Mahjongg

aka: The Best of Shangai
Moby ID: 23965
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Description

Mahjongg / Shanghai involves an arrangement of 144 tiles, which are both alongside and on top of each other, and consist of either 2 or 4 of each design. The objective is to remove them all by matching up pairs, but only tiles which are visible and have a space to either the left or right can be moved.

This implementation has 3 different board layouts and an optional timer for anything up to 900 seconds. There are different background designs and tile sets, as well as five different pointer designs, an oriental-inspired soundtrack, and the ability to save and load a game. A wind effect passes over the screen when you have only one minute left.

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Credits (Windows version)

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Graphs
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Reviews

Players

Average score: 3.0 out of 5 (based on 1 ratings)

By the numbers, but engrossing and pleasant enough

The Good
A good range of backdrops, backing music and tile sets make the game more appealing than a simple set of tiles. Different game arrangements mean that it has something new for the veteran Mah-Jongg fan. The huge range of time limits help you gradually improve your skill at the game.

The Bad
On a lot of the tile sets (including, damningly, the standard one) the angle of the shadows obscures parts of the times, making some of them very hard to distinguish, which can add to the frustration. Fortunately, plenty of them are fine.

Although the essentials are done quite well, there is not much more. Even Activision's mid-1980s rendition of the game had some pre-set challenges on which you could battle to improve your time, and several later titles have included multi-player game modes.

It could be due to my PC, but it won't successfully window away without crashing.

The Bottom Line
The ancient tile-matching game has reached the West in recent years, attracting people through its intricacy, strategic depth, and the high involvement of skill, due to so many tiles being visible before they can be moved (rather like Freecell).

Spain's Loover Studios have given it a satisfactory albeit slightly functional computerised rendition. There are lots of shareware Mah-Jongg games, and I doubt this is any better than most.

Windows · by Martin Smith (81666) · 2006

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  • MobyGames ID: 23965
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Martin Smith.

Game added September 17, 2006. Last modified February 22, 2023.