Despite the worldwide popularity of computer Mahjong Solitaire, which in many countries is more often called simply Mahjong, the story of its emergence remains little known and in many ways surprising. This game stands out among other puzzles for its unique blend of ancient Chinese tradition and a modern digital format. Originally, the word «Mahjong» (麻將) referred to a popular tile game that arose in China in the second half of the 19th century, during the Qing dynasty (清朝), and quickly became part of the everyday culture of city dwellers. However, in the West and many other countries, this name became associated above all with a computer solitaire — a self-contained logic game for one player that inherited the tiles and symbolism but not the rules of the original.
The visual aesthetics of Chinese tiles with characters, dragons, and bamboo patterns turned the game into a kind of universal language that needed no translation, and this is precisely what helped it win recognition around the globe. Today Mahjong stands alongside Klondike and Minesweeper, forming the digital canon of the personal-computer era. Its history is a path from an experimental program on an educational computer to a ubiquitous pastime on millions of devices. Below, we will trace how Mahjong arose, what changes it underwent, and which curious facts accompany its journey.
History of Mahjong
Origin and author
To understand how Mahjong became a global phenomenon, it is worth returning to its origins. The modern version of Mahjong was first created in 1981 by the American programmer Brodie Lockard on the PLATO computer system. Lockard, a Stanford student and talented gymnast, suffered a tragic accident: during a training session he sustained a severe spinal injury and was left paralyzed below the neck. Despite such grave consequences, he did not abandon his drive to program and seek new forms of creativity.
While undergoing lengthy treatment in the hospital, Lockard insisted that a PLATO terminal be installed in his room. Thanks to this, he was able to continue working at the computer, using a special stick held in his mouth for input. This mode of interaction required tremendous patience and effort, yet it was precisely what allowed Lockard to bring his ideas to life.
According to Lockard’s recollections, the idea for the future game arose from observing other patients: in the hospital they supposedly laid out a kind of solitaire from traditional Mahjong tiles, building a pyramidal structure reminiscent of a «turtle». This activity intrigued Lockard, and he decided to transfer the idea to the digital realm by creating a computer version of the puzzle. Thus his game appeared — Mah-Jongg, named after the classic Chinese Mahjong (麻將), whose symbols and images were used to decorate the virtual tiles. Historical confirmation of the existence of such a solitaire has not been found, yet this story formed the basis of the legend about the origins of computer Mahjong.
The first version of Mah-Jongg ran on the networked PLATO platform, supported control via the CDC-721 touchscreen, and was distributed freely, without commercial restrictions. For the early 1980s, this was a real innovation: Mahjong became one of the first computer games to use elements of touch control, foreshadowing a future direction in interactive technologies.
Commercial success
The next important stage in the development of Mahjong came in 1986, when Activision released the first commercial version of the game under the name Shanghai for personal computers and home consoles. Brodie Lockard himself was brought into the project, and the producer was Brad Fregger, who played a key role in turning the idea into a mass-market product.
The game was released simultaneously on several popular platforms — IBM PC, Amiga Computer, Macintosh, Atari ST, and Apple IIGS. The Macintosh version was developed by Lockard himself, and the Apple IIGS port was implemented by programmer Ivan Manley with Fregger’s involvement.
Shanghai rapidly gained popularity: by estimates, around 10 million copies were sold worldwide, which by the standards of the time was a colossal success for a desktop puzzle. In effect, this game turned Mahjong from an experiment into a global phenomenon and cemented it as a standalone genre.
The name Shanghai became a registered trademark of Activision, so other publishers creating similar puzzles had to seek alternative titles. As a result, the general name «Mahjong» took hold in everyday usage, and over time it became associated primarily with the computer solitaire. The traditional tabletop game retained its place in culture, yet for many people in various countries the first mention of the name evoked the image of a digital puzzle.
Nevertheless, thanks to the success of Shanghai, Mahjong quickly spread under different names — Mahjong Solitaire, Mahjongg, Shanghai Solitaire, Mah Jong — and became available on a multitude of platforms, from home computers and game consoles to the first portable devices. Thus began a true expansion of the genre, which made it part of the gaming culture of the late 20th century.
