Mahjong Solitaire Strategy: 9 Tips to Clear the Board

Anyone can match the first dozen pairs. The game is won or lost in the last third, when only a few free tiles are left and every choice matters. These tips come down to one idea: take the pairs that open up the most, and save the pairs that are in nobody's way. None of them needs a good memory or quick fingers, and there is no clock unless you want one.

1. Look Before You Tap

It is tempting to grab the first pair you see. Instead, take a few seconds to look over the whole table. With "Shade blocked tiles" turned on, the bright tiles are your choices. Count how many pairs you have; the number "Pairs you can take" above the table does this for you. When you have several, you can afford to be choosy.

2. Start at the Top of the Tallest Stack

Every tile on a high layer is sitting on tiles you will need later. Tall stacks are the slowest part of a layout to dig out, so begin there. On the Turtle, the four tiles on the very top and the layer below them deserve your attention early. On Bridge, work down the two towers.

3. Open the Long Rows

A tile in the middle of a row can only come out once one end of the row is cleared up to it. The longer the row, the more tiles are waiting. Taking the end tile of a twelve-tile row frees its neighbor; taking the end of a two-tile row frees almost nothing. When you choose between two pairs, prefer the one at the end of the longer row.

4. When All Four Are Free, Take Them All

If all four tiles of a kind are free at once, take both pairs right away. Nothing else depends on how you pair them, and they are only taking up room. The same goes for the last two of a kind: if they are both free, take them. Our Hint button follows this rule too.

5. Three Free Tiles: Leave the Harmless One

This is the most important decision in the game. When exactly three tiles of a kind are free, you take two and leave one, and the fourth is somewhere still blocked. Leave the one that isn't holding anything up: a tile on the bottom layer at the edge of the layout, with no neighbors waiting behind it. The fourth tile will be freed later, and it will need a partner then.

Watch out for the trap: if the blocked fourth tile is underneath one of the three free ones, you must take that covering tile now, or the fourth can never come free.

6. Don't Bury Your Own Pair

Before you take a pair, check where the other two tiles of that kind are. If both are deep inside the same stack, one directly under the other, they can never both be free at the same time. In that case you need to pair each one with something else first, which means taking this pair now with the tiles that are on top of them. Our deals never start like that, but careless matching can create it.

7. Leave Easy Pairs for Later

Two free tiles lying on the open floor, blocking nothing, are not going anywhere. Taking them doesn't open a single new tile. Save them for a moment when you have no better move; they are your reserve. Players who clear the easy pairs first often find themselves stuck with a pile in the middle and nothing left to match it with.

8. Flowers and Seasons Are Flexible

Because any Flower matches any Flower, these four tiles behave like two pairs that can be split however you like. That makes them a good tool for unlocking awkward spots: if a Flower is sitting on top of something important, you can take it as soon as any other Flower is free. The same is true for the Seasons.

9. Use Hint, Undo and Shuffle Without Guilt

This is your game, played for fun. Hint picks a pair that keeps the board clearable whenever it can find one, so pressing it a few times is a good way to learn what a strong move looks like. Undo has no limit: if you get stuck, step back three or four moves and try a different pair. Shuffle mixes the remaining tiles into a new arrangement that can still be cleared, which is handy when you would rather not retrace your steps.

Which Layout Should I Play?

Putting It Together

A good habit for every move: look at the free pairs, then ask of each one, "What does this open up?" Take the pair that frees the most tiles, prefer tops of stacks and ends of long rows, and keep the harmless pairs in reserve. If three of a kind are free, leave the one that blocks nothing. That is most of what separates a cleared board from a stuck one. If you enjoy this kind of patient planning, FreeCell rewards the same careful thinking with cards.