About Mahjong Connect

A board full of animal tiles, four of each. Tap two that match and they go — as long as a line can join them that turns no more than twice and passes only through empty space. The line may run round the outside of the board, so the tiles along the edges are the easiest to join at the start, and the board opens up from the outside in.

The skill is in the order. Two matching tiles side by side are always a pair, but taking them straight away is not always right: the four of a kind can be split into pairs in three ways, and the wrong split leaves two tiles walled in with nothing that can reach them. Clearing a path first, and thinking about which of the four goes with which, is what keeps the board open to the end.

Every board is checked by a solver before it is dealt, so it can always be cleared. If you do shut yourself in, a shuffle moves the tiles that are left to new places — and only ever into an arrangement the solver can clear — for twenty seconds on the clock; a hint marks a pair that keeps the board clearable for ten. The daily challenge gives everyone the same 80-tile board and ranks the day by time.

Tips to win

• Start at the edges: a tile on the outside can reach round the board
• When three or four of a kind are free, pick the pair that frees the most tiles behind them
• Look for a tile that only one of its twins could ever reach, and keep that way open
• A long straight gap across the board is worth more than a pair taken in a corner