--- title: "Layered tile matching: API" package: "@phaser-ae/tile-pairs" tier: Pro version: 3.0.0-3 released: 2026-10-14 updated: 2026-10-20 description: "The rules of pair-matching tile puzzles, from layered mahjong solitaire to flat connect-the-pair boards, with deals that can always be cleared, shuffles, hints and undo." url: https://phaser.io/packs/tile-pairs/api site: Phaser - https://phaser.io --- # Layered tile matching: API `@phaser-ae/tile-pairs` — Remove matching free tiles from layered or flat boards, with solvable deals, the classic Turtle, shuffles and undo, as in mahjong solitaire and Onet. ## The pack ### `tilePairs` ```ts function tilePairs(): Pack<{ tilePairs: typeof kit }> ``` Install pure rules; no renderer, DOM or simulation hook is required. ## Helpers ### `createTilePairs` ```ts function createTilePairs(config: PairsConfig, certificate?: PairAction[]): TilePairs ``` Create a mahjong or Onet game. Throws on a deal it refuses (see `PairsConfig`) or a `certificate` that does not replay to an empty table. ### `dealTilePairs` ```ts function dealTilePairs(config: Omit & { tiles: Omit[] }, keys: string[], seed = 1, maxStates = 20000, exact = false): { status: 'solved'; config: PairsConfig; solution: PairAction[] } | { status: 'unsolvable' | 'budget-exhausted' } ``` Deal keys onto an authored layout so it can be cleared: find an order in which the tiles can be removed two at a time (depth-first, within `maxStates` positions, default 20,000), then give each removed pair one of `keys`, cycling through them, shuffled by `seed`. With `exact`, `keys` lists one key per pair and each is used once. Returns the keyed config and that removal order as a solution, or `unsolvable` (no order exists, whatever the keys) or `budget-exhausted` (no claim). Throws on empty keys, a bad seed, or `exact` keys that are not one per pair. ### `generateTilePairs` ```ts function generateTilePairs(options: PairsGenerationOptions = {}): PairsGeneration ``` Build a layout and deal keys onto it along a proven removal order, then replay it. Throws on out-of-range options, a layout over 200 tiles, or a deal whose search fails (`generation: unsolvable` or `generation: budget-exhausted`). ### `mahjongTurtle` ```ts function mahjongTurtle(): Omit[] ``` The classic Turtle (Dragon) layout of mahjong solitaire: 144 tile footprints on five layers, a 12 x 8 base with its notched rows and three wing tiles, then 6 x 6, 4 x 4 and 2 x 2 layers and a single tile on top straddling four. Positions are in tile widths and heights, as `PairTile` takes them. Deal keys onto it with `dealTilePairs` (36 keys of four tiles is the real set), or ask `generateTilePairs` for `layout: 'turtle'`. ## Classes ### `TilePairs` ```ts class TilePairs ``` Mahjong solitaire and Onet rules, independent of the renderer and camera. Get one from `createTilePairs`. - `constructor(config: PairsConfig, private certificate?: PairAction[])` - `solveBest(maxStates = 20000): SearchResult` — A winning continuation, without changing anything: the rest of the deal's certificate when it still works from here (until a shuffle), otherwise `solve(maxStates)`. Its first pair is the hint. - `get tiles(): PairTile[]` — A copy of every tile in the deal, removed or not, with its current key (a shuffle changes keys). - `get state(): PairsState` — A copy of the current state. - `get solved(): boolean` — Whether every tile has been removed. - `get stuck(): boolean` — Whether the game is at a dead end: tiles remain but no pair can be removed. Offer `shuffle`, `undo` or `reset`. A table with legal pairs can still be lost; only `solve` can tell. - `blockedBy(id: string): string[]` — Why a tile cannot be taken now: `'covered-by:'`, `'both-sides-blocked'`, `'blocked-by:'` or `'removed-or-unknown'`; empty when it is free. - `isFree(id: string): boolean` — Whether the tile is on the table and nothing blocks it. - `legalActions(): PairAction[]` — Every pair that could be removed now: free tiles with equal keys (and, in Onet, a link between them). - `preview(a: PairAction): ActionResult` — What `apply` would return for this pair, without playing it or touching the state or history. - `apply(a: PairAction): ActionResult` — Remove a pair if it is legal. Returns `{ valid: true, events }`, or `{ valid: false, reason, events: [] }` with a reason such as `'invalid-pair'`, `'different-group'`, `'blocked-tile'` or `'no-path'`. A move discards any undone moves. - `shuffle(seed = 1, maxStates = 20000): ActionResult` — Reshuffle the faces on the table, as mahjong games do at a dead end: the remaining tiles keep their places, and their keys are dealt again along a removal order proven to clear them (found within `maxStates` positions, default 20,000), so the table is solvable afterwards. One move in the history, so `undo` takes it back. Invalid with the reason `solved`, `unpaired-keys` (a key left an odd number of times), `unsolvable` (no order clears the table whatever the keys, which a stack of tiles can cause) or `budget-exhausted`. Throws on a bad seed or budget. - `solve(maxStates = 20000): SearchResult` — A winning continuation from here by depth-first search over at most `maxStates` positions (default 20,000), without changing anything. `unsolvable` is a proof; `budget-exhausted` is not. - `undo(): boolean` — Take back the last pair or shuffle; false when there is nothing to undo. - `redo(): boolean` — Play again a pair or shuffle that was taken back; false when there is nothing to redo. - `reset(): void` — Return to the full deal and clear both