Mahjong for Christmas Game Review

Mahjong for Christmas Game Background

Mahjong for Christmas is a Mahjong Solitaire game themed after the Christmas season. Pair identical free tiles to clear them from the stack. Beat each level by clearing the entire stack before the timer expires.

This game was developed by Zygomatic.

How to Play Mahjong for Christmas

To select, left click with your mouse or tap on the touchscreen with your fingers. On the welcome screen, select Play near the upper right side to begin.

Select one tile, then select another identical free tile to clear it. Free tiles have no tile above them and no tile on at least one horizontal side. The game helpfully grays out every non-free tile on the stack.

Basic Gameplay Advice

Clear the entire stack of blocks within the given time limit by selecting pairs of free identical tiles. Be careful, though. Tiles can be remarkably similar, but have minuscule details that can throw off the pairing. Be sure that the tiles match exactly to clear them. If no valid pairs of tiles are available, the game will automatically shuffle every tile on the stack.

You will win if you clear every tile from the stack within the time limit. If you don’t, you will fail the level. From there, you can either try again or quit the game. Quitting lets you save your final score on the leaderboard and clears your level progress.

The game consists of 20 levels, which are unlocked sequentially. You cannot replay any of the levels you’ve previously beaten. Each time you reload the game, you can either start again from the first level or resume from the latest level you’ve unlocked. Your web browser automatically saves your game progress.

Your score is cumulative across every level you play. Every pair of tiles is worth 100 points while every second remaining on the timer is worth 30 bonus points.

You can use the available assistance options to help you if you’re on a bind. Although you can use them an unlimited number of times, you will lose points each time you do. Select the question mark button to get a hint. This costs 200 points and will show you a random pair of tiles you can clear. Select the double arrow button to manually shuffle the stack for 500 points. Select the single arrow to undo your last move. This costs 100 points.

Advanced Playing Tips & Strategy

Clear the stack from the edges and taller columns, then make your way inward. This allows you to free up more tiles to pair early on in the game.

Unless you really need to (e.g. you are close to running out of time), consider waiting the game shuffles the stack for you. Free shuffles do not have a point penalty.

Educational Aspects

This game helps players develop their visual searching and pattern recognition skills.

Player Age Recommendations

This game is suited for players school-aged and above. We recommend it for players who enjoy Mahjong Solitaire.