by Joyce Kohl
February 9, 1999
Look up the word "MahJongg" in the dictionary and you SHOULD find a photograph of Kyodai MahJongg. Of course, you won't. Written by René-Gilles Deberdt (a.k.a. Naoki Haga), this multi-featured superb MahJongg solitaire game for Windows which transcends all others can be downloaded at http://come.to/kyodai.
MahJongg solitaire is played by one player removing pairs of matching tiles until all the tiles are removed from the board. Ordinarily, in the classic games of MahJongg solitaire, each tile must be free on its left or right side, or you cannot remove them. Kyodai Mahjongg has other rules you can apply - variations of the game - much to the delight of MahJongg addicts like myself.
Exceptional, First-Class
In a recent review of another MahJongg solitaire game, I stated:
"In my opinion, you cannot find a better MahJongg tile-matching game for Windows." (Read that review here.)
Well, folks, you can now find a better one! Kyodai MahJongg is a skillfully programmed solitaire game incorporating a long list of features - making it the most complete game of MahJongg available today.
The author continues to improve it; he listens to the wishes of users; and when you register his shareware version, all future upgrades are free.
Other Information
Mahjongg Master and Mahjongg
Master 2 provided by RomTech, Inc. in the USA are the commercial editions of Kyodai.
Purchasing either of these will not allow you to get future versions for free. Registering
the shareware version does - in perpetuity. Therefore, I highly recommend that you
register the shareware version.
Be sure you download, LAYOUTS.ZIP which contains 110 layouts. Be aware: The author specifically warns against having more than 99 layouts in your /Layouts directory with versions of Kyodai prior to 6.52.
And download TILESETS.ZIP which contains these tilesets: Famous Cartoons, Batman, Star Trek, Star Wars, Pai2b (based on the WingDings font), Windows icons, Rune Magic, Hong Kong Classic, Astrology, and Flags.
A resolution of 800 x 600 with a minimum of 256 colors is recommended. My system is configured for 1024 x 768 32-bit True Color. Kyodai looks GREAT at my resolution. I tried the 800 x 600, but my preference is still 1024 x 768. You use what suits you.
MahJongg players collect tilesets, layouts, and backgrounds, but most have a few favorites and tend to stick to those for "serious" playing. That is, when timing a game or playing competitively. For the most part, I ignore the timer. When I play games, it's to relieve stress - not add to it.
Menu Bar Selections
There's such a plethora of options from which to choose that you'll have almost as much
fun deciding on which game to play and how to play it as you will while actually playing
it.
The choices to be made from the following screenshots of each of the menus are simply too numerous for me to explain in this review and would require too many graphics to show you screenshots of them all, but as evidence for the validity of my statement earlier concerning the configuration and customization possibilities, here are a couple of them. I'm no mathematician, but I'd venture to say there are no limitations.
And There's MORE!
The Layout Editor is a click-click, one-two-three editor for you to create a layout of
your own. Or use any layout as a template. Clicking the right button of your mouse will
remove a tile; clicking the left button will add a tile at the location of your cursor.
The board is, of course, full at 144 tiles.
If you create a board of less than 144 tiles, make sure the number of tiles left are in multiples of 4. That's it! Simple, straight forward, and you'll have your own personalized layout. I created a "J" layout, named it "Joyce" - all within fifteen minutes. Here's my layout on my own background which is a scanned photo of some cactus plants in our front yard. I saved it first in BMP format and then converted to a smaller JPG file. I purposely made it dark so as not to distract from the tileset. Both formats of BMP or JPG can be used, but BMP files are larger. All the backgrounds included with the program are in JPG format. All the tilesets are BMP of around 40k to 212K.
If you'd like to have my layout and background, here they are in ZIP format: (Unzip the layout to the /Layouts directory, and the background to the /Backgrounds directory under your Kyodai main directory.)
Download joyce.zip --- "J" layout [245 bytes]
Download cacti.zip --- Cactus Garden Background [87,231 bytes]
Exceptional Layout Menu
Kyodai has two ways to choose a layout: When you select Layout from the
menu bar, the first few are visible and all you need to do is cursor down to one of them
and select it. However, with the huge number of layouts available in /Layout sub-directory
(I have 113), I found it best to choose the first option, "Select Layout."
