MahJong Suite is a collection of mahjong solitaire games for Windows, made by TreeCardGames. It is paid software. The downloadable trial includes every feature but limits how many games you can play. An activation code turns it into the full version. Each license covers one PC.
Two kinds of tile games
MahJong Suite splits its play into traditional mahjong-type games and matching-type games. Traditional games use classic mahjong tile designs, while matching games replace the Chinese symbols with picture sets. The traditional sets include Antique, Classic, Bamboo, Great Wall, Oriental and Yellow River, along with a Large Print set and a set built from playing cards. Matching sets swap in photographs and drawings of cats, dogs, parrots, African animals, flags, tropical beaches, emoticons, and letters and numbers. Over 50 tile sets are available in total.
Layouts and numbered deals
The tiles can be stacked into more than 200 layouts. Some take the shapes of objects and symbols, such as a pagoda, a teapot, a lotus flower or a DNA strand. Others are named after mahjong tiles such as the East and North Wind, letters of the alphabet, or individual years.
You can shuffle each layout in millions of ways. Every shuffle has a game number. In MahJong Suite you can type in a number to play that specific deal again. You can mark layouts you play often as favorites, so you don’t have to look through the full list.
If none of the built-in shapes suit you, the Layout Manager lets you create your own layouts.
Help during a game
MahJong Suite has several commands for when you get stuck. Suggest a Move points out a legal move on the current board. Show Hidden Tiles reveals the tiles that are covered by others. Undo and redo have no limit, so you can take a game back move by move as far as you like. You can also save a game in progress, load it later, or restart the deal from the beginning.
Scoring and statistics
Every game earns a score, and the aim is to beat your best. MahJong Suite keeps statistics on your results over time and shows them as 3D graphs.
Themes, backgrounds and interface
A theme changes the look of the whole game window. You can choose from more than twenty, including Chinese Fortress, Yin Yang, Puppies and Tropical Beaches. You can also choose backgrounds and tile sets separately from the theme. All three choices are on the Appearance tab, under Select Theme, Select Tiles and Select Background.
The free MahJong Suite Graphics Pack adds more backgrounds, skins and tile sets for both traditional and matching games. It installs into the game’s folder, and its graphics then show up in the same Appearance tab menus.
Commands are available from a Ribbon or from a classic menu and toolbar, whichever you prefer. On high-resolution and 4K screens with display scaling turned on, the game shows larger tiles and controls. The settings also cover sound and the animation played after a win.
