The daily Mahjong Island puzzle is 3 boards to solve in order, every day. Each board is dealt from a game played on the Island Card. The boards are Pick your hand, Charleston, and Chase it. You can find today's boards on the Daily Puzzle page.
What is the Daily Puzzle?
The Daily Puzzle is a short Mahjong Island puzzle of the day with 3 boards. You solve them one after another, in the same order each day. Each board asks you to make one choice.
Mahjong Island is free to play at mahjongisland.com, right in your browser. There is no sign-up and no download. That means the puzzle is always close at hand.
What does each board ask?
Each board asks one plain question about a real moment in a game. The first picks a goal, the second passes tiles, and the third chases the goal. Together they follow a hand from start to finish.
Pick your hand
The first board asks which hand on the card you should chase. In Mahjong Island, you win by completing one hand on the Island Card. That means 14 tiles that match one line on the card. The Island Card 2027 has 45 hands in 9 sections.
For example, your tiles may already hold a Pair and a Set that fit one line. That line is likely a better goal than one that shares nothing with your tiles. The board shows you the tiles and the choices.
Charleston
The second board asks which tile to pass in the Charleston. The Charleston comes before play. Everyone passes 3 tiles right, then 3 across, then 3 left. A good pass gives away tiles your chosen hand does not need.
There is one tile you never pass: a Joker. A Joker is a wild tile, and Jokers are never passed in the Charleston. So you can set every Joker aside before you choose.
Chase it
The third board asks which tile to discard toward a named hand. On a normal turn, you draw a tile from the Draw Pile. Then you discard 1 tile, unless your hand is complete and you Win. The board names the hand, so you know the goal.
What should you know before you start?
It helps to know how a hand on the card is written. Each line is built from groups of identical tiles. A Pair is 2 identical tiles, a Set is 3, and a Quad is 4. Some lines also ask for numbers in a row, like 1-2-3-4-5, as Singles.
Mahjong Island plays with 152 tiles. There are three suits, Bam, Crak, and Dot, numbered 1 to 9. There are also four Winds, three Dragons, 8 Flowers, and 8 Jokers. Each suit, Wind, and Dragon tile comes in 4 copies.
A Joker can fill a Set, Quad, Quint, or Sextet. It can never fill a Single or a Pair. For the full rules, read how to play Mahjong Island. To see how lines on the card are written, read how the Island Card works.
How are answers graded?
Every choice the puzzle offers is graded best, good, or miss. This means more than one answer can be right. You do not need to guess one secret answer.
For example, two tiles might both be fine to pass in the Charleston. One may be the best choice, and the other may still be good. Both earn stars, so a careful choice is rewarded.
How do stars work?
Each board earns stars based on how you solved it. A best answer earns the most stars. Here is how the stars are counted.
What is the collectible tile?
Solving the day's puzzle earns that day's collectible tile. The tile stays on your profile. Solve today's boards, and today's tile is yours to keep.
One tip for getting better: count the copies
Before you chase a hand, count how many copies of each needed tile are still left. Every suit, Wind, and Dragon tile comes in 4 copies. You may take another player's discard only to Win or to make an Open Group of 3 to 6 identical tiles.
Here is an example. Say a hand needs a Pair of North, and 3 North tiles are already discarded. Only 1 North is left. A Joker cannot fill a Pair, so that hand is hard to finish.
Counting helps on every board. It helps you pick a hand, choose a pass, and choose a discard. The lesson on counting the copies shows how it works. For more habits like this, read Mahjong Island strategy for beginners.
Try a recent puzzle
The best way to learn the Daily Puzzle is to play one. Here is a recent set of boards to try. New to the tiles? Start with Mahjong Island tiles explained.