Here's where you can actually see the layout and how it will appear on the background
you've chosen. Once you find a layout you like, put it into the favorites area where it
can easily be recalled again.
First-Class Tilesets
With the ten fantastic tilesets from which to select, and more on the way some day soon
from the author, you'll probably switch back and forth regularly. The graphics are crystal
clear and of the highest quality. Here's some partial screenshots of three tilesets,
Astrology, Cartoons and Magic Runes:
If you'd like to change a tileset, there's even a tutorial included in the Help/Contents section. All you need is a paint program which can use image masks. Three templates are included for you to use: PAI.BUMP, DARKPAI.BMP and BLUEPAI.BMP.
Creating a tileset of my own is a project I've added to my "To Do" list.
Sensational Backgrounds
Testing
various backgrounds can be mesmerizing. My passion when it comes to customizing a program
is to use photos of my family members or scenery photographs I particularly like or have
special meaning to me. I'd love to show you some of the beautiful Arizona pictures I use,
but they're copyrighted by one of our famous magazines. 
So for purposes of
this review, I scanned some of my most recent family pictures to use for backgrounds. If a
photo is too small, it will simply tile itself, filling up the background with
duplications.
Using your own photos for backgrounds adds another element of intrigue to playing Kyodai - uncovering your loved one(s) on the background! Oh, and don't forget to save a BMP format to use for your desktop wallpaper, then copy to your /Windows directory.
Backgrounds included with Kyodai are Andromeda, Catpats, Dragons, and Kanji(classic):
You can also choose "None" which will show solid colors behind the tiles. Select your color preference by using the color picker launched when you select this choice.
Clever Manga Girls
The expressions on the faces change according to how the game is progressing. Or as the
author says, " . . . the cute girls visually comment . . ." If you
don't want to see the girls, uncheck "Show Manga Girls" in View.
Two other Manga girls - left one on the game of MahJongg Columns I finished. Not a very high score, by the way, but then I've never before cared about playing Tetris type games - Kyodai's version is great, and I intend to play it many more times! The other Manga girl is from the Welcome screen.
Only a FEW of the Other Noteworthy Features
• Vertical Variation: Same rules except tiles must be free on top or bottom sides
• Define how the current tile will be highlighted
• Winnable Layouts and Winnable Shuffles can be selected
• Change borders: Orange, dark, blue, few
• Music: Add any MIDI file and it becomes selectable on the menu
• View Tiles: Shows current tileset grouped by families
Game Selections
See Help/Contents/Game Rules for instructions on how to play these
variations.
• MahJongg Solitaire
• MahJongg Solitaire (2 Players)
• MahJongg Rivers
• MahJongg Memory
• MahJongg Clicks
• MahJongg Slider
• MahJongg Columns
Conclusion
Version 7.0 of Kyodai MahJongg is a shareware solitaire game with multiple
features, multiple games, and multiple configurations to customize it according to the
desires of the user. If all MahJongg solitaire games were running at a race track, Kyodai
would easily win by several lengths; or as an all-around Olympic athlete, Kyodai
would be the decathlon gold medal winner. Kyodai is much more than the classic
Mahjongg solitaire which fans expect, it also has variations of the game, including a
simple "Concentration" game and a "Tetris"-like game, and others.
Writing this review wasn't easy - I found it difficult to stop playing with the multiple features! I loved testing different backgrounds; trying the numerous layouts; changing the rules; and customizing layouts with the color options. I was elated when I was able to quickly create my own layout. Adding a MIDI file to the /Musics subdirectory allows me to listen to some of my favorite MIDIs. I appreciate not being locked in to the included music selections, although they're good oriental compositions composed just for Kyodai. I like having the option to install my own choices.
THE MahJongg solitaire for Windows, THE best of the best, Kyodai MahJongg deserves, and gets five out of five Go Inside Review Lights!
Copyright © 1999