Panda Mahjong Classic

A panda sets the challenge in Panda Mahjong Classic, and the challenge has a shape: five tests standing between you and the top of the climb. More of the same shape sits in the full Solitaire list.

Five is a small number for a tile game, and it changes the pacing. With the whole climb only five stages deep, each test carries real weight, and a stalled board costs a fifth of the run rather than one level in a hundred. Sanoma’s stated prize at the end is the honour of being called a master, which is the only thing on offer besides the boards themselves. For one more pile of the same kind, see the Pet Care board.

The frame is the giveaway detail: 1175 by 900 is taller than almost anything else on this shelf, so the layout has room to stack upwards instead of spreading sideways. That suits a stage structure where the later tests want depth rather than width. It is a single-player board, marked mobile-ready, and works from a mouse or a fingertip. The Solitaire Zodiac pile builds the layers into another arrangement.

1. Accept the panda's challenge and open the first of the five tests.
2. Take identical free tiles off the stack in pairs.
3. Lift the upper pieces first so the deep courses of the tall layout open up.
4. Clear the stage to move on to the next test.
5. Finish all five to earn the master title.

• Scan vertically — at 1175 by 900 the panda's boards run tall, so the pair you want is more often above or below than off to one side.
• Treat each test as a checkpoint — with only five stages, restarting a bad opening costs less than fighting a locked board to the end.
• Undercut the tall stacks — a piece pinned under three courses stays pinned until you work the column above it down.
• Play it solo — Panda Mahjong Classic is tagged single-player, so the only pace being set is yours.