Spread and variations
In the late 1980s, Mahjong went beyond home computers and penetrated even the realm of arcade entertainment. In 1989, the Japanese company Tamtex (タムテックス) presented an original variation called Shisen-Sho on arcade machines. Unlike Mahjong, here the tiles were laid out not as a multilayered pyramid but on a flat surface, and the rules were different as well: pairs were removed not only by matching pictures but also when they could be connected by a line of a certain shape. This approach opened up a different type of puzzle for players and became the prototype of an entire family of games later known as «Mahjong Connect». The emergence of Shisen-Sho showed that interest in Mahjong existed in Asia as well: despite the wide spread of the traditional multiplayer variant, players readily embraced new formats.
The next important step came in 1990, when the game was included in the famous Microsoft Entertainment Pack for Windows 3.x. It featured a solitaire called Taipei, which millions of PC users appreciated for its simplicity and clarity. For many Windows owners, Taipei was their first introduction to Mahjong, and the genre itself became entrenched as a «classic of office entertainment». Microsoft later continued the tradition: premium editions of Windows Vista and Windows 7 included an improved version called Mahjong Titans, which finally cemented the game in the digital mainstream.
In parallel with commercial releases, a vibrant enthusiast movement developed, creating free implementations of Mahjong for various systems. In the 1990s, versions of the game also appeared in the realm of UNIX-like operating systems. For example, Mahjongg was part of the standard game set for the GNOME desktop, and a similar implementation, KMahjongg, was offered to KDE users. These projects helped ensure that Mahjong was available not only to Windows and console users but also to the open-source community.
By the early 2000s, the game had become a truly universal format: Mahjong could be found on virtually any operating system and device, from home PCs and laptops to game consoles and the first mobile platforms. During this period, it finally secured its status as a «digital classic», becoming one of those games that accompanied users everywhere, regardless of what device they used.
Worldwide recognition
Gradually, Mahjong became not just a popular computer game but a genuine cultural phenomenon. In Europe and the United States, it secured a solid place among home pastimes alongside jigsaw puzzles, crosswords, and card solitaires. Its success was explained by the combination of simple rules and an almost meditative gameplay: even a short session allowed players to take their minds off daily concerns and focus on the unhurried process of dismantling a pattern of tiles.
In Russia, the game spread widely in the late 1990s and early 2000s and quickly became a familiar pastime for a broad audience. For many Russian users, this solitaire was their first encounter with the word «Mahjong», and only later did they learn that under the same name existed a traditional tabletop game with entirely different rules and format.
In Japan and China, computer Mahjong also gained recognition, but there it was clearly distinguished from the classic game. In Japanese tradition, the electronic solitaire was known as Shanghai, directly linked to Activision’s hit. In China, it was perceived more as a modern digital adaptation of familiar symbols and tiles than as an independent alternative to the traditional tabletop game.
Over time, hundreds of variations of Mahjong appeared on the market, differing in both names and visual design. Alongside classic sets with characters and dragons, themed collections were released: tiles with fruits, flags, zodiac signs, animals, or holiday symbols. These versions made the game even more accessible to different age groups and cultures, allowing everyone to find a design to their taste.
The popularity of Mahjong did not decline in the 21st century. In the 2010s, the online game Mahjong Trails became one of the most profitable apps on the Facebook platform, attracting millions of players worldwide. Classic Mahjong still remains part of the standard software bundle on several operating systems and comes preinstalled on many gadgets. Moreover, the game has long gone beyond personal computers: today it can be found on smartphones, tablets, game consoles, and even on unconventional devices. It is no joke when people say that Mahjong is everywhere — from smartwatch screens to the touch panels of modern refrigerators.
This success is explained by the game’s universality. It does not require knowledge of a language, complex instructions, or special training: only attentiveness and patience are needed. That is why Mahjong remains understandable and attractive to people of all ages and cultures, uniting players around the world.
