Mah-Jongg
Mah-Jongg | ||||||||||||||
PLATO - Title screen. |
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Mah-Jongg is a mahjong solitaire video game developed by Brodie Lockard and published by Control Data for PLATO in 1983. It is the first known video game representation of mahjong solitaire and was later commercialized by Lockard for Activision as Shanghai. Lockard programmed the game in TUTOR. Because he was a quadriplegic, Lockard programmed the entire game and drew all the art by typing on the PLATO keyset with a stick held in his mouth.
Contents
Personal
Own? | No. |
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Won? | Yes. |
Finished | 2023-08-15. |
While making a genre page for match-finding video games, I discovered that there was an even earlier video game version of mahjong solitaire developed by the same person who made Shanghai. Thankfully, I had access to Cyber1, a preserved PLATO server, where I was able to play the 1983 version of the game. I beat it on my second attempt.
Review
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2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
Best Version: PLATO
— This section contains spoilers! —
Good
- It is an accurate interpretation mahjong solitaire.
- The game looks impressive for 1981.
- The touch screen and mouse support at the time must have been pretty mind-blowing.
- The game includes some nice features like saving your game, and an alternate tile set with symbols that are easier to identify. You can even peek or have the computer find a move for you, though this forfeits your game.
- There is a tournament mode where up to 20 people can play the same layout.
Bad
- The game features only a single layout.
Ugly
- Giving a thicker border to the stacked tiles is not a good way of representing them. The 3-D effect used in later versions of Shanghai is much preferred.
- The game is media challenged. There is no music or sound, and lack of colors makes it very difficult to differentiate the tiles.
Media
Screenshots
Representation
Strong female character? | Fail | There are no characters. |
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Bechdel test? | Fail | There are no characters. |
Strong person of color character? | Fail | There are no characters. |
Queer character? | Fail | There are no characters. |
Links
- Video Games
- 1983 Video Games
- Video games published by Control Data
- PLATO Games
- Video Game Genre - Cards
- Video Game Genre - Match-finding
- Video Game Genre - Passive puzzle
- Video Game Genre - Puzzle
- Video Game Genre - Single-screen
- Software Distribution Model - Freeware
- Video Games I Don't Own
- Video Games I've Beaten
- Video Game Rating - 2
- Video Game Graphics Rating - 2
- Video Game Sound Rating - 1
- Video games without a strong female character
- Video games that fail the Bechdel test
- Video games without a strong person of color character
- Video games without a queer character
- Video Game Prime Order - Strategy, Adventure, Action
- Monochrome Graphics
- Card Games