Tile Matching Games: Four Kinds to Play Free

The four kinds of tile matching game

In triple tile match, a heap of tiles lies in layers, you pick uncovered tiles into a small holding area, and when three alike gather they clear. The puzzle is the order, because the holding area is small. Ornament Match is this game with a Christmas coat: the heap is a box of ornaments, the holding area is a branch with seven hooks, and three alike go to the tree.

Mahjong solitaire is a one-player puzzle played with mahjong tiles. A tile is free when nothing lies on it and one side is open, and you match two free tiles that are alike. Teahouse Mahjong is this game.

Match 3 is a different idea: pieces sit on a grid and you line up three or more of a kind. Potion Pantry Match swaps neighbors, Jam Jar Match drags a line, and Pumpkin Patch Panic taps a group. The pieces there are potions, fruit and pumpkins rather than tiles, but they are the games people find when they search for tile match games.

Memory pairs turn tiles face down. You flip two, and if they match they stay face up. Toasty Tile Flip is this game, with breakfast cards.

How triple tile match works in Ornament Match

A box of ornaments lies in a heap, layer on layer. Only an ornament with nothing lying on it can be picked up, and shaded ones are covered and wait. Tap one and it hangs on the branch beside any of its own kind. The branch has seven hooks. When three alike hang there they fly to the tree and free their hooks. If all seven hooks fill with no three alike, the branch is too tangled, and you can take the last ornament back, add a spare hook or try the box again. Ribbons you have earned are kept.

Each of the twelve ornaments has its own shape as well as its own color. Every box is dealt along a winning order, so there is always a way through, and the game says the same of Shuffle, which deals the ornaments left in the box the same way. Undo puts the last ornament back (twice per box), Shuffle trades the places of the ornaments left (once per box) and the spare hook adds an eighth hook. Thirty boxes fill three evenings, and Tonight’s box is one new box for every date. The page says there is no timer, no lives and no moves to run out of.

The game’s own tips are worth taking. Before tapping, look for an ornament that matches a pair already on the branch, because a third one always frees two hooks. Uncover before you collect: an ornament that frees two or three covered ones is often worth a hook. And with two hooks left, only hang something that makes three or that has a partner on top of the heap.

Mahjong solitaire, and why it is not mahjong

In Teahouse Mahjong you tap a free tile and then tap a free tile that matches it, and the pair leaves the board. A tile is free when no tile lies on top of it and at least one side, left or right, has no tile touching it. Most tiles have exactly three twins, and the bonus tiles are different: any two blossoms match and any two tea leaves match. There are 36 boards in four tea rooms, from 36 tiles on two layers to 144 tiles on five, and you can switch between illustrated Garden tiles and the Classic set at any time. Every deal is built so it can be cleared. If you get stuck by taking pairs in a different order, Shuffle rearranges the tiles left into an arrangement that can be cleared.

Real mahjong is another game. It is played by four people with a wall of tiles: you draw a tile, discard a tile, call a discard to complete a set, and aim to build a winning hand of sets and a pair. Wisteria Court Mahjong is that game, against three hosts, in Hong Kong style or American style, and its page says it is “not the matching game”. If you came to match tiles, play Teahouse Mahjong; if you came to learn the real game, Wisteria Court Mahjong has eight short lessons.

Match 3 and its cousins

Potion Pantry Match is a swap match 3 on an 8 by 8 shelf. Swap two neighboring pieces up, down, left or right to line up three or more of the same ingredient, and a swap that makes no line slides back and costs nothing. A match of four brews a line potion, an L or T shape brews a cauldron and five brews a rainbow elixir. Each of the 30 recipes has up to four goals and a move limit, and the page says there is no timer.

Jam Jar Match is not a swap game, and its page says so. You press a fruit and drag through three or more matching fruits that touch up, down, left or right, and let go to clear the chain. Link back into a fruit already in your line to close a loop and clear every fruit of that kind. It has 24 levels with a move limit each, and the page says there is no timer.

Pumpkin Patch Panic is a tap match. You tap a group of three or more touching pumpkins of the same kind to send them to the wagon, and a new row sprouts along the bottom in real time. It is the one game here that is not at your own pace: the patch keeps growing, but pausing from the toolbar stops it completely. It is set in the days before Halloween.

Memory pairs in Toasty Tile Flip

Tap a card to turn it over, then tap another. A matching pair stays face up and anything else turns back. Cards you have seen get a crumb. New cards are always safe, but a crumbed card that turns out wrong costs a toast heart, and you lose the tray if the hearts run out. There are 20 trays, from a 12-card warm-up to 24-card brunch trays. Later trays add butter combos, toaster peeks, burnt slices with no partner, table orders and triples. Three rush trays have a clock, which starts with your first card, and the other 17 have none.

The game’s tips: turn cards without a crumb while there are any, because they can never cost a heart, and remember burnt slices as carefully as treats.

Dominoes: matching tile ends

Pinecone Pass Mexican Train is a tile game where you match ends rather than pairs. Each round starts from a double in the station, and on your turn you play one tile with an end that matches the open end of a train you may use: your own train, the Mexican Train, or any train with a marker. It uses a double-twelve set of 91 tiles for two to four players, with friendly computer players at three levels. You are not clearing a board: you build a train, and after the rounds the lowest total of dots left in hand wins. Its page estimates about two minutes a round.

Which one to pick: a short session, no timer or a phone

For a short session, the pages estimate Toasty Tile Flip at 1 to 3 minutes a tray, Potion Pantry Match at 2 to 4 minutes a recipe, Jam Jar Match at 2 to 4 minutes a level, Pumpkin Patch Panic at 1 to 4 minutes a day, Ornament Match at 2 to 6 minutes a box and Teahouse Mahjong at 3 to 10 minutes a board. Those are estimates, not measured times.

For no timer, pick Ornament Match, Teahouse Mahjong, Potion Pantry Match or Jam Jar Match: their pages say nothing counts down, with Potion Pantry Match and Jam Jar Match ending on a move limit instead. Toasty Tile Flip has no clock on 17 of its 20 trays. Pumpkin Patch Panic is the one to skip if you want no time pressure.

For a phone, each game here lists mobile among its supported devices. Teahouse Mahjong’s page says every board is sized to keep tiles large on phones, and Toasty Tile Flip’s page says it plays on phones, tablets and desktops, with the tray turned on its side on landscape screens.