Black Friday Mahjong

bestphysics broke the shape rule for this 2022 board. Two tiles can be combined even when their size and shape differ, as long as the image printed on them is the same, and that single change makes the field read unlike any other board in the category. A narrow tile pairs with a wide one, a small icon with a large one, and the eye has to learn to ignore the outline it normally uses as a shortcut.

The dressing is a shopping spree: goods are bought by matching what is on the shelves, and the field is emptied purchase by purchase. Levels come in a run of twenty or forty depending on the set you take on, drawn in flat colour on a wide 1280 by 720 canvas. Another entry from the same shelf is Winter Mahjong.

A timer supplies the urgency, and stalling is the expensive failure mode because the mismatched shapes take longer to scan than a uniform grid would. Hints point out a legal combination and a shuffle rearranges what is left, both worth keeping for the later boards where several similar products are on the field at once. Ultimate Connect 4 stands next to this one in the same list.

Full screen is genuinely useful here rather than a nicety: with tiles of unequal size, small copies of the same product are the ones most often overlooked. Bang Bang Mahjong is two clicks away in the same section.

1. Start a level and look at the pictures on the goods, not at the tile outlines.
2. Pick two tiles showing the same image, whatever their size or shape.
3. Select them in turn to take the pair off the field.
4. Clear all the goods before the time runs out.
5. Call a hint or a shuffle when the shelves stop offering a legal combination.

• Ignore the outlines — size and shape are irrelevant here, so a wide tile and a narrow one can be the pair you need.
• Scan by product — pick one item on the field and find every copy of it before switching your attention.
• Do not stall — mismatched shapes slow the eye down, and the timer does not allow for a long second look.
• Hold hints for the busy boards — later levels put several similar products on the shelves at once, and that is where one pays for itself.
• Switch to full screen — the smallest tiles are easy to miss entirely on a board where nothing is a uniform size.