China Tower Mahjong

The forty layouts in China Tower Mahjong are towers rather than flat spreads: tall stacks built up in storeys, set against painted garden backgrounds. Height is the whole difficulty, since a tile near the base can stay locked for most of a level.

Standard rules apply for lifting. Nothing may cover a tile, and one side, left or right, has to be open. Flowers and seasons are the exception worth remembering — any flower pairs with any flower, and any season with any season, regardless of which one it shows. Impossible asks the same question of a taller pile.

Each of the forty levels runs on a timer, and a hint and a shuffle are there for boards that jam. Both are best held back, because a tall tower is far more likely to lock up near the end than at the start. The Summer Triple board uses the matching rule on a differently drawn set.

The HTML5 build takes a mouse or a tap, on phone or desktop. Full screen makes the storeys readable, since in a small frame the upper layers overlap the ones beneath and matching turns into guesswork. The Math board keeps the layered board and changes the shape.

1. Find two identical tiles that are uncovered with a free left or right side.
2. Select them in turn to clear the pair from the tower.
3. Pair any flower with any other flower, and any season with any other season.
4. Strip the tower to nothing before the level timer expires.

• Take the summit first — every storey removed from a China Tower Mahjong stack frees several tiles below it.
• Save the flowers and seasons — they match anything in their group, so they are the best insurance against a dead board.
• Check both flanks — a tile with neighbours on either side is stuck no matter how visible it is.
• Hold the shuffle — towers jam late, and that is when a rearrangement is worth the seconds it costs.
• Use full screen — overlapping storeys are hard to separate when the board is scaled down.