Tile Link
A board of 96 tiles is laid out in front of you — each tile has a unique shape and colour combination. Click two matching tiles to remove them from the board. Clear all tiles to win.
Tiles can only be linked if the path between them has no more than two turns. If no moves are left, use Shuffle to rearrange the board.
How to Play
- Select: Click the first tile, then click a matching tile to remove both
- Matches must share the same shape and the same colour
- Links are only valid with a path of two turns or fewer
- Shuffle: tap the Shuffle button if you're stuck
About This Game
Tile Link is a Mahjong-solitaire style matching game with a geometric twist. A grid of 96 tiles, each carrying a unique shape-and-colour combination, waits to be cleared. Matches aren't just about finding pairs — the path between them has to be drawable with at most two turns. That single constraint transforms a straightforward matching game into a spatial puzzle about board state.
Why We Built It
Classic Mahjong solitaire is relaxing but can sometimes feel arbitrary — you pick pairs that are accessible, not pairs that require strategic thinking. The two-turn path rule changes that. Some pairs are visually obvious but geometrically blocked, while others look distant but connect cleanly. Adding the Shuffle button as a limited reset gives players a safety valve without making the game trivial.
How It Works
The 96 tiles consist of 24 unique types (6 shapes × 4 colours), each appearing exactly 4 times — meaning 2 matchable pairs per type. The path finder checks three connection types: straight (0 turns), L-shape (1 turn), and Z-shape (2 turns), including virtual rows and columns outside the grid boundary. If no valid path exists between two tiles of the same type, the match is rejected. A shuffle routine rearranges all remaining tiles while guaranteeing at least one valid move exists after shuffling.
Tips & Strategy
- Start from the edges. Edge and corner tiles have fewer neighbors blocking their paths, so they're easier to match early and open up the interior.
- Look for tiles that share a clear horizontal or vertical line. Those 0-turn matches are the fastest to process and should be taken whenever available.
- Before shuffling, scan for matches you might have missed. Shuffle removes all progress on the current layout, so exhaust it first.
- When stuck, select a tile you can't match yet — seeing its highlight helps your eye find where the matching partner is hiding.
Ideas for Improvement
- Timer mode — a countdown clock that adds urgency and produces a time-based score.
- Hint system — a button that highlights one valid pair at the cost of a score penalty.
- Larger grids — a 10×14 or 12×16 variant for players who want a longer challenge.
- Theme packs — tile skins using food icons, animals, or playing card suits instead of geometric shapes.