Mux Mahjong

[ Confounding Calendar 2024 Entry ]

The goal of Mahjong is to create a winning hand. A winning hand consists of:

• One pair (two tiles of the same suit and rank)
• Any number of triples (3 tiles of the same suit, with either equal, ascending, or descending rank)

Mux Mahjong takes Mahjong into the second dimension! To win the game, fill the board such that every uninterrupted row and column forms a winning Mahjong hand.

Examples of winning hands:

Examples of invalid hands:

Controls:

• Move tiles: Click to select, click to place (or click & drag)
  • Note: The pre-placed tiles are locked and can't be moved
• Undo: Z
• Restart: R (if you pressed R by accident, you can undo the restart)
• Swap tile graphics: X

Hints:

1. [Hint 1]

   Every tile has to be part of a pair or triple.
2. [Hint 2]

   Every tile has to connect to something related to it in at least 2 directions.
3. [Hint 3]

   For example if you want to place a Red 5 in the middle of the board, you better have some Red 4's 5's or 6's to connect to it.
4. [Hint 4]

   Consider where the pairs and triples will fit in the row. Is this row a "triple pair triple", or a "triple triple pair"?

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Mahjong Minutia:

• Mahjong can be difficult for westerners (such as myself) to learn. There are countless variations of Mahjong, lots of obscure scoring rules, and it requires 4 players who can read Chinese numerals. But if you can find a group to teach you, it's super fun!
• You might notice that the winning hand formation is similar to Rummy or Canasta. In fact, it's theorized that Mahjong and Rummy are descendants of a common ancestor game.
• You might be familiar with the Mahjong game that used to come with Windows. It turns out that's a completely different game called Mahjong Solitaire, which is generally looked down on by "real  Mahjong" players.

Credits:

• Made in PuzzleScript Next [Hack]
• Palette: Painted Parchment by skeddles
• Mahjong tile faces: riichi-mahjong-tiles by FluffyStuff