The Dragon layout
Dragon lays out all 144 tiles of a mahjong set in the shape of a dragon in flight: a curling tail on the left, a long body across the middle, two legs below, and a raised head on the right. The body is the widest part, a row of fifteen tiles, and the back and the head are built up four layers high.
It plays quite differently from the classic Turtle. More tiles are free at the start (the tail, the feet, the head and the ends of each row), so there are more choices early on, and the hard part comes later, in the middle of the body, where the layers are deepest.
Tips for the Dragon
- Start with the high places. The head and the middle of the back each hide several tiles underneath. Clearing them early gives you more free tiles to choose from later.
- Open the long rows from both ends. The belly row is fifteen tiles long and can only be worked from its ends, so take tiles from the left and the right in turn rather than from one side only.
- Keep the feet in reserve. The tiles on the legs and the tail tip are free from the start and block very little. They make good partners for tiles that come off the body later, so there is no hurry to match them with each other.
As on every board here, each deal can be cleared, and Hint shows a pair that keeps it that way. Undo and Shuffle are always there if you change your mind.
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
For a different shape, try Spider, with eight long legs, or Cat, a cat’s face with two ears. The classic Turtle is the layout most people know, and Mahjong Relax is the Turtle with no clock at all.