Rating: - This is NOT mahjong! Read if you want to learn about REAL Chinese mahjong.
Emperor's Mahjong, like many other tile matching computer games, call themselves mahjong even though they're not. They are mahjong SOLITAIRE.
The REAL mahjong which actual Chinese people play in real life is a very different game, similar to the card games Gin Rummy and Canasta. REAL mahjong is for 4 people and has much more skill involved.
In REAL 4 player mahjong, each person is dealt out 13 mahjong tiles, and they take turns drawing and discarding tiles in an attempt to achieve a winning hand of 4 MELDS and 1 PAIR. There are 3 types of melds: TRIPLE (eg 777), QUAD (eg 5555), and SEQUENCE (eg 789). You can also meld off other people's discards.
This winning hand can also contain special hand combinations which increase its scoring value, eg. a MELD of any dragon, MELD of your player wind, a Pure Hand (everything same suit) etc.
And the person who has the highest score at the end of 4 wind rounds is 1st place.
If you want to buy a REAL 4 player mahjong game, check out "Mah Jong Parlour" or "Hong Kong Mahjong" by Nine Dragons software.
And before/after you mark this review as "NOT HELPFUL", why don't you actually bother learning to play the REAL 4 player mahjong instead of just playing American computer solitaire? How about asking your Chinese family friends to teach you? Or going to your local library for REAL mahjong books?
You won't regret it.
Rating: - I'm an addict!!
Worked on all the Emperor's Levels like an addict - First computer game I really got into!
Can these guys feed my addiction with new games!!?!
Rating: - A little jewel of a c/d
Amazon says they'll ship in 24 hours but I had to wait about 2 weeks for them to turn up a copy.
It was well worth the wait. It's a splendid mahjong program, and the graphics are downright elegant.
Don't buy it, though, unless you want to have fun and enjoy.
Rating: - Windows 2000
It works fine on windows 2000. I finally received the Emperor title by completing all the layouts. Lots of hours of fun.
- This is NOT mahjong! Read if you want to learn about REAL Chinese mahjong.
- I'm an addict!!
