![Gnome Mahjong](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Gnome_Mahjong.jpg)
Mahjong solitaire (also known as Shanghai solitaire, electronic or computerized mahjong, solitaire mahjong or simply mahjong) is a
single-player
A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. A single-player game is usually a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" is usuall ...
matching game that uses a set of
mahjong tiles
Mahjong tiles () are tiles of Chinese origin that are used to play mahjong as well as mahjong solitaire and other games. Although they are most commonly tiles, they may refer to playing cards with similar contents as well.
Development
The ...
rather than
cards. It is more commonly played on a computer than as a physical tabletop game.
Its name comes from the four-player game
mahjong
Mahjong or mah-jongg (English pronunciation: ) is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is commonly played by four players (with some three-play ...
, but it is played entirely differently.
Play
The 144 tiles are arranged in a four-layer pattern with their faces upwards. A tile is said to be open or exposed if it can be moved either left or right without disturbing other tiles. The goal is to match open pairs of identical tiles and remove them from the board, exposing the tiles under them for play. The game is won when all pairs of tiles have been removed from the board, and lost if the remaining tiles contain no exposed pairs.
Mathematical analysis
Playing Mahjong solitaire optimally in the sense to maximize the probability of removing all tiles is
PSPACE-complete In computational complexity theory, a decision problem is PSPACE-complete if it can be solved using an amount of memory that is polynomial in the input length (polynomial space) and if every other problem that can be solved in polynomial space can b ...
, and the game is
NP-complete
In computational complexity theory, a problem is NP-complete when:
# it is a problem for which the correctness of each solution can be verified quickly (namely, in polynomial time) and a brute-force search algorithm can find a solution by tryi ...
if looking below tiles is allowed.
[http://www.ics.uci.edu/~eppstein/cgt/hard.html Eppstein's page on computational complexity of games.] It has been proven that it is PSPACE-hard to
approximate
An approximation is anything that is intentionally similar but not exactly equal to something else.
Etymology and usage
The word ''approximation'' is derived from Latin ''approximatus'', from ''proximus'' meaning ''very near'' and the prefix ' ...
the maximum probability of removing all tiles within a factor of
, assuming that there are arbitrarily many quadruples of matching tiles and that the hidden tiles are uniformly distributed. The perfect-information version of this puzzle is where the player knows, before the game starts, the position of every tile. In this case, however, it is NP-complete to decide whether all tiles can be removed.
An analysis of ten million games with the default layout, "the
turtle
Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked tu ...
", found that about 3 percent of the turtles cannot be solved even when looking below tiles is allowed.
Variations
Mahjong solitaire can be played using genuine tiles and a special wooden frame for set-up. Usually though, it is played in an electronic form as a
computer game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...
. This removes the tedium of set-up and the temptation to
cheat
Cheating generally describes various actions designed to subvert rules in order to obtain unfair advantages. This includes acts of bribery, cronyism and nepotism in any situation where individuals are given preference using inappropriate cr ...
. Some electronic Mahjong solitaire games offer extra options, such as:
# Shuffling the tiles;
# Changing the tile set and patterns from the traditional tiles to flowers, jewels or other items that may be easier to match up at a glance;
# Playing a series of different layouts with varying levels of difficulty (usually given
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
-looking names such as 'the
ox' or 'the
snake
Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...
');
# Adding "wildcard tiles" and other tiles that have special functions.
Mahjong solitaire can be played either solo or with a partner, in which case the aim is to accumulate the most pairs, to be the last one to match a pair, or to score the most points. Points are gained for each pair removed, with bonus points for removing matched pairs in sequence or removing pairs in sequence that are parts of sets. Using traditional mahjong tiles, the sets include the dragons, the flowers, the seasons, and the winds.
Some implementations offer to shuffle the tiles when there are no exposed pairs remaining, making it almost always possible for the player to complete the game.
