Mahjong Titans is a tile-matching game that features a traditional pattern of ivory and green tiles that display common Chinese Mahjong icons (i.e., big-tailed birds, bamboo sticks, dot stones, dragon symbols, flowering and other plants, and unique seasonal figures) against a delightfully peaceful and soothing purple-gray backdrop. The player removes all tiles from this scene to reveal a stunning wood-block piece titled "The Great Wave off Kanagawa." The art is by a historic Japanese artist of the ukiyo-e tradition named Hokusai, who studied both the art styles of their homeland and China during the Edo period.
For the most part, the player can only remove uncovered, identical tiles in pairs. With the plants and seasons, they can remove any tile within the same theme. With all tiles, they can't remove any tile positioned between left and right tiles. The game helps them effortlessly perform their task by providing a red-gray letter or number at the top-right corner of each tile for matching purposes. It also offers the tiles in a three-dimensional view.
Mahjong Titans is a fun, relaxing game that doesn't make the player race against a clock or penalize them for selecting non-matching tiles. That said, for the most peaceful and fun experience, it's best played with the volume turned off because of the odd sounds it makes every time the player selects a tile.
Additionally, if the player leaves the browser tab, the game always pauses. The player continues by selecting the round, glowing resume button. If they want to restart the game entirely, it also provides a restart button.