Pretty Good MahJongg Review

I've been playing MahJongg since 1990 when Microsoft released their Windows Entertainment Pack on the Windows 3.1 operating System. You could play MahJongg in astounding 256-bit color(!), and if the dragon layout didn't satisfy your tile-matching needs, you had six others to choose from. Now, eighteen years later, Pretty Good MahJongg provides puzzlers with the same game, but with 215 layouts and an additional 55 tile based side games.

What I first noticed upon opening Pretty Good MahJongg is that graphically, it looks identical to that Windows 3.1 edition--simply illustrated tiles stacked on top of a plain green background. Yes, it does offer hundreds of ways to play the game, but when you're staring at the same tiles over the same background game after game, how many of the layouts and side games do you want to explore? Further investigation showed that I could change the tiles to a simple tile design (which was even worse) and cycle my background through a series of backgrounds that look suspiciously like old Windows 3.1 background (you know, blue diamond and green carpet). Oh the variety!

Looking passed the primitive graphics, Pretty Good MahJongg's game play is like that any other version of MahJongg, which is painfully boring and overall a ludicrous way to spend your time. Now if you are a Mahongg fanatic and you take offense to this, even you will agree that PGM doesn't provide anything that you can't find anywhere else for free. Only the most intense MahJongg fans will find hours of enjoyment with the numerous side games, but will realize quickly the games provide the same level of nominal satisfaction.