Grand Mahjong is a tile-matching game. The player must remove classic- or simple-style Chinese Mahjong tiles from a themed gradient-green tabletop to clear levels and earn top scores.
The player can only remove pairs of tiles that have identical faces or icons that belong in the flowers or seasons categories. Typically, they can only remove uncovered tiles with at least one open left or right side. That said, this game also has a hidden-tile component.
A pattern might contain tiles stacked so perfectly that the player can't see that they're actually dealing with more than one level. Two stacked tiles might look like one tile in a flat, open area or underneath one or more tiles. As a result, the player's only option is to select every tile displayed in the pattern. If a tile turns red, then it's a hidden one.
The game provides the player with three useful tools on a wooden rail along the bottom of the table and screen. It gives the player access to five free hints via a magnifying glass button and five pattern shuffles via a double arrows button. They can only access the back arrow undo button after they start collecting pairs.
Grand Mahjong increases the complexity of the patterns with each new level. It calculates the final level score based on the total accumulated points and the amount of time the player took to finish the level.
