Mahjong Artifacts 2

Where most tile games of 2007 stopped at a board, the Artifacts sequel built a route around one. You travel the world in search of mysterious artifacts, completing hundreds of levels along the way, with dangerous characters turning up between them.

Three modes divide it up. Quest carries the storyline and asks you to collect golden tiles to advance it, Classic strips that away for straight layouts, and Endless keeps dealing. Every level in the run carries its own time limit, which is what stops the Quest mode from becoming a slideshow of boards. Summer Mahjong is two clicks away in the same section.

Hints and shuffles are provided, pearls collected on the way unlock special abilities, and power-ups exist for levels that will not yield. It is a lot of machinery around tile matching, and that machinery is exactly why the sequel is remembered. From the same group, there is also 3D Mahjong.

What plays on this page is the Flash build, kept running by the Ruffle emulator. The extra machinery is where the joins show, since story screens between levels can render slowly, pearl and power-up icons occasionally flicker, and full screen has to come from the browser instead of the game’s own frame. The Swirljong layout comes from the same generation of releases.

1. Choose a mode: Quest for the storyline, Classic for plain boards, Endless to keep dealing.
2. Match identical open tiles to remove them from the layout.
3. In Quest, seek out the golden tiles, since those carry the story forward.
4. Beat each level's own timer, calling on power-ups when a layout resists.
5. Collect pearls along the way to unlock the special abilities.

• Golden tiles are the objective — in Quest, uncovering them beats clearing tidily.
• Every level is timed — the story pauses do not stop the clock on the board that follows.
• Bank the pearls — the abilities they unlock are what carry you through the late layouts.
• Classic mode to practise — same tiles, none of the quest overhead, useful for learning a shape.
• Full screen for the story boards — Quest layouts are busier than the Classic ones and need the room.