Tropical Mahjong

Tropical Mahjong is a board you choose before you play. Physical Form built sixteen tropical layouts and lets you pick which one to open, so the game is less a ladder than a shelf: you take the arrangement you want and clear it.

The rule is the plain one, two identical tiles coming off together, and the flat 2D artwork is deliberately readable — palms, sand and bright colour rather than fine-etched suits. That readability is the point of the design, because the difficulty here is positional rather than visual. Birds sits beside this one among the layered boards.

The game does not hurry you. The 2018 build lets you sit on a layout, and the sensible way to play is to read the whole arrangement before the first click, then work the upper layers so the pieces below become legal. Hints and shuffles cover the moments when a board runs dry. Mahjong Dimensions keeps company with this board in the catalogue.

Controls are mouse-driven and the stage is 800 by 450 — a wide, short frame that gains a lot from the full screen toggle, since the layouts spread horizontally and the outer tiles end up small at native size. Pairs leave the stack the same way in Heritage Classic.

1. Choose one of the sixteen tropical layouts from the selection screen.
2. Find two tiles with matching artwork.
3. Work from the upper layers, since covered pieces cannot be picked up.
4. Click both tiles to clear them.
5. Empty the arrangement to finish that board, then pick another.

• Survey before clicking — Tropical Mahjong does not rush you, so the first full read of a layout is free.
• Strip the top — every piece lifted from above turns two more into legal candidates.
• Rotate the boards — sixteen different arrangements means a layout that beat you can be left and returned to.
• Keep the shuffle in reserve — it is the only way out once no pair is showing.
• Widen the stage — full screen suits an 800 by 450 frame better than any other size here.