Developer: Smilkobuta
Publisher: Smilkobuta
Platform: Mobile – Amazon, Android

Mahjong is a game of skill that usually has multiple players and utilizes tiles with text or graphics on them. However, in the West many people know of mahjong as a tile-matching game. I enjoy tile-matching myself since the actual rules of mahjong are beyond me. So, we’ve got to get this out of the way first: Real Shanghai Mahjong is not “real” mahjong.

Real Shanghai Mahjong is another tile-matching game. However, unlike some, it’s got a sense of progression. There are six stages and each has ten mahjong boards to clear. Puzzles start off very easy and progress in difficulty. At the start you just need to match and things almost always turn out well. Once you get to later stages simply matching the first tiles you see likely won’t work out.

While playing you learn to think more than one step ahead, as well as strategically whittle away at tile piles. Some are simple but the further you get the more extravagant the layout becomes. This is important because players can only match open titles (tiles with at least one side not touched by other pieces). Although I played on a 7″ tablet, some elaborate designs were too small. I would have appreciated the option to zoom in. Finally, why is there no background music at all?

There also isn’t much to do once you beat all the stages. Yes, there is an online leaderboard (which requires registration) and local board but neither entice me. It also took around four hours to finish. That’s not bad if you only play briefly every week but there’s still not much replay value. Real Shanghai Mahjong might be fibbing with its name but there’s still enjoyment to be had playing it.

2 out of 5 alpacas

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