The Origins of Computer Mahjong
The amazing story of its development.
Is there anyone left who hasn’t played the game where you remove tiles, one at a time, to clear the board?
Have you ever wondered where it came from? I’ll bet we’ve all seen and/or played a game like this, as it’s probably been put on every computer, game system, mobile device, website, watch, toaster and refrigerator imaginable. In fact, I’m shocked it hasn’t been ported to the entertainment screen of the Tesla, as so many other games have been¹ [Elon, what are you waiting for?].
I would guess that this game, sometimes referred to as Mahjong, has become the most ubiquitous video game in the world, with the possible exception of klondike solitaire. And not only is the origin of the game not widely known, but at least for me, the spelling is equally a mystery; is it Mahjong, Mahjongg, Mah-jong, or Mah-jongg? I’ve seen them all used, and many others as well [in fact, my Microsoft Word spell checker accepts three of the four variations shown to the left, rejecting only the third one].
Many people think that this game is called Mahjong because the tile set it uses comes from an ancient tabletop game of the same name, in which the tiles are dealt out and discarded like playing cards. But be assured that the game pictured above is not Mahjong just because…
