahjong solitaire game. You play it alone, in your browser, on a phone, tablet or computer. There is nothing to download and no account to make. The tiles lie in a stack on the table, like a little building. You take them away in pairs until the table is empty.

Classic mahjong solitaire uses old Chinese tile signs: bamboo sticks, circles, characters, dragons and winds. Many new players find these hard to tell apart. Mahjong Garden keeps the same rules but uses clear pictures instead: fruits, animals, sea life and sweets. So anyone can start at once, from kids to grandparents.

The rules

The setup

Each board has between 46 and 66 tiles. They lie in layers. Some tiles sit on top of others, a bit higher and a bit to the left, so you can see the stack. Most pictures appear four times on a board, some appear two times. There is always an even number of each picture.

When is a tile free?

You may only take free tiles. A tile is free when both of these are true:

• Nothing lies on top of it. Not a full tile, not half a tile.
• Its left side or its right side is open. If other tiles touch it on both the left and the right, it is blocked. Tiles above or below it in the same layer do not block it.

With Easy view on, blocked tiles look darker, so you see at once which tiles you can use. If you tap a blocked tile, the tile shakes and the game tells you why.

How a move works

• Tap a free tile. It turns yellow and lifts a little.
• Tap a second free tile with the same picture. Both tiles disappear.
• If the second tile has a different picture, it simply becomes your new choice.
• Tap the yellow tile again to cancel your choice.

Winning

You win when the table is empty. A window shows your stars, your time and the plant that grew in your garden.

Getting stuck

You are stuck when no two free tiles have the same picture. Sometimes there are still pairs, but the board can no longer be cleared, because a needed tile is locked under its own partner. Mahjong Garden checks both cases after each move. When it finds one, it tells you and offers Undo and a free Shuffle.

Every button explained

• ↶ Undo: takes back your last pair. You can undo as many pairs as you like. Undo is free and does not cost stars.
• 💡 Hint: two matching tiles glow. The hint looks ahead and tries to find a pair that keeps the board clearable. Using a hint costs one star on this board.
• 🔀 Shuffle: mixes the pictures of all tiles that are left. The tiles stay where they are. The new mix is built so the board can still be cleared. A shuffle you choose yourself costs one star. A shuffle when you are stuck is free.
• 👁 Easy view: turns the darker blocked tiles on or off. Off is the classic look and a bit harder.
• 🌱 New board: starts a fresh board with the same layout and theme.
• Board chips (Blossom, Pyramid, Fortress, Heart, Daily): change the shape of the stack.
• Theme chips (Fruits, Animals, Ocean, Sweets): change the pictures. You can switch the theme in the middle of a game. The board stays the same.

At the top you see three numbers: Tiles left on the table, Pairs free (how many pairs you can take right now) and the timer. The timer starts with your first tap.

The five boards

• 🌸 Blossom (66 tiles): a round flower with a tower in the middle. The biggest board.
• 🔺 Pyramid (58 tiles): rises in even steps to a tall top. The top must come off early.
• 🏰 Fortress (60 tiles): four corner towers around an open yard. The towers block the long walls.
• ❤️ Heart (46 tiles): a short, friendly board for a quick break.
• 📅 Daily: one board and theme for today, the same for every player. A new one comes at midnight.

Stars and your garden

Every cleared board gives you stars:

• ★★★ no hint and no shuffle of your own.
• ★★ you used hints or a shuffle.
• ★ you used both.

Every cleared board also plants something in your garden, below the game. A normal clear grows a common plant like 🌱 🌷 🌼. A three-star clear grows a rare plant like 🌻 🌹 🌳 or 🌺. Over days and weeks your garden fills up and shows how much you played. Your best time for each board is saved too.

Why every board can be cleared

In many mahjong games the tiles are dealt at random. Then some boards are impossible from the very first move, and you only find out after ten minutes. Mahjong Garden works the other way round. The game starts with an empty table and builds the board pair by pair, always using places that would be free at that moment. The order in which it builds is a working solution. So at least one way to clear the board always exists. Shuffle uses the same method on the tiles that are left.

This does not mean every move is good. You can still lock yourself in with a bad pair. That is the puzzle. But you never get a board that was broken from the start.

Tips for faster clears

1. Open the long rows first

Wide rows block many tiles at once. Take tiles from the ends of the longest rows early, so more tiles become free.

2. Clear the high stacks

Tiles on top hide the tiles under them. A tall stack in the middle is often the real problem. Work on it before it locks you in.

3. Count the pictures

Most pictures appear four times. If three are free and you take two, the third may wait a long time for its partner. Look for the fourth one first.

4. When all four are free, take both pairs

If all four tiles of one picture are free, take them as two pairs. This move is always safe.

5. Do not stack a pair on its partner

Watch for two same tiles where one lies under the other. You can only take the top one if a third tile of that picture is free. Plan for it.

6. Test ideas with Undo

Not sure which pair to take? Try one. If it closes the board, undo and try the other.

A short history of mahjong solitaire

Mahjong itself is an old Chinese game for four players, a bit like the card game rummy. It became popular in China in the 1800s and later spread around the world. Mahjong solitaire is a much younger game. It uses the same tiles but only the idea of matching pairs. The first computer version was made in 1981 by Brodie Lockard. In 1986 it came out as Shanghai and became a hit on home computers. Since then it has been one of the most played free games on PCs and phones. Mahjong Garden is our own take on this classic.

Is mahjong good for the brain?

No game is medicine, and no game makes you smarter overnight. But mahjong solitaire trains a few skills in a gentle way:

• Visual attention: you scan the table and spot matching pictures fast.
• Planning: you think about which tile opens which stack.
• Memory: you remember where the partners of a picture are hidden.
• Calm focus: there is no pressure. Many people play it to relax after work.

It is a good game for kids from about 6 years, for adults on a short break, and for older people who want a quiet brain game with big, clear pictures.

What the game can and cannot do

• It can promise that every new board and every shuffle can be cleared.
• The hint looks ahead, but on a full board its search can stop early. Then it shows any matching free pair. That is a legal move, but maybe not the best one.
• Your garden, best times and settings are saved only in this browser on this device. If you clear your browser data or change phone, they are gone. We do not save them on a server.
• The timer is only for fun. There is no time limit.

Words you will see

• Layout / board: the shape of the tile stack.
• Free tile: a tile you can take now.
• Blocked tile: a tile with something on top or tiles on both sides.
• Pair: two tiles with the same picture.
• Layer: one level of the stack. The top layer is always free first.

More calm brain games: Ball Sort Puzzle, Classic Solitaire, Nonogram, Crown Grid.