Shisen Sho Mahjong

Shisen Sho Mahjong lays every tile in a single layer. Nothing is stacked and nothing is hidden, which sounds like a simplification and is not: with the whole field visible from the first second, the difficulty moves entirely into the connections. For the rule in plain words, see Mahjong Connect Tips.

A pair clears when a line can be drawn between two identical tiles with no more than two bends, and that line may not pass through any tile still standing. Early on the field is so dense that only the outer ranks can be joined; as it empties, routes open through the middle and the game speeds up. The form goes back to 1989, and its logic has not needed changing since. The corridor habit carries straight over to the Catch The Snowflake board.

A timer runs, so the reading has to keep pace, and a hint and a shuffle are available for the moments when the remaining tiles have no legal route between them. The HTML5 build handles desktop and touchscreens alike, and full screen is the sensible default — tracing a two-bend path across a crowded single layer is guesswork at small sizes. The Christmas Float Connect grid is the nearest flat-board neighbour of this one here.

1. Pick out two identical tiles somewhere in the single layer.
2. Check that a line can reach from one to the other with two bends at most.
3. Make sure no standing tile lies on that line, then take the pair.
4. Clear the whole field before the timer runs out.

• Start on the perimeter — in Shisen Sho Mahjong the outside routes become legal long before the inner ones do.
• Thin the dense blocks evenly, because a lopsided field leaves matched tiles walled in on one side.
• Trace the line with your eye before clicking; a third bend is the usual reason a pair refuses.
• Use the shuffle when the layer is genuinely locked, not when you have simply lost patience.
• Hints are for the endgame, when the last few tiles sit at opposite corners.