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"Mahjong" online is almost always mahjong solitaire, the tile-matching puzzle — but the variants under that umbrella play quite differently. Here's a tour of what you'll find.
The turtle and pyramid layouts are the entry point: a fixed stack of tiles, remove identical free pairs, clear the board. It's meditative but hides a planning puzzle, as explained in our mahjong solitaire guide.
Mahjong Connect replaces the stacked board with a flat grid. You can only pair tiles whose path can be connected by a line with at most two right-angle turns — and nothing blocking the path. It's faster and more spatial than solitaire.
Tower layouts stack tiles vertically into a tall structure. The vertical dimension makes reachability the central challenge: tiles deep in the tower only become free once you've cleared the stack above.
Slide variants have tiles shift along a path when you make a match, changing the layout dynamically. You're matching and reshaping the board at the same time, which keeps each move tense.
3D versions render the tile stack in WebGL so you can rotate the board and look for pairs from any angle. The matching rule is the same but the spatial reasoning is far richer — a pair visible from one side may be hidden from another.
Whatever your taste, the mahjong categories have a layout that fits. Start with classic solitaire, then branch into connect or 3D once the matching feels automatic.