Search for "mahjong" on any app store and nearly everything you find is mahjong solitaire — a single-player puzzle where you clear a pile of tiles by matching identical pairs. It is a pleasant game. It is not mahjong.
They share a tile set and a name, and almost nothing else.
Side by side
| Mahjong solitaire | Mahjong | |
|---|---|---|
| Players | One | Four |
| Goal | Clear a layout by matching pairs | Build a complete hand of sets and a pair before anyone else |
| Turns | You act whenever you like | Turn order, and you may interrupt it to claim a discard |
| Other players | None | You read their discards, their exposures, and what they are collecting |
| Scoring | Time or tiles cleared | A scoring system per tradition — faan, tai, han and fu, base points |
| Skill | Spotting pairs, planning the order you clear in | Hand shape, tile efficiency, defence, reading the table, knowing when to fold |
What actually happens in real mahjong
You are dealt a hand — 13 tiles in most traditions, 16 in the Filipino and Taiwanese games. On your turn you draw and discard. The interesting part is what happens between turns: when another player discards a tile you can use, you can claim it, out of turn, and take the turn order with it. Claiming is public — it exposes part of your hand to the table — so every claim is a trade of information for tempo.
Then somebody's hand completes, and it gets scored, and money or points move according to a system that differs by tradition. That scoring system is most of what separates Japanese riichi from Hong Kong from American.
Why the confusion matters
It matters because the two games attract completely different people, and the app stores mix them together. Players looking for the real game wade through dozens of solitaire titles. Players who wanted solitaire download a four-player game and find it incomprehensible.
It also means most "mahjong" apps have never had to implement mahjong. Which is why so many of the ones that do get it wrong — refusing winning hands, breaking melds by force, scoring in ways that don't add up.
If you want the real game
More Mahjong is real four-player mahjong, in six traditions, each with its own complete ruleset. It teaches as you play: a primer per style, a guided first hand, and an advisor who explains what to throw and why. Solo play works offline with no account.
And if you are not sure which tradition you want, that is normal — start with Hong Kong, which is the fast, widely-played 13-tile game, or American Mah Jongg if you have played at a table in the United States.
