Mahjong Solitaire History and How It Differs From Mahjong

By Nesim Razon, independent Android developer · 2026-11-10

Mahjong Solitaire and Mahjong share a name and a set of beautiful tiles, but they are very different games. One is a four-player table game with a long history. The other is a quiet one-player puzzle that started on a computer. This post sketches the history of both and explains what really sets them apart.

Two games, one name

Ask people about Mahjong and some will describe four players around a table, clicking tiles and calling out words. Others will describe a tall pile of tiles on a screen that you take apart two at a time. Both are correct, and they are not the same game. The second is properly called Mahjong Solitaire, a matching puzzle. It borrows the look of the tiles, not the rules of the table game.

Classic Mahjong in a few lines

Mahjong is a game for four players that is usually dated to China in the nineteenth century. The tiles are drawn and discarded in turn. In the common versions, the aim is to complete a hand of fourteen tiles made of four sets and a pair, before the other players do it. The tiles are marked with three numbered suits, usually called dots, bamboo and characters, plus honor tiles such as winds and dragons. Some sets also include flower and season tiles. There are many regional rule sets, with different scoring and hands, so two groups of players can play quite differently and both call it Mahjong.

The game is about reading opponents, collecting sets and deciding what to throw away. It is social and competitive.

1981: a solitaire game appears on PLATO

The one-player version has a clear starting point. In 1981 Brodie Lockard created a computer game called Mah-Jongg on PLATO, an educational computer system used at universities. It used the tile pictures as pieces of a puzzle. The tiles were stacked in a pile, and you removed matching pairs until the pile was gone. There were no opponents and no hands to build, only the pairs and the structure of the pile.

1986: Shanghai brings it to home computers

The idea reached a wide audience in 1986 with Shanghai, published by Activision for home computers. Many people met the game under that name, and for years a lot of players called any such puzzle Shanghai. Versions followed on many other systems. Because the rules fit in a few sentences and a game can be played in minutes, it spread easily.

Windows and the arrival on phones

Later, versions of the puzzle appeared inside operating systems and on the web. Windows Vista, for example, included a version named Mahjong Titans. With smartphones came a new wave of versions, with touch controls, hints, daily challenges and many layouts. The basic puzzle has hardly changed in all these years, which says a lot about how well it works.

What really differs

• Players: Mahjong needs four players. Mahjong Solitaire is for one.
• Goal: Mahjong is about building a winning hand before the others. Solitaire is about clearing the whole pile.
• Moves: in Mahjong you draw and discard tiles. In Solitaire you remove two matching free tiles at a time.
• Rules of matching: in Mahjong, tiles form sets such as runs of numbers or identical triplets. In Solitaire, only two identical tiles match, and flowers and seasons usually match any other flower or season.
• Structure: Mahjong tiles lie flat in a wall and a hand. Solitaire tiles are stacked in a layout, and a tile is free only when nothing lies on it and one of its sides is open.
• Luck and skill: Mahjong mixes luck, memory and reading people. Solitaire is a puzzle of planning, and a deal can be built so that it always has a solution.

Layouts and the free-tile rule

The layout is what makes each Solitaire game feel different. A well-known arrangement is the turtle, a pyramid-like shape of several layers, but there are countless others: towers, bridges, fields and symbols. The free-tile rule turns the layout into a puzzle: a tile can be taken only if nothing is on top and its left or right side is open. Good players learn to read how the layers depend on each other.

Beyond the pile: more tile puzzles

The same tile pictures are used in other games. In some, you link two matching tiles with a path that has a limited number of turns. In others, you collect tiles into a rack and clear groups of three. Tilelings combines all these ideas: classic Mahjong Solitaire layouts, a Connect mode with a two-turn path, and a Tile Match mode with a rack. The tile set has the flowers and seasons that echo the table game, and a cute set for players who prefer something friendlier.

Why the puzzle works

A good puzzle has a rule that fits in one sentence and consequences that take a lifetime to explore. Mahjong Solitaire has that. You can only take a free tile, and a tile is free when nothing is on top of it and one of its sides is open. Everything else follows. Some pairs open the board, some close it, and some tiles must wait for others. The challenge is not memory or speed, it is order.

There is also a quiet feeling of progress. Each pair you remove makes the pile a little smaller and a little easier to read. The last few pairs go fast, like the final pieces of a jigsaw.

Which one should you try?

If you enjoy company, noise and friendly rivalry, the four-player table game is wonderful, and it rewards years of play. If you want a few calm minutes alone, the solitaire puzzle is a better fit. Many people enjoy both, and the shared tiles make one a gentle introduction to the other. Start with a small layout, learn to spot free tiles, and the rest will come.

A game that kept its charm

Forty years later, a one-player tile puzzle is still easy to learn, calming to play and satisfying to finish. The tiles carry a trace of the table game, but the puzzle stands on its own. Whether you came to it from a family Mahjong table or from a phone, the pleasure is the same: a pile that gets smaller one careful pair at a time.