Mahjong Bay › Layouts

Mahjong solitaire layouts

Ten shapes for the plain green board, from a 68-tile cat to the full 144-tile Turtle. Every one is dealt so that it can be finished; what differs is how many tiles can move on the first turn, how deep the stacks go, and how easily a careless order of moves locks the board.

• Turtle144 tiles, 5 layers
• Harbor72 tiles, 3 layers
• Three Sails94 tiles, 4 layers
• Pyramid108 tiles, 4 layers
• Fortress114 tiles, 3 layers
• Crab74 tiles, 3 layers
• Arena70 tiles, 3 layers
• Bridge72 tiles, 4 layers
• Cat68 tiles, 4 layers
• Dragon88 tiles, 3 layers

Which one to pick

The last column is the number I trust most. For each layout I let the computer play four hundred boards by clicking any legal pair at random, and counted how often it got stuck. A low number means the shape forgives mistakes; a high one means the order of your moves matters. The Turtle and the Fortress punish a wandering eye, Arena and Cat almost never do.

The four seasonal boards use the same engine with different shapes and bonus tiles, and any shape can be played on the main board from its layout menu.