Spider Web Mahjong Solitaire
About the Spider Web Layout
Spider Web is one of the hardest boards in the collection, an 88-tile lattice built from concentric rings of stone joined by radial threads that spoke out from a dense hub. From above it really does look like a web strung between branches at dawn: tight loops near the center, longer arcs toward the rim, and thin bridges of tile crossing the gaps. Because the rings sit close together and the radial threads overlap them, very little of the board is open at the start. You typically begin with only the outer tips of a few spokes free, which makes the whole thing feel delicate and slow, like you are picking strands apart one at a time rather than clearing big stacks.
The difficulty here is a true 5 out of 5, and it earns it through interlock rather than height. The web is mostly one or two layers, but the rings and the spokes are woven so that almost every tile is pinned on a side by a neighbor in the next loop. Clearing feels less like demolition and more like untangling: pull the wrong thread first and you strand a pair deep in the mesh with no left or right edge exposed. Patient players who enjoy reading a board several moves ahead will love it; anyone hoping to bulldoze through will get caught in the silk quickly.
Difficulty: Master (5/5) | Tiles: 88
How to Clear the Spider Web Layout
Open from the rim, not the center. The free tiles at the start are the outer ends of the radial threads, so spend your first dozen moves walking inward along the spokes. Each spoke tile you remove exposes the next one behind it and, just as importantly, frees a side edge on the ring tiles it was touching. Treat the spokes as your can openers for the rings.
The crux is the concentric rings themselves. A ring tile is only selectable when its left or right neighbor along the loop is gone, so you cannot eat a ring in arbitrary order, you have to break it at one point and unzip around the circle. Always break a ring where a spoke has already cleared a gap, then work both directions from that gap so you are never relying on a single fragile opening.
Watch your matched pairs across different rings. A very common trap is to clear three of a suit from the outer loops and leave the fourth buried in the innermost ring with both sides still covered. Before you commit a pair, glance at where its partners live. If two of a value sit deep in the hub, keep an outer copy in reserve as the key you will use once the center finally opens.
The endgame is the hub. The last ten or so tiles cluster tightly in the middle, and that is exactly where flowers and seasons are worth hoarding, since a flower matches any flower and a season matches any season, they give you a free move when the dense center leaves you with two stranded singles. Use Shuffle without guilt if the hub locks: it re-deals the remaining tiles into a fresh solvable arrangement, which often loosens an interior knot that pure play cannot.
The Story Behind the Spider Web Layout
The spider web is one of the most satisfying natural geometries to render in tile, because a real orb web is built from exactly two elements: the spiraling capture threads that form the rings, and the straight radial spokes the spider lays first as scaffolding. This layout keeps that honest structure, the radials really do anchor the rings, which is why pulling a spoke loosens the loops around it just as snapping a radial would slacken a real web.
There is a quiet bit of symbolism in playing it, too. A web is a thing of patience, spun strand by strand and unpicked the same way, and the board rewards that same unhurried, methodical temperament. Where a dragon or temple layout impresses through bulk, the web impresses through delicacy and the small tension of not knowing which thread is load-bearing until you tug it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why can I only select a few tiles when Spider Web starts?
The rings and radial threads are woven so tightly that nearly every tile has a covered or blocked side at the outset. Only the outer tips of the spokes start with a free left or right edge. This is normal for the web, work inward along those spokes and the board opens up gradually.
What is the best first move on Spider Web?
Start at the outer ends of the radial threads rather than the center. Clearing a spoke from the rim inward exposes the tile behind it and frees side edges on the ring tiles it touches, which is the only reliable way to begin breaking into the loops.
I keep getting stuck with two tiles buried in the middle. What do I do?
That hub lock is the classic Spider Web trap. Try to keep a flower, a season, or a spare matching tile from the outer rings in reserve for the center, since flowers match any flower and seasons match any season. If the middle is truly jammed, press Shuffle to re-deal the remaining tiles into a new solvable arrangement.
Is Spider Web always solvable even though it looks impossible?
Yes. Every board is generated by working backwards from a fully solved web, so a complete solution always exists. The challenge is finding the order, not whether one is there, and Shuffle guarantees the remaining tiles stay solvable too.
See more Hard Mahjong Solitaire boards, or browse all layouts.
