Mahjong:The Secret Garden: FAQ Domande e Risposte

How do I play Mahjong: the Secret Garden?

Mahjong: the Secret Garden has two gameplay modes: the garden mode and the island mode.

Garden Mode – Here you can develop your garden and decorate it with items from the store which can be bought with silver and gold, as well as purchasing new gardens!

Island Mode – This is where you earn your silver! On every island there will usually be 10 or 15 red markers, and each of these is a game of Mahjong. Once you have completed a Mahjong layout, you can move on to the next red marker. Along the way you will encounter barriers that require a certain number of stars in order for you to unlock them to continue on your journey. As well as this, at the end of each island you will come across a boat – here you have 3 options. You can wait the specified amount of time until your boat is ready to set sail to the next island, or you can travel straight away using either 10 gold or the stated amount of energy.

Where can I play Mahjong: the Secret Garden?

You can play the game in your browser on Facebook. Unfortunately the game is not currently available for iPhone, iPad or Android devices.

Is the game available in other languages?

The game is only available in English, however, most of the game is picture based which allows players from all over the world to access and enjoy it; we have lots of players who speak different languages and still enjoy the game a lot!

Island Mode

How do I play Mahjong?

Each game of Mahjong consists of different shaped game boards.

The aim of the game is to clear the board by matching off pairs of tiles. You cannot select a tile which is blocked on both sides by other tiles; this tile is unavailable. A tile will also be unavailable if there is another tile on top of it.

Clear the board faster for more stars.

What are the boosts?

There are a number of different boosts available for the Mahjong part of the game. 4 of these can be purchased before you start the game and there are 2 more that are available in-game.

Pre-game boosts:

Show Free Tiles: This boost will highlight all all available tiles making it easier to see moves.

Show Hints: This boost will highlight matching pairs every few seconds.

Free Shuffles: If you run out of moves, the game board will shuffle automatically. This boost will allow as many of these re-shuffles as you need in a game without causing you a time penalty.

Slow Timer: When selected, this boost will make the timer decrease more slowly than usual.

In-game boosts:

Whilst in the game there is the option to remove a pair for a set amount of silver, perfect for when you just can’t see a match anywhere. The second in-game boost is the option to Auto 3-star the layout; once you press this you will automatically gain 3 stars for the game.

What is tile centering/My tiles keep moving around during the game.

Tile centering is an in-game option which makes the Mahjong board move to the center of your game screen and get larger as you remove tiles from the edge of the board. You can turn it on and off using the button below, found at the bottom of your game when you are playing a Mahjong puzzle.

What are stars and how do I get them?

Each time you play a Mahjong puzzle you’ll get a star score. You can get up to three stars per board, and if you don’t get three stars the first time you can replay the puzzle to try and earn more stars! Only new stars will be added to your total. You can check your star total in the top left of the game or at the bottom of the map list, where you can also see the star totals for each island.

How do I get energy and what is it for?

You receive energy every time you purchase an item for your garden as well as on the Daily Spin. The amount of energy you will receive for each item is stated when you hover over the item in the store. Energy is used for travelling on the boat to new islands early, rather than waiting the amount of time specified.

Please note that you will not receive energy for placing gifts, items you have won or items from your storage in your garden.

What are the silver barriers?

The barriers found on most islands require a certain number of stars to pass through them – the number can be seen underneath the barrier. If you need more stars to open a barrier you can get these by replaying previous puzzles which don’t already have 3 stars.

What are the crates?

As you move through the island you’ll get the chance to open crates which give you a free item! Once you’ve opened the crate, the item will go to your storage.

What are the treasure chests?

Treasure chests can be found at the end of some islands. They contain extra special free gifts but can only be opened once you have a certain number of stars! The number of stars needed is written underneath the chest, and can also be found on the map list.

How do I go back to previous islands?

You can either use the arrows at the top, next to the island name, or click on the map list button in the top left to see all the islands you’ve visited so far.

There is no boat to travel to a new island, where is it?

If you reach the end of an island and there is no boat to travel to the next one then congratulations! This means that you have reached the end of the islands that are currently available in the game, but don’t worry, this doesn’t mean that the game is over! We are constantly working on new islands and they are added to the game periodically. When new islands are released a message is sent out in the game to all those on the final island and there is also a post about it on the Community Facebook page.

Whilst waiting for new islands to be released, why not work on your garden or go back to some previous games and see if you can get some more stars and earn yourself some more silver?

Garden Mode

How do I edit my garden?

To enter edit mode click the ‘Edit garden’ button.

The store will appear at the bottom of the game – here you can enter different categories and browse the items available to buy, as well as sorting them by category or newest first using the drop down box.

