These tips assume you know the basic rules: you may take a tile only when it is free, meaning nothing lies on top of it and its left or right side is open. If that is new, start with how to play. Everything here is written for Plum Mahjong, but most of it holds for any mahjong solitaire game.
Look before you tap
Before your first move, take a slow look at the whole board. Where are the tall stacks? Which tiles appear several times? Is there a long row with something trapped in the middle? In Plum Mahjong the clock does not start until your first tap, so this costs you nothing, even on the Daily.
Then keep looking a move or two ahead. Mahjong solitaire is rarely lost on the move that ends it. It is lost five moves earlier, when a pair was taken in the wrong order.
Open the board up
A move that frees two new tiles is worth more than a move that frees none. Three places on any layout reward attention:
- Tall stacks. A tile on the top layer covers everything beneath it. Clearing the upper layers early turns hidden choices into visible ones, and on some boards it is the only way to turn face-down tiles over.
- Long rows. A tile in the middle of a row is blocked on both sides, so it can only be reached from the ends. Work rows from their ends inward, and favour the longest rows: they lock up the most tiles.
- Tiles that cover a matching tile. If a tile sits on top of its own twin, or blocks the only way to it, that pair can never be cleared together. Clear those copies with other partners first.
This is also what the Hint button looks for in tray mode when there is no sure match: it points to the free tile whose removal opens up the most others.
When three or four match
Plum Mahjong boards often carry the same tile more than twice, always as whole pairs. That gives you choices, and choices are where boards are won or lost.
- All four free: take both pairs. Nothing can go wrong.
- Three free, the fourth still covered: look at what each of the three free copies is blocking. Take the two that free the most, and leave the third. It can wait for its partner to come free, since it is not in anyone’s way.
- Two free, but the other two are buried under each other: think twice. If you clear the free pair now, the buried two may only ever be able to match each other, and if one sits on top of the other, that will never happen. Use a free copy to clear the top one of the buried pair instead.
Don’t rush the easy pairs
An obvious pair that frees nothing is not urgent. It will still be there in ten moves, and taking it now can spend a tile you will need later to pair with a buried twin. When you have a choice of moves, prefer the pair that opens something up, and leave the easy pairs as a reserve for when you are short of moves.
Tray mode habits
In tray mode, the default in Plum Mahjong, every tile you tap drops into a tray with four slots. Two matching tiles in the tray clear each other. If the tray fills with four different tiles, the board is lost. The tray changes the game in a few important ways.
- Empty the tray before you dig. If a tile in the tray has a free partner on the board, tap that partner first. It is a free move.
- Tap pairs back to back. When two matching tiles are both free, tap one and then the other. The pair clears straight away and takes no room in the tray.
- Keep two slots open. One tile waiting in the tray is fine. Two is a risk. With three, the tray warns you, and your next tap must clear something or you lose.
- Dig with purpose. When no pair is free, tap a tile that uncovers others, ideally one whose partner you have already spotted nearby. Press and hold a covered tile to peek at it before you commit.
- A light tray scores more. In tray mode, matches made one after another while the tray never reaches three tiles build a combo worth extra points.
Tray hints: If you are learning, turn on Tray hints in Settings. Free tiles that match something in your tray glow softly. You can turn it off once the habit sticks.
Hidden tiles, ice, locks
Later levels add one new idea at a time. Each one rewards a slightly different plan.
Hidden tiles
Some tiles lie face down while anything covers them. Uncover them early: a face you have seen is a face you can plan around. Press and hold a face-down tile for a soft preview of what it is, without using a move.
Ice
A frozen tile shows the number of matches still needed to thaw it, and every pair you clear anywhere on the board counts. You cannot speed it up, so do not dig towards it. Instead, make sure its partner is free by the time the ice is gone.
Locks and keys
Locked tiles open when you match the pair marked with a gold key. Find the key pair first and make clearing it your early goal. In tray mode a key only counts once its pair is actually matched, not when the first key tile drops into the tray.
Gold IQ+ pairs
About one pair in ten carries a gold IQ+ mark and doubles what it earns. They are worth noticing, but never worth a risky move.
Using helpers well
You have three helpers: Hint, Undo and Shuffle. A board cleared without any of them earns three stars; with up to three helpers, two stars; with more, one. A few things are useful to know:
- Hint in tray mode first looks for a tile that clears something in your tray, then for a free pair, then for the tile that uncovers the most. If you are truly stuck, it says so and suggests Undo or Shuffle, and that hint is not charged.
- Undo is best used right after a move you regret, before the board has moved on. When the tray fills, the first rescue on each board is free: your last tile goes back and you play on.
- Shuffle rearranges the remaining tiles into a new position that can still be solved. Save it for when there is no good move at all.
- Lose the same board three times in a row and you get a free Shuffle. Every board can be solved, so a fresh start with a better plan often works without any helpers.
For practice without pressure, Free Play on Relaxed gives unlimited helpers that cost no stars.
Faster Daily times
On the Daily leaderboard, every helper you use adds 10 seconds to your time. A clean run nearly always beats a fast one that leaned on hints. Look first, empty the tray as you go, and on ice days have the frozen tiles’ partners ready before they thaw.
Race, Battle and Duel
Online play rewards the same habits, with a few twists. The multiplayer guide has the full rules.
- Race: helpers are off. A full tray sends every tray tile back to the board and freezes you for 5 seconds, so with three tiles in the tray, slow down. Clearing pairs steadily beats bursts of risky digging, and if time runs out, whoever cleared more pairs wins.
- Battle: a wrong pair locks you out for 1.5 seconds, so only grab what you are sure of. Gold pairs are worth 20 points instead of 10. Work a different part of the board from your opponent, and you will waste fewer grabs on tiles they have just taken.
- Duel: each pair scores 10 plus one point for every second left on your 10-second turn. Find your pair while the other player is still choosing theirs. Watch what your move opens up: sometimes the best pair is the one that leaves your opponent nothing easy. Never let the clock run out; three missed turns forfeit the match.