Last updated on January 17th, 2026 at 02:40 am
Moonlight Mahjong Lite – Board Game Review
Moonlight Mahjong Lite is a Board/Puzzle game from Michael Howard, first launched in 1st February 2019.
It’s rated 12+ and currently has 14,549+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Moonlight Mahjong Lite Stand Out
Moonlight Mahjong is Mahjong Solitaire in virtual reality 3D, designed specifically for the iPhone and iPad. Intuitive touch control allows you to tilt and turn, zoom in and out to match tiles in 3D. Play “arcade style” with progressively difficult levels and high scores, or relax with one of the non-competitive game modes. The gameplay is simple yet addictive.
Moonlight Mahjong features four main types of play:
• Scramble Mode: Match tiles faster than the automated opponent "Tilebot" through increasingly difficult levels. The board is automatically reshuffled when you run out of matches, making this game mode easy to start and fun, yet challenging on the higher levels.
• Challenge Mode: Compete against Tilebot in full puzzle mode, with no automatic reshuffling, only undo. Challenge requires more strategy than Scramble. This is the ‘pure’ form of the game, but it is difficult!
• Puzzle Mode: Solve puzzle boards with no time limit. Choose any layouts you like. This is the original game mode, what people usually think of as Mahjong Solitaire.
• Relaxation Mode: Clear boards with no time limit and automatic reshuffling when out of matches. Perfect for when you're just not in the mood to strategize or rush.
This free advertising-supported version of Moonlight Mahjong features five complete game modes (the main four, plus 'Lightning Mode'). The full version of Moonlight Mahjong offers a few additional features with no advertisements.
Moonlight Mahjong is the original 3D Mahjong Solitaire on iOS, having debuted with the launch of the App Store in 2008. It has been played millions of times and was honored as a "Best Board Game" on the App Store.
This Board game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Moonlight Mahjong Lite is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 20th July 2024
Recent improvements include:
Version 4.0.3 fixes a graphics glitch when using the Marble tile art.
Version 4.0.2 fixes a bug where the background would not change in Relaxation or Puzzle modes.
Version 4.0.1 contains some small improvements to version 4.0 based on user feedback:
- If your Scramble high score is above two million, you can now start a new Scramble game on progressively higher levels above 50. This change is to support very high level players.
- On Scramble levels above 100, Tilebot may pause slightly less after reshuffling. This is a correction to the game play balance for very high levels.
- Tilebot’s label now indicates when Tilebot is paused and for how long.
- Small cosmetic improvements.
Version 4.0 is updated to better support the latest versions of iOS and iPadOS, to keep Moonlight Mahjong working well into the future. There are new backgrounds, and Tilebot is now slowed down slightly when the player makes matches, giving the player a chance to catch up or get ahead if they’re “on a roll.”
Download & Availability
Moonlight Mahjong Lite is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Moonlight Mahjong Lite on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
We absolutely love this version better than any. It's dimensional and it gets much harder as you get up into higher levels. If you like challenges this is your game to play. We will say sometimes we can see the person youre paying against sometimes seems like it goes wayyy faster when you get to higher levels it feels a bit cheaty. But we came back to it and started over from scratch after getting to like level 230.
Can play without constant ads, no repetitive ads or 2 min adsjust game playing. Because of repetitive ads and commercials we uninstalled the games that rely on ads and not the enjoyment of the game.
Great exercise for hands and memory coordonation.
Love the game. Tibolt is fun once you learn how to work with it. Just dont touch the tile until you have a pair in sight. The more wrong tiles you hit the faster Tibolt goes. We have cleared over 2,000,000 points by being patient and touching only the tiles we see a pair for.
This is an excellent Mahjong game. It's varied and challenging and has two commercials. The ads that happen will close fairly quickly if we're not interested. All in all, is the best mah-jongg game we have downloaded. The backgrounds are improving, but no we have selected a quiet choice, we still occasionally get too many objects that aren't in the Mahjong game. If we have old eyes, this can be frustrating. But we highly recommended as we have tried several games and it is by far the best.
This game has been ignored, get it.
This one is fun, challenging, and relaxing at the same time.
Very additive, most innovative game.
This game keeps you moving to beat the computer. Your brain works fast.
We wish we could adjust the competing speed, Its just too fast for us, and is making us nervous and stressed, But we really love this mahjong, This is another review we like to submit, few months after our first one. We like this moonlight Mahjong, but it would be nice if we can adjust the speed, because not everybody can react so fast, we are 75, and could have a heart attack racing -trying to compete with that super-fast speed of the computer.
Love this game, it challenges you to focus and be quick in the game.
Game is great, but just a warning: the pop up ads between levels can contain explicit PORN! We wouldnt just let your kids play this without supervision.
We only play the relaxation mode which for us is perfect. Sometimes the number of tiles gets ridiculously large but in general the variety of the layouts works for us. The only thing missing is how many layouts we have solved.
We got this app before ads, but your ads are short and bearable. Royal Kingdom runs ads that never cease till we leave app.
We are so done with all the ads after each game.
We understand the high number of plays and the timing gets faster. However, this is so very fast at higher numbers it is not possible to move forward. Actually takes fun out of the game.
In getting this game of tile to download on any iPhone, look at the some other source that tampering with the system in using the arm64/e thinks he or she has the control of what we can do we. Our device. The looser has struck again.
From a great clean game to horrendous updates! What a load of feces.
