Full Screen Mahjong Tower Games
Tower layouts stack upward. Instead of the wide, low arrangements of a classic table, tiles are piled into pyramids, castles and columns several storeys high, which changes the arithmetic of every move: the pair you can see is often the pair holding up the two rows you actually need.
Titans is the layout most people mean by tower, and the shape it made popular is still the template. A tile is selectable when nothing rests on top of it and one of its long sides is clear, so the top of a tower is generous and the base is a wall. Clearing from the crown down is the obvious plan and the wrong one, because it leaves the lower storeys locked in matched sets you can no longer reach.
These boards reward patience more than speed. Before taking a pair, it is worth checking whether the same tile appears twice further down, since removing the visible copy of a set can strand its twin under three layers of stone. Deadlocks in this section are usually built ten moves earlier, not in the position where the game finally stops.
Several boards here add a shuffle for when nothing is left to take, and most support full screen, which is the difference between counting six visible storeys and squinting at four.
Questions about this section
What counts as a free tile on a tower board?
One with nothing stacked on top of it and at least one long side unblocked. Everything else has to wait.
Why do mahjong tower layouts deadlock so often?
Because clearing the easy top pairs can bury their duplicates. Taking a pair that opens a lower storey is worth more than taking the first pair you see.
Is Mahjong Titans in this tower section?
Yes, along with pyramid and castle variants that use the same stacked rules and a taller build.