Daily Mahjong

The pieces here are stones rather than tiles, laid out in a shaped pile with the classic restriction attached: a stone blocked by neighbours at its sides cannot be moved, whatever is sitting next to it.

A single timer covers the whole board rather than individual levels, so the run is one continuous push. Pace matters from the first click, because a minute spent on the opening layer leaves the crowded middle without room to breathe. The Halloween Tiles board keeps the layered board and changes the shape.

The arrangement rewards a top-down habit. Every stone taken from the upper ranks releases the ones beneath it, and the players who stall are almost always those who cleared easy pairs at the edges while the centre stayed sealed. Dark Dimensions sits one row away in the same list.

There is no elaborate mode list and nothing to configure, which is the appeal: one honest board against one clock. Full screen is the right way to keep all of it in view at once, and the layout works under a finger as readily as under a mouse. The MonsterJong board lays the same tiles out in another silhouette.

1. Look over the pile for two stones carrying the same symbol.
2. Check that neither of them is blocked at the sides by neighbouring stones.
3. Select the pair to remove both from the board.
4. Keep the pace up, since one timer covers the entire arrangement.
5. Clear every stone before the clock runs out to win.

• Work from the top down — each stone lifted from the upper ranks unblocks several below it.
• Leave the loose edges — free stones on the flanks will still be there later, and sealed ones will not.
• Set a rhythm — a single timer means a slow start costs you at the end rather than at the beginning.
• Check both flanks — a symbol you recognise is not the same thing as a stone you are allowed to take.
• Turn on full screen — with one clock for the whole pile, hunting a stone off the edge of a small window is time you cannot spare.