Mahjong: Dragon
How to play Mahjong Dragon
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.
Heavy at the head and thinning away to the tail.
122 tiles, 4 layers
About Mahjong Dragon
The Dragon has 122 tiles in four layers. Its head is a floor block of 5 by 6 with three smaller tiers on it, each set half a tile off the one below, so an upper tile can rest on two or four beneath it. The body behind stands three layers high along its two middle rows, and two single tiles make the tip of the tail.
Only 22 tiles are free at the start, against the Turtle's 35. The two middle floor rows run 16 tiles from the edge of the head to the tip of the tail. Open them from the tail end, where each layer of the body stops a tile short of the one below, while you dig the head down from its four top tiles.
The floor holds 68 tiles, the layers above 32, 18 and 4, and 26 of the raised tiles rest half across two or four below. Clearing all its free tiles in one go, again and again, the Dragon would take ten passes, more than any other layout here, and each of its last six passes would lift eight tiles or fewer. The very last are floor tiles in the two middle rows, where the head meets the body.
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