A Mahjong video game is a

video 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, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedba ...

that is based on one of the many ways to play

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-pla ...

. The majority of mahjong video games are developed and released in Japan and use the rules for Japanese Mahjong, although several have also been made for

American Mahjong American mahjong, also spelled mah jongg, is a variant of the Chinese game mahjong. American mahjong utilizes racks to hold each player's tiles, jokers, and "Hands and Rules" score cards. It has several distinct gameplay mechanics such as "The Cha ...

and several Chinese versions of mahjong. Many mahjong video games, especially among those released in Western territories, do not depict the actual game of mahjong but rather

mahjong solitaire Mahjong solitaire (also known as Shanghai solitaire, electronic or computerized mahjong, solitaire mahjong or simply mahjong) is a single-player matching game that uses a set of mahjong tiles rather than cards. It is more commonly played on a c ...

. Most commercial games released in this genre are created by Japanese developers for domestic release. Game makers have created dozens of mahjong titles for arcades and home consoles, but none have ever been officially released outside Asia. Some

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...

s have included a Mahjong game, such as Solaris,

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for se ...

(''Mahjong Titans''),

OS/2 OS/2 (Operating System/2) is a series of computer operating systems, initially created by Microsoft and IBM under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci. As a result of a feud between the two companies over how to position OS/2 r ...

, and

AmigaOS AmigaOS is a family of proprietary native operating systems of the Amiga and AmigaOne personal computers. It was developed first by Commodore International and introduced with the launch of the first Amiga, the Amiga 1000, in 1985. Early versions ...

Game types

Japanese computer mahjong games typically challenge serious players, such as Athena's ''Pro Mahjong Kiwame'' series. For example, many Japanese

video arcade An amusement arcade (often referred to as a video arcade, amusements or simply arcade) is a venue where people play arcade games, including arcade video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers (such a ...

s feature games like

Konami , is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. Konami has ca ...

's ''Mahjong Fight Club'' that feature online play, allowing people across the country to play against one another. Many computer mahjong games play a variant of the Japanese game known as "taisen mahjong" or "battle mahjong." Here, a single player goes head-to-head against a cartoon character controlled by the software. The game is shortened for faster play, so that each player is only allowed eighteen discards. Scoring is counted as usual. The contest typically ends when one of the opponents' score reaches zero. A good example of this genre is the 1992

Sega is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, respectively. Its division ...

arcade game ''Tokoro San no MahMahjan''. HKSE-listed Shenzhen-based Zengame Technology released a mobile version of Sichuan Mahjong.

Mahjong solitaire Mahjong solitaire (also known as Shanghai solitaire, electronic or computerized mahjong, solitaire mahjong or simply mahjong) is a single-player matching game that uses a set of mahjong tiles rather than cards. It is more commonly played on a c ...

is a puzzle game based on the same 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 finished when all pairs of tiles have been removed from the board or when there are no exposed pairs remaining.

References

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