You can also click the expand button to see more items at once and search for items, across all categories or your storage, by name

Click an item to purchase it – when you click it you will see a preview which you can hold over your garden to see what the item will look like and check where it can be placed (red highlight means the item cannot be placed there). When you are ready, click where you would like to place the item – you will not be charged until this point. When you’ve finished with one item, select a different one or click ‘Done’.

The buttons on the right allow you to move, flip, look-up, sell, or store an item – click the button first, then click on the item.

When you store an item it will go to your storage – you can access this using the brown box. Click an item in your storage to pick it up then click again where you would like to place it in your garden. You can also sell items directly from your storage by clicking the ‘Sell’ button on the item.

How do I flip fence and hedge pieces?

There’s no need to flip these pieces – they will automatically rotate and form corners when you place them next to pieces of the same type of hedge or fence.

Can I change the name of my garden?

Yes, just click on the Garden Options button on the left hand side of your garden, and then click the box with your garden’s name in. Then use your keyboard to change the name, and just click ‘Close’ when you’re done. Make sure you are in normal view, not full screen, to allow you to type in the box.

How can I move between my different gardens?

To move between your different gardens, use the drop down box in the top right of the garden.

Can I clear my whole garden in one go?

Yes! When you are in your garden, click on the Garden options button on the left hand side. At the bottom of this screen is a red button that says Clear Garden. You need to click on this and then confirm that you would like to remove all items from the current garden. Once you have done this, all items from that garden will be moved into your storage.

How do I enter Garden of the Week?

Garden of the Week is not something that can be entered. Every week, admins of the game will select a garden that they like and announce it as Garden of the Week on our Facebook page. We do run competitions in the game. These can be entered by anyone and your garden will be rated by other players – the highest rated garden will win.

How can I take a picture of my garden?

Click on the camera button on the left hand side – you will be able to position your picture and then get the option to add a comment before sharing it to your Facebook wall.

What are the Lucky Dip packs?

The Lucky Dip packs let you purchase a special pack of mystery items. You can win lots of different items in them, and each pack has a theme so you can pick one which suits your garden style.

When you purchase a Lucky Dip pack you also get the chance to win a special, ultra rare item!

The items you win in a Lucky Dip pack are added straight to your storage. You can then choose to purchase another pack by clicking Try Again, or visit your garden to explore your new items!

When I go into edit mode my animal/ghost disappears. How do I move them?

First try refreshing the page a few times as this usually fixes this issue.

If not, try moving or storing items nearby to the animal, such as paths they are standing on, saving and then refreshing the page.

If neither of these help let us know and we can move the animal for you.

The islands have different levels, why can’t I do that in my garden?

Unfortunately the islands and the gardens are not made in quite the same way which is why the islands can have different levels and gardens cannot. Why not get creative and see what sort of height illusions you can come up with in your gardens!

An item has gone missing from my garden, where is it?

Very occasionally, players encounter the issue of items going missing from their garden. More often than not the item can be found simply by going to your storage. If however the missing item cannot be located in the storage folder, please check your silver total too as generally the silver will be added back when the item disappears. If this is not the case then please let us know and we will take a look into this for you.

You should always use the save button to stop this from happening. When you are making changes you will see that the button will turn from a green tick to an exclamation mark. This means that you currently have unsaved changes. Once you have finished any editing that you are doing, either wait for this to change to a green tick automatically or you can click on the exclamation mark to manually save the game – but always wait until you see the green tick before leaving edit mode!

Why didn’t I get any silver for selling an item?

There are a few different reasons why you might not get any silver when you sell an item from your garden. If you received an item as a gift, you will not earn any silver when you sell it; this is the same for items you win in a Crate, Treasure Chest or a Lucky Dip Pack.

How do I enter or vote in competitions?

To enter or vote in a competition, click the rosette on the left of your garden. Here you can read the rules and find out if the competition has a special theme.

You can also view the winners of the competition here once it has finished, as well as the score for your entries.

When you are voting on a garden, you may come across an entry which you feel breaks the rules of the competition. If this happens, please use the Report button to let us know. The report button is only for this purpose – if a garden does not break the rules, please use the star scoring system to rate it instead.

Can my friends see all of my gardens?

When your friends visit your garden they can view your other gardens by using the drop down in the top right of the game. If you want to hide a specific garden from your friends, you can do this in the Garden Options menu while in that garden, by unticking ‘Visible to friends?’

Your friends will see the last garden you had open when they first visit your gardens, unless it is hidden from friends, in which case they will see the first visible garden on your list.

What do I need silver for and how do I get it?

Silver can be used to buy garden items from the store as well as expanding your garden and purchasing new gardens, and it can also be used to purchase boosts. There are several ways to get silver:

1. You will receive silver as a reward at the end of each Mahjong layout that you play, even when you replay them!

2. Silver can be won in the Daily Spin

3. Gold can be converted into silver

4. You receive silver back when you sell an item you have purchased

What do I need gold for and how do I get it?

