The Cat layout
Cat arranges all 144 tiles as a cat’s face looking straight at you: two pointed ears at the top, wide cheeks across the middle, and a narrow chin at the bottom. The face is raised a layer, with two hollows left for the eyes, and the brows, the muzzle and a single tile for the nose stand higher still.
Most of the tiles lie in the two lowest layers, so the cat is flatter than the classic Turtle, but its rows are long. The two widest rows run the full fifteen tiles across the cheeks, and they can only be opened from their ends.
Tips for the Cat
- Begin with the nose and the brows. They sit on top of the face and cover the tiles of the muzzle and the forehead beneath them.
- Work the cheeks from the outside in. The long middle rows open only at their ends, so take tiles from the left and right edges in turn.
- Save the ears. The ear tips are free from the start and block very little. Keep them for when you need a partner for a tile from the middle of the face.
Every deal can be cleared, and Hint always shows a pair that keeps it that way. Undo takes back any move, and Shuffle re-deals the tiles left so they can all be cleared again.
How to play
Clear the board by taking away matching tiles in pairs. You can only take a tile that is free: nothing lies on top of it, and its left side or its right side is open. Pick one free tile, then a free tile that matches it, and both disappear. The full rules, with pictures.
- Matching tiles are identical: two East Winds, two 5 of Bamboo. The exceptions are the flowers and the seasons: any flower matches any other flower, and any season any season. Every tile and its name.
- Hint shows a pair you can take and explains why, in one sentence. It always picks a pair that keeps the whole board clearable.
- Undo takes back your last match, as often as you like.
- Shuffle re-deals the tiles that are left so that they can all be cleared again. Use it when no free pairs are left.
Controls
Click or tap a tile to pick it, then click or tap its partner. With a keyboard, Tab moves between the free tiles and Enter or Space picks one. H asks for a hint, U undoes, S shuffles and Esc lets go of a picked tile.
Tiles you cannot take yet are shown a little darker, so the free ones stand out. You can turn that off in Settings, where you can also make the text larger.
Other layouts
Try the Dragon or the eight-legged Spider, or go back to the classic Turtle. For a slower game with no clock at all, play Mahjong Relax.