To play Mahjong Island online free, open a new hand of Mahjong Island. You play in your browser against 3 bots, with no sign-up and no download. Mahjong Island uses the familiar tiles, the Charleston, Jokers, Flowers, and its own Island Card.
What is the Island Card?
The Island Card is Mahjong Island's own card of hands. It is written by Mahjong Island, not copied from any other card. Each line on the card shows one hand you can build to win. A winning hand is 14 tiles that match one line on the card.
The Island Card 2027 has 45 hands in 9 sections. The sections are Island Year, Tide Pools, Coral, Waves, Trade Winds, Mirrors, Compass, Volcano, and Shells. A new card is released each January 1. It never changes once released.
Each month adds 3 Bonus Hands to the card. A win with a Bonus Hand scores extra.
A hand on the card is written as groups of matching tiles. A Single is 1 tile, and a Pair is 2 identical tiles. A Set is 3 identical tiles, and a Quad is 4. Some lines also use a Quint of 5 or a Sextet of 6.
What tiles are in Mahjong Island?
Mahjong Island uses 152 tiles. The numbered tiles come in three suits, Bam, Crak, and Dot, each from 1 to 9. There are four Winds: East, South, West, and North. There are three Dragons: Red, Green, and White, which is called Soap.
There are 4 copies of each numbered tile, Wind, and Dragon. There are also 8 Flowers and 8 Jokers. Every game deals all 8 Jokers.
A Joker is wild. It stands in for a tile in a Set, Quad, Quint, or Sextet, but never in a Single or a Pair. Jokers are never passed in the Charleston, and a discarded Joker can never be taken.
For a closer look at every tile, read Mahjong Island Tiles Explained: Suits, Winds, and Dragons.
How does the Charleston work?
The Charleston is a round of tile passing before play begins. Everyone passes 3 tiles right, then 3 across, then 3 left. Then everyone votes on a second Charleston.
If every player says yes, the second Charleston passes 3 left, 3 across, and 3 right. Last comes the courtesy pass: 0 to 3 tiles with the player across from you.
How does a hand work?
Each player is dealt 13 tiles. The dealer gets a 14th tile and discards first, once the Charleston is done. On your turn, you draw a tile from the Draw Pile, then discard 1 tile into your Discards.
When another player discards, you may Take Tile only to Win or to make an Open Group. An Open Group is 3 to 6 identical tiles, face up, that a hand on the card still allows. After taking, you do not draw: you discard right away.
If one player can Win with the discard, they get it first. Otherwise, the player closest after the discarder gets it.
You can Win on a tile you draw, called a Self-Drawn Win. You can also Win by taking another player's discard. If the Draw Pile runs out and nobody has won, the hand is a draw and nobody scores.
You play against 3 bots. They play by the same rules and never see your hidden tiles. A Mahjong Island match is 4 hands, and every seat deals once.
How does Chips × Mult scoring work?
Every winning hand scores Chips × Mult. Chips are points: the hand's points on the card plus each tile's Chips. A numbered tile is worth its number, a Wind or Dragon 10, and a Flower 5. A Joker is worth the tile it stands for.
Mult is a multiplier, and it starts at 2. Some wins raise Mult, like a Self-Drawn Win (+2) or a hand with no Jokers (×2). Only the winner scores.
For the full list and worked examples, read How Mahjong Island Scoring Works: Chips × Mult.
What is XP in Mahjong Island?
Every game earns XP. Your first win with each hand on the card earns extra XP. Over the year, you can fill in the whole card.
What is the Daily Puzzle?
The Daily Puzzle is 3 boards to solve in order each day. Each board is dealt from an Island Card game. The boards are Pick your hand, Charleston, and Chase it.
Pick your hand asks which hand on the card to chase. Charleston asks which tile to pass. Chase it asks which tile to discard toward a named hand.
Every offered choice is graded best, good, or miss, so more than one answer can be right. Best earns a board 3 stars, good earns 2, and solving a board after a miss or a hint earns 1.
Solving the day's puzzle earns that day's collectible tile, which stays on your profile. Try today's Daily Puzzle, or read how the Daily Mahjong Island Puzzle works.
How do you start a hand right now?
Open Mahjong Island and start a new hand. You sit down with 3 bots and get your tiles. Then comes the Charleston. After that, draw, discard, and build toward one hand on the Island Card.
You can read How to Play Mahjong Island: A Beginner's Guide first, or start now and learn as you go. Mahjong Island Rules: How to Win a Hand explains each action in plain words.