Mahjong Mahjong

The doubled name is the only flourish Playtouch allows itself. Everything else is the standard solitaire contract, described plainly: match identical tiles, remove them, and watch the pieces underneath open up for play. The rest of them are gathered in the Best New section.

That exposure loop is the part worth thinking about. Every removal is also a reveal, so a board is not a fixed set of options but one that changes with each pair you take. The challenge, in Playtouch’s words, is to eliminate all pieces — which means a layout can be won or lost by which reveal you trigger first, long before the final tiles are on screen. A second stacked layout here is Jolly Jong Mahjong.

The 800 by 600 canvas gives the stack enough height for several tiers, and Playtouch ships it for touchscreens as well as desktops. Working the covered edges first pays in the Mania board as well.

1. Look at the top layer and find two tiles carrying the same face.
2. Match them to remove both from the board.
3. Check the tiles that have just been exposed — they are now open for play.
4. Carry on until every piece has been eliminated.

• Think of removals as reveals — in Playtouch's build each pair taken changes what the rest of the board offers.
• Do not flatten one tier at a time — stripping a single side bare can leave the opposite side pinned with nothing to open it.
• Prefer pairs that sit on something — a tile resting on two others frees more than one lying flat on the table.
• Give it the full window — a 4:3 stack at 800 by 600 hides its lowest tier when squeezed into a narrow column.