Playtech Mahjong Games

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Mahjong is a game of Chinese origin that involves skill, strategy and also chance. Therefore it is commonly played as a gambling game. The game is played with a set of 152 tiles based on Chinese characters and symbols. Each player receives thirteen tiles and has to complete a legal hand by drawing and discarding tiles according to set rules. The leading online gaming software developer Playtech has developed a fixed odds game based on the essence of the actual Mahjong. A number of Mahjong variants are listed under the category Asian Games at Playtech online casinos.

The basic game is Japanese Solo Mahjong. The "Japanese" refers to the underlying Japanese rules on which the Mahjong variant is based and "Solo" is used to indicate that this is a single player casino game and not the usual four player one. Players start with a ready hand, which is one tile away from a win. There is a wall of 24 tiles shown face down and the player must find a tile that completes the hand. If the picked tile does not complete the hand, "No hand" will blink and the tile will be discarded automatically. If the hand is not completed in three picks the game is over and the player loses his wager. If the picked tile completes the hand, the win screen will open and display all the sets and also indicate how many points each set is worth. Game points are converted into the score, which determines how much money the player has won.

To the right of the wall is the Hand Information area that displays the random actions or bonuses associated with the current game round. These represent a scenario that would happen at the end of a real Mahjong game. The final score of the winning hand is based also on the hand information parameters. Below that are the Seat Wind and Quarter Wind indicators. A set of wind tiles matching either the seat or quarter wind makes a special hand and increases the score. Each tile in the hand matching the Dora gives an extra game point. All calculations are automatically done and the player need not know the rules applicable. However the Help file provides the complete Japanese rules under which the scoring is done.

The second Playtech Mahjong game is WMF Solo Mahjong. In this Mahjong variant the scoring is done according to the World Mahjong Federation rules. Online casino players need not know the differences in the rules because the scoring is done automatically, but the Help file provides the complete rules. The play of the game is identical to Japanese Solo Mahjong. There are two visual differences. In the Hand Information area there is the Honor Streak Bonus, which gives additional points and is not present in the Japanese version. The Dora tiles matching feature is not available in WMF Solo Mahjong.

Playtech offers both the above variants in "Pro" versions. In real Mahjong games players are dealt 14 tiles to begin with and have to start the game by discarding one tile. This feature is replicated in the Pro versions. This requires a complete understanding of the rules and also a degree of skill. Because discarding the right tile maximizes the chance of completing the hand.

All variants of Mahjong are on offer at Playtech online casinos. CasinoAdvisor recommends Casino Tropez, Play United and Omni Casino.

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