Hobbies And Interests
General Mahjong Rules
The goal of mahjong is to eliminate all tiles from the board. Traditional mahjong features 144 tiles in six suits. The suits of circles, bamboos and characters each feature the numbers one through nine. The wind suit features north, south, east and west. The dragon suit features the traditional colors red, green and white. The flower suit includes two sets of four tiles; one features four flowers (plum, orchid, chrysanthemum and bamboo), while the other set represents the four seasons (spring, summer, autumn and winter).
Eliminate tiles by matching them with identical tiles; for instance, a tile featuring two bamboo staffs will eliminate another tile with the same feature. The exception is the flower suit; a plum can eliminate an orchid, and a spring can eliminate a summer.
Tiles can be eliminated when they are "free," meaning that there are no tiles covering any portion of the tile, and that the tile can be moved left or right without hitting any other tiles.
Playing Offline
Arrange your tiles in one of the many possible configurations for mahjong. The traditional layout is known as the dragon or the turtle, and is a good starting point for a beginning player. There are hundreds of possible configurations for a mahjong layout; all 144 tiles will be used in every layout. Consult a Web site such as ultimate-mahjong.com for possible layouts to use.
Though the game is called solitaire, you can also play with a friend. This can be played cooperatively (working together to clear the table) or competitively (whoever gets the most tiles or clears the last pair wins).
Online Games
Web sites such as grab.com and solitairenow.com offer variations of mahjong with hundreds of layouts, as well as tournaments to compete with players from other states and countries.
Game rules can vary online. Though elimination rules remain the same, time limits can be imposed, as in Mahjong Solitaire, which has all of the same rules and layouts as the traditional game, but challenges the player to complete the board in a certain amount of time. You lose the game if you run out of eliminations or if you run out of time.
In Mahjong Connect, the tiles are laid out in the same configuration for each round: a board that is 10 tiles high and 14 tiles across. The goal is still elimination of identical tiles; however, you cannot eliminate tiles if they are too far apart on the board. The layout also shifts as you eliminate tiles; the shifting makes boards more difficult as the levels progress. If you run out of time, you lose the game, but if you run out moves, the board will shuffle to give you more tiles to eliminate.