Used to be good. As of the last few days, the ads now play sound, take up more time, and are much harder to skip/dismiss.
We paid for the $1.99 version to eliminate ads, and am so frustrated that the game frequently fails to reshuffle, we search over, under and around looking for matches that are not there. Sometimes, when there are only a few tiles left, we will continually tap on tiles, and sometimes a tile will change to allow a match, and sometimes even a second match. Other times with only a few tiles left with no matches, the session ends with the tile bot completing its matches. Then, we see our remaining tiles with no matches showing have one or more tiles switch to show matches that were no existing before the end of the session. We feel that a game that has been released many years ago should not have such blatant bugs. We feel that we have been ripped off, and these bugs should have been corrected years ago.
RUINED!! We guess we will have to wait another 5 plus years for another update. You obviously dont play your own game. We actually liked the game the way it was. First you have an update and we made it up to level 370+ and now you have done another update and we can beat the game but what we cannot do is beat the harder puzzles and at least we used to be able to beat those once in a while now it is unobtainable, just hate what you have done.
With the new update, the game is painfully easy. Can we have the choice of having the challenge that we had before and still keep this for the people that want an easier game? Where our average bonus points before were maybe 6k points, its now 25k points. The games names are the same, but are so easy its not fun.
Its a bit of a challenge to get the right answer. We just really love this.
We exercise our eyes and brain with this game.
We love this game. We never get tired of it.
This is our go to game for entertainment and to keep our mind in a thinking mode. We enjoy this game more than any other, and we would like to thank you all for providing it to Paul from Mechanicsville, Virginia.
Did the last update do anything to change the difficulty level? Im breaking all kinds of PRs for ourselves.
Great game great color and great challenge.
Love, love this game but the free version is glitching at level 38. Help. We were going to purchase the game but we dont want to buy it with a glitch.Please fix it. This game is our nightly brain teaser. Thanks Gigi.
Works well on new and old devices. Minimal adds,thank goodness. We have deleted so many other games due to ads, this one is a keeper.
We just started playing this and we love it so far! The tiles are easy to seegreat graphics! This is the only mahjongg game we will play now.
Some days Id like to throw this through a wall, but truth be told the timed challenge mode of this game is the most used app on this iPad now for years. Today we hit level 100 timed, which is nuts, and it made us think just how much Ive played it. So here to give its long-since-earned 5 stars. Note – if theres a rank past Dragon Master, its after 100.
We highly recommend this app, it functions well, no annoying advertisements, vast selection of a puzzles, vast amount of backgrounds, and ability to customize, gives your brain a good work out.
We have played A LOT of Majong games. This is one of the best! Challenging, but not impossible. Entertaining, but not boring.
We Have reviewed this game app a couple years ago and with the same 5 star rating. Same positive rating today. The app has so so Many options of tile faces, layouts, as well as so many varieties of game play. What makes this game app different from ALL the other mahjong games is the ability to move the layouts up, down, Side to side , as well As enlarge the layouts to getter a larger view to find the possible matches. The navigation is so cool as well. TRULEY A 3D experience. AND we HAVE seen maybe a HANDFUL of LESS THAN 5 SECOND ADS since we have been playing. Where do you see that today in any of game apps? YOU DO NOT! This app is classic, mature, but any age can play. The music is soft and elegant as well. We have not one word of negative to say about this app. Developer, we hope you do not change and join with the greed of the other game developers. You created a breath of fresh air in this app and wish there were more created by you. MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR ALL AGES. Deborah B Bay.
Great game have fun matching and playing to win.
The latest update of the came shows tiles that are smeared with dirt. Very unattractive and difficult play. We have played this game for years and have loved it. We hope you fix this thank you.
We spent sometimes half an hour daily on the game. It is quite addicting in axway. Would recommend it to others.
Its the best version Ive come across. Easy to use, beautiful to behold.
We wish we could adjust the competing speed, Its just too fast for us, and is making us nervous and stressed, But we really love this mahjong,.
Been playing this game for years and we still love it. Also help with your memory.
This is the best game. Now they added advertisements and ruined it a bit.
We love to try to beat gamer. Challenging keeps you going. Just one more.
So many levels and shapeslove that we can choose which ones we want to play Also really beautiful backgrounds to choose from.
This is a good game to help your memory. We take a couple hits and play this game. Sometimes Im playing for hours till our fingers cramp up. Come to think of it we lost our job because we got caught playing so many times they had to fire us. So we guess we give this game a thumbs up.
Playing the timed games keeps our brain and eyes sharp to include our hands ( thumb and index fingers) would recommend this game to seniors like us.
Love Love Love this game. Keeps us up all night.
Really like this app, just wish their was a pause button or a hint button.
An ad popped up between games saying your device can run faster. We have released the cleaner update that is required for every iOS device. If you dont install the update, your apple device may run slower, and your battery may run over quicker. We strongly recommend that you install the app using the install button. This app will speed up your device, free up your memory, and protect your connection. This looks like a very bad virus and needs to be investigated by Apple play store team and this developer.
We love how really easy it is to understand the game and play it! Love the variety of levels and the difficulty of the game the more you progress! Wish they would add some new stuff occasionally.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 4.0.3
- Size: 44.09 MB
- iOS: 14.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory: Infrequent/Mild Medical/Treatment Information, Infrequent/Mild Realistic Violence, Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence, Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor, Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes, Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes
- Developer: Michael Howard
Last updated: 20th July 2024 | Genre: Board, Puzzle | Developer: Michael Howard