
There are usually more than 2 copies of each tile. In this sample, clearing the tiles on the left and right (the blue 2 and 3 on the left and the red 5, green 7, and blue 6 on the right) should be your first priority so you can make all of the tiles in the long horizontal row across the middle of the puzzle available.

Hence, you should focus on the parts of the puzzle that are stacked high and are at the end of long rows.

The only way a puzzle can be "lost" is if all of the tiles are blocked by other tiles. When looking to clear tiles, it's important to make all of the tiles available. It's easier: if you tiles look the same, then they match if they don't, they don't. In Microsoft's version, the season and flowers are duplicated just like other tiles and only match each other. In most mahjong solitaire games, because the flowers and seasons don't have any duplicates, any two flowers are considered a match and any two seasons are considered a match. In addition, there are 4 flower tiles and 4 season tiles which are unique. Each of these tiles is repeated four times. (You unlock additional tile sets as you gain in levels.)Ī classic mahjong set has 144 tiles: three suits (coins, bamboo, and Chinese characters) each numbered from 1 to 9, four directions (or winds), and three dragons. If you have played a lot of mahjong before, the traditional tiles may be more familiar. I prefer the set shown in the example: identifying each of the tiles with a large number and a color for the suit is more readable, especially on smaller phone screens, than the traditional mahjong tiles. My first advice is to use a tile set which makes finding matches easier. Note that the blue 7 and red 8 on the bottom are not blocked in, even though there are tiles in rows above and below - only tiles in the same row block in other tiles. The blue 8 in the top is blocked in by the green 5 on the left and the green 3 on the right.

The green 7 below it is blocked by both the blue 2 and 3. For example, the sun tile in upper-left is blocked because it is covered by the blue 2.