Computer game history
The computer game was originally created by
Brodie Lockard in 1981 on the
PLATO system
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
and named ''Mah-Jongg'' after the game that uses the same tiles for play. Lockard claimed that it was based on a centuries-old Chinese game called "the Turtle". The computer game was released for free and was played using a CDC-721 touch screen terminal.
Control Data Corporation released a new version as a paid
online game
An online game is a video game that is either partially or primarily played through the Internet or any other computer network available. Online games are ubiquitous on modern gaming platforms, including PC game, PCs, Console game, consoles and ...
in 1983. The first version remained available for free.
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
released ''
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
'' in 1986 for the
IBM Personal Computer
The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a team ...
,
Commodore Amiga
Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...
,
Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
,
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...
and
Apple IIgs
The Apple IIGS (styled as II), the fifth and most powerful of the Apple II family, is a 16-bit personal computer produced by Apple Computer. While featuring the Macintosh look and feel, and resolution and color similar to the Amiga and Atari ST ...
. The Macintosh version was created by Brodie Lockard, and the Apple IIGS version was ported from the Macintosh by Ivan Manley with Brad Fregger as the producer. Around 10 million copies were sold. The game has since been
ported
In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desi ...
to many different platforms. The name "Shanghai" was
trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...
ed by Activision.
As the game is based on mahjong tiles, some confusion arose with the 4-player
mahjong
Mahjong or mah-jongg (English pronunciation: ) is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is commonly played by four players (with some three-play ...
game. Although the name ''mahjong solitaire'' is widely used, other names include ''The Turtle'', ''Shanghai Solitaire,'' ''Taipei'', and ''Kyodai''.
A version of this game was also included in the
Microsoft Entertainment Pack
''Microsoft Entertainment Pack'' , also known as ''Windows Entertainment Pack'' or simply ''WEP'' , is a collection of 16-bit casual computer games for Windows. There were four Entertainment Packs released between 1990 and 1992. These games w ...
for
Windows 3.x Windows 3.x means either of, or all of the following versions of Microsoft Windows:
* Windows 3.0
* Windows 3.1x
Windows 3.1 is a major release of Microsoft Windows. It was released to manufacturing on April 6, 1992, as a successor to Windo ...
in 1990 under the name ''Taipei''. It was subsequently included in the ''
Best of Windows Entertainment Pack''. Premium editions of the
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, which was released five years before, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of ...
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
and
Windows 7
Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearly ...
include a version of the game known as ''
Mahjong Titans
''Microsoft Mahjong'' (formerly ''Mahjong Titans'', ''Shanghai Solitaire'' and ''Taipei'') is a computer game version of mahjong solitaire published by Microsoft. The version titled ''Mahjong Titans'' was developed by Oberon Games and included ...
''.
Mahjong Solitaire was added to
Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics for
Nintendo Switch
The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...
.
See also
*
Mahjong
Mahjong or mah-jongg (English pronunciation: ) is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is commonly played by four players (with some three-play ...
*
Shisen-Sho, another solitaire game with Mahjong tiles
*
Crazy Quilt (solitaire), a solitaire card game where cards are removed from the edges of a grid
* Other
Solitaire games, especially
Patience
(or forbearance) is the ability to endure difficult circumstances. Patience may involve perseverance in the face of delay; tolerance of provocation without responding in disrespect/anger; or forbearance when under strain, especially when faced ...
, or solitaire with cards
*
Tile-matching video game
A tile-matching video game is a type of puzzle video game where the player manipulates tiles in order to make them disappear according to a matching criterion. In many tile-matching games, that criterion is to place a given number of tiles of the ...
*
Solitaire
*
Klondike (solitaire)
Klondike, also known as Canfield, is a card game for one player and the best known and most popular version of the patience or solitaire family, something which "defies explanation" as it has one of the lowest rates of success of any such game.Par ...
References
{{reflist
Activision games
Mahjong
Microsoft Entertainment Pack
Microsoft games
Puzzle video games
Tabletop tile games
Double-deck patience card games