Mahjong: Butterfly
How to play Mahjong Butterfly
Mahjong solitaire is a tile-matching puzzle for one player in which you clear a stacked layout of mahjong tiles by removing free tiles in matching pairs.
Two spotted wings either side of a raised body.
144 tiles, 3 layers
About Mahjong Butterfly
The Butterfly spreads 144 tiles over just three layers, 104 of them on the floor. Each wing is eight rows of 5 or 7 tiles, and the four rows of 7 reach the body and run straight through it, 15 tiles from wingtip to wingtip. Each wing carries two raised spots, a block of 3 by 2 with two tiles lying across its middle.
The body is a column of eight tiles, two high, and all eight on top are free at the start, part of 40 free tiles against the Turtle's 35. Under them, four body tiles stand alone and come free at once; the other four sit inside the long rows and leave only when a wing's row has been cleared up to them, so work those rows in from the wingtips.
Of its 144 tiles, 56 are hidden beneath others at the start, and 8 of the raised ones lie half across two below. Remove every free tile together and repeat, and the first two passes would clear 84 tiles, more than half the board. After a third pass of 24, four passes of 8 and a last one of 4 would remain: the four long rows through the body, eaten in from both wingtips.
The goal of Mahjong
Mahjong solitaire is a tile-matching puzzle for one player, not the four-player game. Clear the board by removing its tiles in matching pairs; you win when no tile is left.
How to set up Mahjong
A full set has 144 tiles: bamboo, characters and dots from 1 to 9, four winds and three dragons, four of each, plus four flowers and four seasons. Some layouts use fewer tiles. A new board is dealt at random and may be impossible to clear, unless you turn on Winnable under New game. Even a winnable board can be lost by matching the wrong pairs.
Mahjong rules
Select two free tiles that match and both leave the board. Tiles match when they show the same face, but any flower matches any flower and any season matches any season.
A tile is free when nothing lies on top of it, even partly, and its left or right side is not touching another tile on the same layer. Only the left and right sides count. You can have free tiles highlighted in the settings.
Hint shows a pair to take, chosen to keep the board winnable when a winning line can be found. Undo takes back a match, and Restart deals the same board again. There is no reshuffle: if tiles remain but no free pair matches, you are stuck and can undo, restart or start a new game.
The full Mahjong guide, with strategy tips and common questions