Contents
Mah Jongg Solitaire is a facinating yet easy to learn game played with the ancient Chinese tiles.

To learn how to use Help, press F1.

Game Play
Introduction
Tile Set
Game Board
Playing the Game
Strategy Tips

Commands
Game Menu
Option Menu


Introduction
Mah Jongg is a solitaire game played with a standard set of Mah Jongg tiles.  There are 144 tiles in all, stacked in a "dragon".  The object of the game is to remove all of the tiles from the game board by selecting matching pairs from the dragon.


Tile Set
The Mah Jongg tile set consists of 144 tiles in these groups:

Suits
There are three suits in the Mah Jongg set.  Each suit consists of tiles numbered 1 through 9.  There are four of each, totaling 108.  The suits are:
Bamboo called Bams.
Circles called Dots.
Characters called Craks.

Tiles in the suits must be of the same suit and number to be matched.

Honors
Winds	There are four tiles for each of the four directions of the winds: North, East, South, and West, sixteen tiles in all.  Winds must be matched by direction.

Dragons	Dragons are divided into three colors: red, green, and blue.  There are four of each for a total of twelve.  Dragons must be matched by color.

Flowers	There are but four flower tiles.  Although each of them is a different color, each may be matched with any other.

Seasons	There are four season tiles depicting a tree in Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, respectively.  Any season may be paired with any other.


Game Board
Tiles on the Mah Jongg game board are arranged in a dragon of eight horizontal rows, and stacked to various heights from 1 to 5 tiles high.

Notice that the uppermost tile in the very center of the dragon is at a height of five, and that it blocks removal of the four tiles immediatly beneath it, even though it doesn't completely cover them.

Likewise, the single tile on the far left and the two tiles on the far right block access to both the fourth and fifth rows.


Playing the Game
Select a tile by moving the mouse pointer to the desired tile and clicking the number 1 mouse button once.  (A tile may be selected only if there are no tiles on top of it, and if it is not blocked on either the right or the left with tiles stacked to the same height.)  The selected tile will change color. If you wish to choose a different tile instead, simply click on the same tile again.  It will be deselected and will change back to its original color.

Once you have selected a tile, choose another which is both available and matches the first.  The two tiles must be identical, with the following two exceptions:
Seasons may be matched with any other season.
Flowers may be matched with each other regardless of color.

Continue selecting and removing pairs of tiles until there are no more possible matches (sorry, you loose), or until there are no remaining tiles, in which case YOU WIN !


Strategy Tips
Although not all dragons can be conquered, there are a few basic strategies that can help.

The tile in the very center, and the three tiles at the far left and right of the middle of the board should be removed as soon as possible because they block access to the largest number of tiles.

Try to work down from the highest tile and in from the longest rows.

If all four tiles of a given type are free, remove them immediatly.  If only three of four are free, delay selecting a pair from them as long as possible.  The fourth may turn up in the process of removing other tiles, or you may simply find which two would be of greatest value to removeaccording to which other tiles they are blocking.

After selecting many pairs, it is often difficult to remember how many of a given tile type remain.  You can display this information by moving the mouse pointer to the tile and clicking the number 2 button.  The resulting dialog box will indicate the total number of tiles of that type remaining,whether they are currently free or not.  (Note that there is no comparable menu command for this function.)

Try changing the background color of the game board.  This may reduce eye strain, as well as make certain tile colors stand out better for easier matching.

Of course, as a last resort, you may back up, or, undo as many previous plays as you wish, or restart that game from the beginning.


Game Menu
Use this menu bar item to select game playing options:
New Game  :  Starts a new game.
Restart  :  Restarts the current game.
Undo  :  Replaces tile pairs.
Status  :  Displays the number of open pairs.
Exit  :  Ends the session.


New Game
Select New Game to re-shuffle all 144 tiles, and build a new dragon.


Restart
Select Restart to rebuild the current dragon with all 144 tiles without re-shuffling the tiles.  This will allow you to try an alternate strategy, or to give a friend a chance to compete with the same layout.


Undo
Select Undo to restore the last tile pair matched to their original positions in the dragon.  You may undo as many plays as you like.  Restored tiles may then be paired with alternate eligable tiles, or replayed with their original mates.


Status
Select Status to display a message box indicating the total count of tiles remaining and the number of pairs currently eligible for play.  (This message box may also be displayed by clicking mouse button 2 while the pointer is anywhere on the background of the main window.)

Note that three open tiles of a given type would count as three possible plays, since the first could be matched with either the second or third, and so on.


Exit
Select Exit to end the current Mah Jongg Solitaire session.


Options Menu
Select the Options pull-down menu to set your preferences for the following:
Sound  :  Toggles sound effects on or off.
Background Color  :  Changes the color of the game board.


Sound
Select Sound to toggle the sound effects and warning beeps on or off.  When checked, sound is enabled.


Background Color
Select Background Color to activate the Colors Dialog Box. Use this dialog box to set the background color of the game board.  The color you select will be used until you change it again.

When you end the current Mah Jongg session, your color choice will be saved in aninitialization file, and automatically restored the next time you start the game.


Color Dialog Box
Use this dialog box to modify the background color of the Mah Jongg game board.  You may change colors as often as you like, even in the middle of game, without disrupting play in any way.

The dialog box presents the standard 48 solid and dithered system colors.  The current background color is marked with a dotted border.  To change the color, click on the color of your choice, then click the 'OK' button.  The dialog box will be discarded and the game board repainted with the new color.

Or, if you prefer, select 'Cancel' from the dialog box to abandon changes.

(Note that defining custom colors is not supported.)


Bamboo Suit


Circle Suit


Character Suit


Winds


Dragons


Flowers


Seasons