To play Mahjong Island, you collect 4 Groups and 1 Pair: 14 tiles in all. The first player to finish that hand wins.
Mahjong is usually played by four players around a table. On Mahjong Island, you play against 3 bots in your browser. It is free, with no sign-up and no download.
The goal: 4 Groups and 1 Pair
A Group is a Run or a Set. You need four of them, plus one Pair. Any 4 Groups + 1 Pair is a Winning Hand. There is no list of hands you must make.
A Run
A Run (called a chow in traditional mahjong) is 3 numbered tiles in a row, all in one suit.
A Set
A Set (called a pung in traditional mahjong) is 3 identical tiles. Any tile can make a Set, including Winds and Dragons.
A Pair
A Pair is 2 identical tiles. Four Groups are not a win until a Pair joins them.
Video lessonGroups and PairsA win is 4 Groups and 1 Pair. A Group is a Set or a Run; a Pair is two alike.
The tiles
Mahjong Island plays with 136 tiles. There are 4 copies of each tile.
There are three suits: Bam, Crak, and Dot, numbered 1 to 9. There are four Winds: East, South, West, and North. There are three Dragons: Red, Green, and White, which is called Soap.
Jokers
Every game also deals 4 Jokers. A Joker is wild: it can stand in for any tile in a Run, a Set, or the Pair.
Every Group still needs at least 1 real tile. A Run or Set can hold at most 2 Jokers, and the Pair at most 1. You never discard or take a Joker.
Your turn: draw one, discard one
Each player is dealt 13 tiles. The dealer gets a 14th tile and discards first.
On your turn, you draw a tile from the Draw Pile. That takes you to 14 tiles. Then you discard 1 tile into your Discards, back to 13. The only time you skip the discard is when your hand is complete and you Win.
Each discard should bring you closer to 4 Groups and 1 Pair. Keep tiles that fit together. Let go of tiles that do not. Watch the Draw one, discard one lesson to see a turn.
Taking a discard
When another player discards, you may Take Tile. You can take it to Win, to make a Set, or to make a Run (a Run only from the player right before you).
When more than one player wants the same tile, a Win comes first. A Set comes next, then a Run.
Say you hold two 7 Dot tiles. Any player discards a 7 Dot. You can take it and make a Set.
A Group made with a taken tile goes face up as an Open Group. After taking, you do not draw. You discard right away.
See Taking a tile for a Set and Only the next player takes a Run for both moves.
Winning
You win the moment your 14 tiles form 4 Groups and 1 Pair. You can Win on a tile you draw, called a Self-Drawn Win. You can also Win by taking another player's discard when it completes your hand.
How a win scores
Only the winner scores. Every winning hand scores Chips × Mult. Chips come from your tiles and Groups. Mult starts at 2 and grows with scoring Hands.
Now you know enough to play your first hand. You can start right now at Play a hand.