4-Player Mahjong Online — the real game, not solitaire
the easiest way to learn mahjong and play with friends for free.
If you searched for mahjong and everything you found was a pile of tiles to clear by matching pairs, you found mahjong solitaire. It is a different game that borrowed the tiles. This is the original: four players, a wall of 144 tiles, draw and discard in turn, and a race to finish a hand before the other three.
The difference, plainly
| Mahjong solitaire | Four-player mahjong | |
|---|---|---|
| Players | One | Four |
| Goal | Clear the board by matching identical tiles | Build four sets and a pair before anyone else |
| Opponents | None | Three, who can take your discards |
| Scoring | Time or points | Faan — 30 named patterns, and a minimum you must clear |
| Ends when | The board is empty | Someone wins, or the wall runs out |
Same tiles. Almost nothing else in common.
What playing four-handed actually feels like
The thing solitaire has no version of is the discard. On your turn you draw a tile and throw one away — and the moment it lands, any of the other three can claim it. A pung or a kong can be claimed by anyone at the table and jumps the turn order; a chow can only be taken by the player immediately after the discarder.
So every tile you throw is a decision about three other people's hands, and the second half of a hand is mostly about what is safe to let go. That is the game. It is not something a single-player tile-matching puzzle can approximate.
Four players, without needing four people
The other three seats are filled by opponents that play the real rules — they claim discards, they hold back dangerous tiles, and they will win if you let them. No account, no download, nothing to install. When you do want real people, you can open a private table and send the link.
Read more
- Hong Kong mahjong rules — the tiles, the deal, claiming, and the minimum.
- Scoring — all 30 faan — what every hand is worth.
- Scoring calculator — score one specific hand.
- FAQ — pung, chow, flowers, and why a finished hand can be refused.