Gold is a premium currency that can be used to buy special garden items, travel early to the next island, unlock barriers early, enter more than one competition entry and auto 3-star a level; it can also be converted into silver. There are several ways to attain gold:

1. Winning a garden competition

2. Making a purchase via online payment

3. Gold is sometimes offered to fans through Mini Competitions run on the Mahjong: the Secret Garden Facebook Community Page

Is buying gold safe? I am worried about using my credit card online.

All gold purchases are processed securely by Facebook and we do not have any access to your payment details. Facebook processes millions of dollars worth of payments each day.

Why do I have to pay for gold? This should be free!

Mahjong: the Secret Garden costs money to make and keep running. We have to pay developers, rent servers and pay artists – basically we need players to support us so we can keep the game running for everyone.

We know some players can’t or choose not to purchase gold – it’s possible to play the game without buying anything, you just won’t be able to progress as easily or get certain items. We’re really thankful to the players who choose to support the game by purchasing gold!

How do I add friends in Mahjong: the Secret Garden?

It is only possible to play with people who are your friends on Facebook. This means that you need to send them a friend request or confirm new friend requests for them to appear in your friend bar.

How can I find more friends who play the game?

You can invite your Facebook friends to play or visit our Community page and befriend other fans of the game.

To invite your friends just scroll to the end of your friend bar in the game and click ‘Invite Friends’ – you will also get 500 free silver for each friend who joins the game through your invite!

How do I send gifts?

From time to time when you open up the game, a box will appear that gives you the opportunity to send gifts to your friends! The box won’t necessarily appear every day and it is dependent on how many gifts you send each time. For those of you that have a long friend list, there is also the helpful option of being able to select all friends in the list and send gifts to all of them with just a couple of clicks!

How do I leave a yellow gift box of silver in my garden for my friends?

These gifts are automatically placed in the gardens of up to 5 friends who have played the game recently each day. You don’t need to do anything to leave them for your friends, just play regularly!

How do I change my Privacy settings so that anyone can send me friend requests?

Go to any page on Facebook, click the down arrow in the top right and select ‘Settings’.

Then select ‘Privacy’ on the left hand side. Under ‘Who can contact me?’ set ‘Who can send me friend requests?’ to ‘Everyone’

How do I make Mahjong: the Secret Garden visible on my public profile?

Hover over ‘APPS’ then click ‘More’ on the left hand side of your Facebook homepage. Hover over Mahjong: the Secret Garden and click the little grey cog, then choose ‘Edit Settings’. Change the ‘App visibility’ to ‘Public’.

Then go to your Facebook profile page and click ‘More’ under your cover photo. Select ‘Manage Sections’ and tick ‘Apps and Games’ so that this section is visible.

Help! I’ve been blocked from sending Friend Requests!

Sometimes Facebook will block a user from sending Friend Requests if they have had too many of their requests go unanswered or be rejected. This is usually a temporary measure, and in the meantime you can still accept friend requests from others.

To try and minimise the risk of this happening, try sending just a couple of requests at once and waiting for them to be answered before sending more. We also recommend sending a message to the person whom you are adding to introduce yourself – if you have received a request, you may need to check the ‘Filtered’ section of your Facebook messages to see if the sender has messaged you.

Is there a way to accept all my gifts at once?

This is not currently an option in the game but we are working on it!

Can I hide a friend from my friend bar?

Currently you cannot hide a friend – if a friend is on your Facebook friends list and plays the game, they will appear on your friend bar. If you remove them from your friends list, they will automatically disappear, but this can take a little while and you might need to clear your browser’s cache.

We are considering adding a hide feature for the friends bar in the future, and thank you for your patience while we look into whether this is possible in the game.

What is the Loyalty Card?

We have seven special Loyalty Cards currently available in the game. Every time you buy a certain amount of gold (noted on the card in US$) you will receive a stamp on your card, which you can view by clicking ‘Loyalty Card’ below the game.

Once you collect five new stamps you will receive an exclusive free gift which cannot normally be purchased in the store – this free gift will go into your storage, and will also be added to a special ‘Loyalty Card Items’ section of the store for you to buy again in the future!

What is the Game Club?

Game Club allows you to claim free rewards in Mahjong: the Secret Garden in return for trying out our other games; Jigsaw World, Fishing World, Petal Match: The Secret Garden, Tile Twist World, Jackpot Bingo and Cross-Stitch World.

To earn your rewards, just visit these other games (you can use the banner above Mahjong: the Secret Garden to find them) and play! After you’ve done this, click the Game Club button underneath the other game to claim your rewards.

Please note that in order to claim rewards for playing Jigsaw World, you must have seen a Game Club invite pop up in Mahjong: the Secret Garden first.

You can also claim rewards in some of our other games by clicking the Game Club button underneath Mahjong: the Secret Garden.