Mahjong Classic

The distinguishing feature arrives before the first match: this build highlights the tiles that currently have a legal partner. A board that would take a minute of scanning elsewhere gives up its options at once, and the skill shifts from finding pairs to choosing between them.

CMC Online s.r.o. built sixty levels on top of that idea, with layout variations that keep coming, and the tile art is high definition rather than the flat scans older boards use, so the suits stay crisp at full size. Alien is two clicks away in the same section.

A timer runs on each level, which means the highlight is no charity. Knowing every legal pair still leaves the harder question of which one to take, and the wrong choice buries a tile that had been one click away. The same section of the catalogue also holds Dream Pet Link.

A hint is there as well, for the moments when the highlight leaves you with too much to weigh at once. Mouse control is what this one expects. Full screen on a desktop is where the 960 by 540 stage looks its best, and the crisp tile faces make that worth doing. The Connect The Dots For Kids board occupies the neighbouring slot in the catalogue.

1. Look at the tiles the board has highlighted, since those are the ones with a legal match available.
2. Choose the pair whose removal frees the greatest number of covered tiles.
3. Click one tile, then the other, to clear them both.
4. Empty the layout before the level timer expires.
5. Work through the sixty levels, each with its own arrangement.

• Read the highlight as a menu — it lists your options, it does not rank them, and the ranking is the actual puzzle.
• Free the deepest tile — of two highlighted pairs, prefer the one carrying weight above it.
• Move early, think late — the timer punishes deliberation most in the opening minute, when obvious pairs are everywhere.
• Keep the hint for a crowded board — when everything is legal, it points at a useful move rather than at any move.
• Play it in full screen on a desktop — the high-definition tile faces are the reason to give this one the whole monitor.