Mahjong Connect
The second game in the garden, with the same tiles. Pick two identical tiles: if a path with at most two turns joins them through empty cells, both leave the board. Twelve original boards, each with fifteen deals, and every deal has a checked clearing order. A Connect board joins the short and long walks every day.
Small boards
Up to 48 tiles: a good place to learn how paths bend, and big tiles on a phone.
Medium boards
Holes, terraces and paths: shapes where the open cells matter.
Large boards
From 88 to 136 tiles, most faces four times over. Plan your pairs.
How Connect works
Two identical tiles leave the board together when a path joins them. The path runs across and down from cell to cell, never diagonally. It may cross only empty cells: places where a tile has gone, holes in the board’s shape, and the edge just outside the board. It may turn at most twice. Neighbouring identical tiles always join.
Only identical tiles match: the same suit and number, or the same time of day or building. Flowers and seasons don’t appear on Connect boards. Tiles never slide or fall after a pair is taken.
Help that tells the truth
Hint first follows the deal’s own checked clearing order, adapted to the tiles still in play, then searches your position. It says a pair keeps a way to clear the board only when it has checked. If the search runs out of time, it shows a pair that joins and says it couldn’t check the rest. Only when every order of moves has been checked does it say the board can’t be cleared from here. Shuffle rearranges the remaining tiles on the same cells into an arrangement with a checked clearing order, can be undone, and counts as help. The challenge labels come from testing: thirds of the twelve boards ranked by the share of 24 random playouts per deal that clear the board without undo or shuffle.
How does Mahjong Connect work?
Pick two identical tiles. If a path of at most two turns joins them, running only through empty cells or round the edge of the board, both tiles leave. Clear every tile to finish. Tiles never slide or fall after a pair is taken.
Can every Connect board be cleared?
Every Connect deal we publish comes with a clearing order that has been replayed by the game’s rules and by a separate checker. Your own choices can still lead to a position with no way out; Undo, Hint and Shuffle are there for that.
What does Shuffle do in Connect?
It moves the tiles still on the board around on the same cells into an arrangement with a checked clearing order. It keeps the same faces and how many of each, it can be undone, and it is recorded as help on your result.