Cute Mahjong Connect

Cats, dogs, pandas, frogs and unicorns replace the usual bamboo and character suits, which changes the game more than it sounds: animal faces are far easier to tell apart at speed than near-identical engravings. A longer explanation of the rule sits in Mahjong Solitaire vs Connect.

The rules underneath are standard Onet. Two identical tiles vanish when linked, and a board is done when nothing is left on it. Azerion Casual Games stack hundreds of levels behind that one rule, so the run is long, and they pitch the whole thing at visual memory rather than reflexes. Onet Halloween Links sets out another one-layer board on the same rule.

The layout runs at 800 by 600 and the build is mobile-ready. The usual stumble is treating a crowded animal grid like a search puzzle: scanning the whole board for one specific panda burns time better spent taking whichever pair is already visible. A path with at most two corners clears pairs in Fantasy Connect Deluxe as well.

1. Look across the grid for two animal tiles with the same face.
2. Connect the pair to clear both tiles from the board.
3. Keep pairing until nothing is left in the layout.
4. Move on to the next of the hundreds of levels in the run.

• Take what you see — hunting one particular unicorn costs more than clearing the obvious Cute Mahjong Connect pair in front of you.
• Learn five faces — cats, dogs, pandas, frogs and unicorns cover most of the artwork you will meet.
• Work the crowd — dense areas lock up first, so thin them before the loose edges.
• Settle in — with hundreds of levels stacked up, this is a set you return to rather than finish in one sitting.