Mahjong Dynasty

Agame framed Mahjong Dynasty as a journey through Asia: clearing a board unlocks the next stop, and the map keeps going for more than ten thousand handcrafted layouts. That number is the point of the design, since no single board is meant to detain you for long.

Tiles are removed by connection. Find two identical faces, join them with a clear route, and both leave the board; empty the layout and the level is done. Stars are the scoring layer on top, with three of them the target on each board, and they are what turns a cleared level into a well-played one. A neighbour from the same shelf is the World of Warcraft layout.

There is no time limit anywhere in the run, which changes the texture of play completely. Nothing punishes a long look at the board, so the sensible approach is to plan two or three removals ahead and avoid stranding a pair behind tiles you have not touched. A hint is available when a layout resists reading, and a shuffle rearranges the remaining tiles when the board has locked. Kitchen was filed here for the same reason.

The canvas is a wide 900 by 506, so full screen suits it well on a desktop monitor, and the same layouts hold together under a fingertip on a phone. The same group of boards includes the Connecting and Drawing layout.

1. Pick up the journey where the map left you and open the next layout.
2. Find two identical tiles that a clear route can join.
3. Select the two matching faces so both leave the layout at once.
4. Work through the whole layout to finish the level and collect its stars.
5. Use a hint if the board stops reading, or a shuffle if no pair can be joined at all.

• Take your time — nothing on these boards is timed, so a careful look costs nothing and a rushed pair can strand two others.
• Aim at three stars — a cleared level and a well-cleared level are not the same thing on this map.
• Plan removals in threes — decide the next three pairs before clicking, so you never open a route and close another.
• Keep the shuffle in reserve — a locked board is the only situation it solves, and hints handle everything short of that.
• Use full screen on the wide layouts — the later boards spread across the canvas, and the whole map of tiles is easier to read at once.