Interesting facts about Mahjong
- A puzzle from a mathematical perspective. At first glance, Mahjong seems like a simple leisure activity, but from a mathematical standpoint it is far more complex. Research in computer science has shown that the task of completing Mahjong belongs to the class of NP-complete problems. This means that no efficient algorithm is known that can guarantee a solution for any layout within a reasonable time. In other words, it is extremely difficult to determine in advance whether a particular «turtle» layout can be completely solved.
- Popularity among office workers. In the 1990s and 2000s, Mahjong became one of the most «office» games alongside Klondike and Minesweeper. According to surveys conducted in the United States and the United Kingdom, about 35% of employees admitted that they had launched it at least once on their work computer — for a short break or to rest their eyes. Over time, the game became entrenched in the public consciousness as a hallmark of the early digital era: like Klondike and Minesweeper, it became part of the emerging computer culture, where short «casual» pastimes took on a special role.
- An enormous number of possible layouts. Using all 144 tiles, the number of possible Mahjong layouts is calculated by the formula 144! / (4!)^36. The resulting number is so large that writing it out takes more than two hundred digits. The scale of this number is hard to imagine: it is vastly greater than the number of grains of sand on all the Earth’s beaches or even drops of water in the world’s oceans. Such colossal variety makes each new game of Mahjong unique, and the chance of encountering an identical layout is virtually zero.
- About 3% of layouts are unsolvable. Researchers who analyzed millions of Mahjong games established that not every layout can be completely solved. When testing over 10 million games with the classic «turtle» arrangement, it turned out that about 3% of layouts were unsolvable. This means that it is impossible to remove all tiles, even if the player sees the hidden elements of the lower layers and has full information. This feature makes the game even more intriguing: sometimes failure is explained not by mistakes or miscalculations but by the structure of the layout itself. For puzzle enthusiasts, this serves as a reminder that Mahjong is not always reducible to attentiveness and logic — a degree of randomness and mathematical complexity is inherent in its very nature.
- New versions and adaptations. The success of Mahjong spawned many offshoots. In addition to the classic single-player pyramid solitaire, variants appeared with competitive modes — for example, timed or scored games, as well as paired versions in which two players alternately removed tiles from the same field. Over time, even speed-solving tournaments emerged, though they never became as strictly organized as chess or sporting competitions. Hundreds of themed layouts were developed in addition to the «turtle»: «wall», «tower», «spider», «dragon», and many others, differing in structure and level of difficulty. Interestingly, the Japanese game Shisen-Sho became the foundation of a separate genre known as «Mahjong Connect», while modern 3D interpretations, such as Mahjong Dimensions, allow players to remove pairs in a three-dimensional cube. Thus, Mahjong continues to evolve, offering something new for both beginners and experienced players.
The path taken turned Mahjong from a curious novelty into an integral part of gaming culture. It combined features of tabletop logic games with the advantages of the digital era. The history of Mahjong provides a successful example of cultural adaptation: Chinese gaming motifs became understandable and familiar to people around the world through a simple and engaging solitaire. Today, the game is valued not only as a way to relax but also as training for attentiveness, memory, and strategic thinking. Mahjong has become a kind of «intellectual leisure» — time spent dismantling a complex pyramid flies by unnoticed, while the brain gets a beneficial workout.
Against the backdrop of fast-changing gaming trends, Mahjong has remained in demand for several decades. Its simple rules and simultaneous depth make it appealing to a wide variety of people. Mahjong is equally suitable for a short break at work and for a long evening of relaxation. It can be said with confidence that Mahjong has taken its place among the classic intellectual games — from chess and Sudoku to card solitaires. Exploring its history and features inevitably brings even greater respect for this game.
All it takes is trying Mahjong once, and the game will not let you go. In it, the simplicity of the first steps combines surprisingly with the depth that reveals itself only over time. Each layout is a small challenge that leaves room for intuition, attentiveness, and fortunate choices. Gradually, the player finds themselves returning to Mahjong again and again: for the feeling of focus, the joy of finding a pair, and the calm rhythm in which time seems to slow down. This is precisely its compelling power. Next, we will explain the rules of the game and share tips that will help you enjoy the process from the very first rounds.