App of My Eye

Growing up in the U.S., you hear about mahjong one of three ways: your Jewish friends, your Chinese friends, or, barring that you are from either of those two groups yourself,  your “other” Asian family.  While I do fit this last category, I must tell you that everytime I have seen other people play mahjong, the rules are different or has some mind-numbing variations.  Yet, all in all, the game is usually played like gin rummy where you hope to get sets of three of a kind or three consecutive numbers in the same suit by drawing, discarding, and/or saving your opponents’ discards.  It’s definitely a fun and exciting game requiring both a hint of luck and some skills, which you can improve over time.  However, looking for a similar translation in videos games has been difficult as most mahjong games are puzzle/solitaire games, which are not at all the familiar game I know and love since I was a kid.  Enter the iPhone: Taiwan-based Joymaster Corp.’s Mahjong Fairyland was released earlier this year, but with marked improvements in their updates as a result of listening to their userbase, the game is now to a point where anyone can learn how to play it in mere minutes.  With a fairy tale theme with cute characters, play the classic 16-tile game, which is popular in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines, and parts of Southeast Asia.  Excellent graphics, smooth touch and swipe controls, and some light customization will keep any level of player engaged.  Price: $1.99.

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