Getting started

Mahjong Monsters is an RPG that uses a Mahjong solitaire board as its combat system. You match identical tiles in pairs exactly as you would in any solitaire game, but here the element of the tile you cleared decides which monster hits the enemy.

Every board you are dealt can always be cleared to the end. The only ways to get stuck are mismanaging the tray or being beaten down by the enemy.

One run, step by step

• Pick 4 monsters for your deck. The first one is the leader, and its skill is the one you will cast.
• Sortie into a stage. The stamina it costs is the sum of your 4 monsters' costs.
• Clear tiles in pairs. Each clear sends an attack of that tile's element at the enemy.
• The enemy fills a gauge over time and strikes when it is full. You lose when party HP hits zero.
• A stage throws 3 to 5 enemies at you in a row. The board is not re-dealt between them.
• The last one is a boss. Beat them all to win. Even if you lose or retreat, you keep the rewards from the enemies you did beat.

Which tile is which element

Tile faces carry no element hint on purpose, so it is quicker to learn them by suit. Terminals (the 1 and 9 of each suit) fire their suit element and Hume at the same time, which makes them the strongest tiles in the game.

Building a deck

Party HP and healing are simply the sum of the 4 monsters. Attack is tracked per element: the total attack of monsters whose primary element matches, plus 0.5 × the total of those whose sub-element matches.

If no monster in your deck carries an element, clearing that tile deals no damage at all. Spreading across all 4 elements or stacking one element to exploit a weakness is the core deck-building decision.

Stamina cost is the sum of the 4 costs, so cheaper decks let you grind more. Naga monsters are unusually cheap for their rarity; scorpions are unusually expensive.