Gambler Jiko Chūshinha: Mahjong Puzzle Collection is not a mahjong game; rather, as the title implies, it is a puzzle game that uses mahjong tiles. The player is presented with a board full of mahjong tiles; the goal is to match identically-looking tiles in pairs, causing them to disappear. Only tiles that have no obstacles (i.e. other tiles) on their path to each other can be matched. New tiles are added by the game on squares adjacent to the removed ones. The player must think ahead in order to complete the puzzle, avoiding unwinnable situations.

There are nine different boards, with tiles placed in different patterns of varying difficulty. In addition, there are four difficulty levels, measured by the time limit allowed for each puzzle (the easiest level has no time limit at all). Characters from the Gambler Jiko Chūshinha manga can be asked for advice a limited number of times.