How to play Mahjong Connect
Mahjong Connect is a tile-matching puzzle played with mahjong tiles laid flat in a grid. It's also known by its Japanese name, Shisen-Sho ("Sichuan Province"), and as Four Rivers. Unlike Mahjong solitaire, nothing is stacked: every tile is in view, and what matters is whether two matching tiles can reach each other.
The rules
- Tap two identical tiles to remove them. There are four of each tile, so every tile has three possible partners.
- The two tiles must be joined by a line of no more than three straight pieces, which means no more than two turns. The line can only go up, down, left and right, never diagonally.
- The line can't pass through other tiles, but it can run through empty squares and around the outside of the board.
- Clear every tile from the board to win.
When you remove a pair, our game draws the line that joined them, so you can see how it went. If two matching tiles can't be joined, it tells you why.
Levels
- Easy: 48 tiles in 8 columns and 6 rows, twelve kinds of tile.
- Medium: 84 tiles in 12 columns and 7 rows.
- Hard: 128 tiles in 16 columns and 8 rows. With more tiles of more kinds, the order you take pairs in matters much more.
Choose the level in Settings. On a phone held upright, the board turns on its side when that makes the tiles bigger; the game is exactly the same.
Every game can be won
Before a board reaches you, our game searches for a way to clear it, and only deals boards it has cleared. You can still get stuck by taking pairs in an unlucky order. Then Undo takes back as many moves as you like, and Shuffle rearranges the tiles that are left (in the same squares) into an order that can still be cleared. There's no timer and no score to worry about.
Tips
We tested these by letting simple strategies play thousands of our boards. Our Mahjong Connect tips have all the numbers.
- Work from the middle outward. Two matching tiles on the same edge can always be joined round the outside, so edge pairs will wait. Taking middle pairs first cleared 61 Hard boards in 100, against 57 for random choices and 49 for taking the edges first.
- Take pairs that free other pairs. Look at what the two tiles are standing in front of. Choosing the pair that left the most moves afterwards cleared 80 Hard boards in 100.
- Use Shuffle when you're stuck. One is usually enough: a player picking pairs at random on Hard needed none on about half the boards, and two on only 5 in 100.
- Ask for a hint when you're unsure. It lights up a pair and draws the line with dots, choosing a pair that keeps the board clearable.
Questions
Is this the same as Shisen-Sho?
Yes, it follows the same rule: identical tiles joined by a line with at most two turns. Like most versions, ours lets the line run round the outside of the board. Some computer versions add gravity, sliding tiles down as pairs are removed; ours keeps every tile where it is.
How is it different from Mahjong solitaire?
In Mahjong solitaire the tiles are stacked in a pyramid, and a tile is free when nothing covers it and one side is open. In Mahjong Connect the tiles lie flat, and a pair is free when a line can join them.
Do I need to know mahjong?
No. You only need to spot identical tiles. The number tiles and the winds have a plain number or letter in the corner (1 to 9, or E, S, W, N), and the three dragons are easy to tell apart by color: a red one, a green one and a blue frame. You don't need to read Chinese characters.
What do the Hint and Shuffle buttons do?
Hint lights up a pair you can remove, with a dotted line showing how they join, and tells you if the board can no longer be cleared. Shuffle rearranges the tiles that are left into an order that can be cleared, without moving any tile to a different square.
What is the game number?
Every board has a number, and the same number and level always lay out the same tiles. Share the link to play the same board as a friend, or try today's game, which is the same for everyone.