Mahjong 123 – Review – A new generation Mahjong game

Our rating:

By: Hou Lam Creative Workshop

Version #: 1.0.2

Date Released: 2012-06-21

Developer: Eric Tsui

Price: 0.99

User Rating:

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To start off, Mahjong 123 is a little different from your typical and classic game of Mahjong. For instance, instead of bamboos and fancy Chinese characters to adorn the tiles, the ones in Mahjong 123 are decorated with numbers as well as various assorted fruits. Still, the gameplay is virtually identical to the classic loved by many.

I was never a Mahjong player prior to downloading this app, so it was a good thing Mahjong 123 came with very easy to understand instructions that were straight to the point. The game is beginner friendly and so is a welcoming experience to players who have never touched a Mahjong tile, be it virtual or real, before.

With the fruits and whatnot having eyes and other irrelevant details, Mahjong 123seems to be targeting kids more than adults, which is great if you want your younger ones to learn the party game early in life. However, the idea of using numbers in a 4-colour zone circle and the new logical scoring have made it differentece from the classic mahjong and remove the obstacle of reading Chinese characters and complicated (and sometimes illogical) scoring based on types of hands.

In terms of gameplay, Mahjong 123 does not differ much from a physical round of Mahjong. It is still a game involving 4 players, placing tiles around the table in various combinations so as to win. A complex game, do read the tutorials before diving into the game itself.

A multi-player system is featured in the game, for those who get bored of challenging the game’s artificial intelligence which can get rather mundane after some time. I especially found this very handy, for it allowed me to play a quick round or two with some friends over lunch without the hassle of having to set up a table and tiles if we were to play a physical game.

For $0.99, I would say that Mahjong 123 is well worth giving a shot. It does attempt to give the age-old classic a slightly different twist, and despite a few negligible hiccups here and there, I reckon Mahjong 123 will do better with future updates.