baKno’s MahJong has to be the sexiest game of Mahjong I’ve ever laid eyes on. The level of detail that went into not only the tiles and symbols but also the table settings is like visual puzzle-game poetry. What’s more, the game offers 10 different tile set and table environment themes. For example, stone tiles stacked over a serene pool of gently waving water, or a set of wooden tiles played over a wooden table sandbox. You won’t find fancy special effects, animations, or any other presentational flourishes, but the tiles and tables exude class and elegance. The game is pretty successful at making it feel like you’re playing with a piece of interactive artwork, so much so that it’s not uncommon to catch yourself moving the camera around just to admire the tile stacks from every vantage point.

MahJong, as you’ve probably already surmised based on the generic title (man, that capital ‘J’ in the middle is so edgy!), presents an incredibly basic videogame adaptation of Mahjong solitaire, in which you start every game with a stack of tiles and attempt to clear the board by pairing identical tiles. The game follows match-two rules, stipulating that only open tiles (meaning those without tiles blocking their left and right sides) can be selected and paired together. The tiles are arranged and stacked within three-dimensional table environments that allow for full 360-degree camera rotation and zoom in/out control using mouse and scroll wheel commands, or the arrow, A, and Z keys on a keyboard.

Player aids are provided in the form of undo (U key) and hint (H key) functions, which give you the opportunity to back your way out of bad matches or have the game automatically highlight a matching tile to the one you have currently selected. However, what the game doesn’t have is a shuffle mechanic, which means if at any time the board has no possible matches the game immediately ends.

Each new game starts with a randomized tile arrangement, with the number of potential tiles determined by your choice of playing on Normal, Hard, or Insane difficulty. A puzzle board can be as small as 60 to 70 tiles on Normal and go all the way up to 700 tiles or more on Insane. (I think the largest I’ve seen so far has been 726 tiles.) Each round is timed and scored by default, but you can also play in an untimed and unscored Relax Mode for more of a chill Zen experience. Under the default settings, completion scores can be posted to local and online leaderboards. The only problem is the fact that the game lacks integration with Steamworks, so instead of intuitively being able to upload your scores under your Steam username, to participate on the global leaderboard you’re forced to register on the baKno Games forums. That’s not a terrible thing per se, just an extra hoop to jump through, and another account and username to manage.

The scoring system itself is unclear as well. While a timer clock and a counter showing the number of remaining tiles are always shown, you only see what your score is at the successful clearing of a board. Does using hint and undo lower your score? Do more tiles and a higher difficulty raise the high score ceiling? How does completion time factor in? Is there a multiplier effect for quick matches? How any of these parameters are calculated to determine the score is never laid out.

MahJong looks fantastic and plays very well, and anyone looking for Mahjong solitaire in its purest, simplest, and most artistic form will find plenty to like about this title. However, even with seemingly endless tile arrangement randomization the overall package ultimately feels just a little bit too barebones in its presentation and variation of play options to stand out as a definitive version of the Chinese tile-matching game. Anyone sitting on the fence should first go give the free trial version a shot on the baKno Games website, then decide if it hits the spot enough to upgrade to the full version.

Pros:
+ Gorgeous variety of tile art and table settings
+ Solid Mahjong solitaire fundamentals
+ Multiple difficulties and randomized tile configurations

Cons:
– Lacks Steamworks integration for leaderboards, etc.
– Unclear scoring parameters
– Feels a little too basic and barebones

Game Info:
Platform: PC
Publisher: baKno Games
Developer: baKno Games
Release Date: 11/8/2017
Genre: Puzzle
ESRB Rating: Everyone
Players: 1

Source: Steam key for MahJong was provided to VGBlogger.com for review purposes by baKno Games.

Buy From: MahJong is available on Steam and baKno Games for $4.99.

What is it and who made it? The first title in EnsenaSoft’s Mahjong Deluxe casual puzzle game series to come to Steam.

What platforms is it on and how much does it cost? The Steam version is out now for $4.99. Both free and premium mobile versions are also available for Android and iOS devices. Find links to the different app store options at www.mahjongdeluxe3.com.

How much did we play? Finished 45 puzzles across different sizes and difficulties in approximately an hour and a half.

Any technical concerns, hardware requirements, or other details you should know about? Nothing of concern to report in terms of bugs or performance issues. However, the game is missing all of the usual Steamworks features modern Steam users have come to expect, like achievements, trading cards, cloud saves, leaderboards, and so on. Hopefully with more experience on the platform EnsenaSoft can tailor its games to take full advantage of Steam in the future.

Why should you play it?

• Enter the Third Dimension: Though introduced in Mahjong Deluxe 2, this game has been my first experience playing Mahjong with three-dimensional layouts–and I like it! The rules aren’t as challenging since you aren’t dealing with tiles layered on top of and surrounding each other in 2D formations; you simply need to find matching tiles and click the pair to clear them. Even though the tile faces are all visible the puzzles sort of take on the feel of the classic Memory matching game in the way it helps to memorize where tiles are while panning the camera around a 3D formation to find their mates. Only the top side of tiles are printed, so as the camera is rotated the tile faces come in and out of view. It’s a fun alternative to the traditional method we’re all familiar with at this point.

• Mahjong Be Nimble, Mahjong Be Quick: While you can play at your own pace for casual enjoyment, the game features a nifty scoring system to give another layer of challenge for experienced Mahjong players to master. A score counter immediately begins ticking down at the start of a puzzle, and for every tile match made points are earned equal to the number left on the timer, which then resets to the maximum value and begins counting down again to determine the score for the next match. At the end of the puzzle, your total score is tallied up and rated with one to three gold stars. This is a clever way to promote and reward snappy recognition skills. The only thing missing is a clear delineation between the score values required for each star. For replaying puzzles to earn all three stars, it would have been helpful to have a visual indication of the point tiers.

• Enough Puzzles to Make Your Head Spin: If value is of any concern, let me set your mind–and wallet–at ease. This game is loaded with puzzles. 640 in total, presented in a wide range of sizes, shapes, and difficulties. All of them are available to play in any order from the outset as well–no having to accumulate stars or complete a certain number of puzzles in a preceding difficulty bracket to unlock more puzzles. Mahjong purists will also be relieved to know that the vast majority of the puzzles follow the traditional 2D format and rules; the split is 160 in 3D, 480 in 2D. Any way you slice it, that’s a lot of Mahjong! I only wish there was a greater variety of tilesets, as seeing the same tile face graphics used for every single puzzle does become visually stale after a while.

Parting Thoughts: As bloated as the Steam marketplace has become in recent years, there still aren’t many options when it comes to Mahjong. On quantity alone, Mahjong Deluxe 3 has to be the best bang for the buck currently available on the platform. The presentation could use more pep in its step for sure, but the solid core Mahjong mechanics along with the sheer volume of puzzles is a hard match to beat.

What is Indie Quickie? It takes a lot longer to fully review a game than it does to get a good sense of what a game is. Even with a full-time staff of writers it would be impossible to fully review the thousands of games that are released every year. Indie Quickie is our way to offer snap impressions of the countless indie titles small teams and one-man game studios are releasing literally every single day, and to help guide players to worthwhile games they may not have heard about before.

Disclosure: A Steam code for Mahjong Deluxe 3 was provided to VGBlogger.com by the developer.