the undo and redo histories. ## Types ### `PairAction` ```ts interface PairAction ``` Removing two tiles together. - `a: string` — The id of the first tile. - `b: string` — The id of the second tile; not the same tile as `a`. ### `PairEvent` ```ts interface PairEvent ``` What a successful move reports. - `type: 'removed'` — Always `'removed'`: a pair left the table. - `ids: [string, string]` — The ids of the two tiles removed. - `path: Cell[]` — The cells the link runs through, from the first tile's cell to the second's, possibly via the outside border; empty in mahjong. ### `PairsConfig` ```ts interface PairsConfig ``` A deal: the rules to play by and the tiles to play on. The constructor throws on a deal it refuses. - `mode: 'mahjong' | 'onet'` — `'mahjong'` frees a tile by footprint (nothing above it and an open side); `'onet'` joins two tiles by a path with few bends. - `tiles: PairTile[]` — The tiles: an even number from 2 to 200, with no two overlapping on one layer. - `cols?: number` — Onet only: columns in the grid, 1 to 32; required. - `rows?: number` — Onet only: rows in the grid, 1 to 32; required. - `maxTurns?: number` — Onet only: the most bends a joining path may have, 0 to 2. Default 2. - `blockers?: { tile: string; by: string }[]` — Extra blocking: `tile` cannot be picked while `by` is still on the table. Both are tile ids, and not the same tile. ### `PairsGeneration` ```ts interface PairsGeneration ``` A generated deal: the game, a winning solution and what was measured. - `config: PairsConfig` — The deal, ready for `createTilePairs`. - `solution: PairAction[]` — A replay-checked order that clears the table; pass it to `createTilePairs` so `solveBest` can use it. - `seed: number` — The seed asked for. - `metrics: { /** Tiles dealt. */ tiles: number; /** Layers used. */ layers: number; /** Tiles free at the start. */ exposed: number; /** Pairs removable at the start. */ legalPairs: number; /** Distinct keys dealt. */ groups: number; }` — The deal's structure, not a human difficulty or a uniqueness claim. ### `PairsGenerationOptions` ```ts interface PairsGenerationOptions ``` What `generateTilePairs` takes; every field may be left out. - `mode?: PairsConfig['mode']` — `'mahjong'` or `'onet'`. Default `'mahjong'`. - `seed?: number` — Unsigned 32-bit integer; the same options and seed make the same deal. Default 1. - `difficulty?: 'easy'|'medium'|'hard'|'very-hard'` — Sets the defaults for columns, rows, layers and groups (6/8/10/12 columns, 4/6/6/8 rows, 2/3/3/4 layers, 8/12/18/24 groups from easy to very hard). Default `'medium'`. - `layout?: 'stepped'|'turtle'|'diamond'|'bridge'|'pyramid'|'rectangle'` — The shape of the layers: `'stepped'` (the default in mahjong: rectangles whose first and last rows are two shorter), `'diamond'`, `'bridge'`, `'pyramid'`, `'rectangle'` (Onet's only, and default), or `'turtle'`, the classic 144-tile Turtle from `mahjongTurtle` (which ignores `cols`, `rows` and `layers`, and defaults to 36 groups). - `cols?: number` — Tiles across the bottom layer (the grid's columns in Onet): an even number from 4 to 14, so every row pairs up and the 200-tile cap holds. Default from `difficulty`. - `rows?: number` — Tiles down the bottom layer (the grid's rows in Onet): 2 to 10. Default from `difficulty`. - `layers?: number` — Layers stacked in mahjong, 1 to 4 (each is two tiles narrower and shorter than the one below); Onet is always 1. Default from `difficulty`. - `groups?: number` — Distinct matching groups the tiles are dealt into, 2 to 36 (mahjong's 34 faces plus flowers and seasons). Default from `difficulty`, or 36 for the turtle. - `maxStates?: number` — The most states the deal's solving search may visit, 1 to 1,000,000. Default 20000. ### `PairShuffleEvent` ```ts interface PairShuffleEvent ``` What a successful `shuffle` reports: the new key of every tile still on the table. - `type: 'shuffled'` — Always `'shuffled'`. - `keys: Record` — New matching key by tile id, for the tiles still on the table. ### `PairsState` ```ts interface PairsState ``` How a game stands. - `removed: string[]` — Ids of the tiles taken off the table, two to a move, in the order they went. - `moves: number` — Pairs removed so far. - `shuffles: number` — Shuffles played so far. - `keys: Record` — Each tile's matching key now, by id: the dealt key until a shuffle changes it. ### `PairTile` ```ts interface PairTile ``` A tile: where it lies and which matching group it belongs to. Distinct faces can share a key, as mahjong's flowers do. - `id: string` — Unique among the deal's tiles; what actions and events name. - `key: string` — The matching group: two tiles can be removed together only when their keys are equal. Not empty. - `x: number` — Left edge of the footprint, in tile widths; in Onet the cell column, a whole number from 0. Mahjong may use half-tile offsets. - `y: number` — Top edge of the footprint, in tile heights; in Onet the cell row, a whole number from 0. - `z?: number` — Layer, a whole number from 0 to 32; a higher layer covers the tiles under it. Default 0; Onet is all layer 0. - `width?: number` — Footprint width in tile widths, above 0. Default 1; Onet tiles are 1. - `height?: number` — Footprint height in tile heights, above 0. Default 1; Onet tiles are 1. ### `TilePairsApi` ```ts type TilePairsApi = typeof kit ``` Public headless layered tile matching helpers. --- ## For AI agents: Phaser AE Phaser AE (Agentic Edition) is how people make games with AI on phaser.io. 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