How to win at Mahjong Solitaire

Most lost games are decided early, by taking easy pairs that don’t open anything. These seven habits fix that.

1. Ask what each pair opens

Before you take a pair, look at what it frees. A pair that uncovers two buried tiles is worth more than one that only removes edge tiles nobody was waiting for.

2. Start with the tall middle

The Turtle is five layers deep in the middle, and 57 of its 144 tiles sit on the upper layers. Digging into the centre early gives you more choices later. Edge tiles can wait – they rarely block anything.

3. Open the long rows from both ends

A tile is only free if its left or right side is open, so long rows open one tile at a time from the ends. In the Turtle, the single tiles sticking out at the far left and right block the two middle rows – clearing them early opens up those rows.

4. Take all four when you can

If all four tiles of a kind are free, remove both pairs. They can never block anything again.

5. When three match, pick the right two

With three free matching tiles, the one you leave behind will have to wait for the fourth tile of that kind. Remove the two whose removal opens the most tiles, and leave the one that isn’t blocking anything important.

6. Watch for stacked partners

If a tile lies directly on top of its own match, the two can never be removed as a pair together. Make sure another tile of that kind gets freed so each can pair with something else.

7. Use undo before shuffle

When you run out of moves, undo a few pairs first and try a different order – you keep the original deal, which is always solvable. Shuffle when you would rather keep going: in our game, a shuffle always produces a layout that can still be cleared.

Put it into practice in Mahjong Solitaire, or try the daily deal, which is the same for everyone.