I Lost Again!

[Sirian]

So I was playing Mahjong solitaire... and I lost again. I've lost over 500 times in a row on a particular arrangement. In fact, I have never solved it completely. However, my previous best was 40 tiles left. Tonight I got it down to 20!



Rarely has a gamer ever been so pleased to lose.


I call that arrangement the Box. Here's a look at it.



I've played half a dozen Mahjong solitair games over the years. (There was even one that played actual Mahjong). This one is the best one so far. Purely random boards (so for some arrangements, you will often draw unwinnable puzzles), twenty arrangements, full screen, easy to see.

Of the twenty arrangements, only two are left that I've not beaten. The other one I call the Sheet.




Of the rest, the one I lose the most I call the Palace:



The Palace is one of my faves. I play it a lot when I want to lose but have an actual chance to win. I've beaten it maybe six or seven times out of hundreds played.

The easiest board is one I call Mounds. I've only lost there a couple of times.


Here's another hard one, Castle:



Castle is right up before Box in the rotation, so any streak of wins always ends at the Box. (If you beat one arrangement, the game moves you to the next one in its rotation).

Right before Castle is Target, a medium difficulty puzzle:



The fourth-hardest one, another one where I almost always lose, I call the House. It's the only one of the twenty arrangements that is not at least mostly symmetrical.


The fifth-hardest I call the Slant. This is another of my faves:



The Slant is so hard, it almost invariably puts an end to any streak that reaches it. So the longest streak (highest score) possible for a single run would go from the Slant to the Box. I've never made it all the way. The most puzzles I've solved in one streak is six. A full run from Slant to Box would be eight in a row. There is another hard one shortly after Slant, though. It's the standard pyramid puzzle that you are all probably familiar with:




There's Slant, then an easy one I call Lines, then the Standard pyramid, then the second-easiest in the game in a big X shape, then there's the Turtle:



Turtle's not as hard as she looks. Lots of free tiles to make matches. I win over half the time. After Turtle is Mounds, the easiest available, then Target and Castle, then the dreaded Box.

I've had two six-win runs. One went from Standard through Castle, dying at Box. The other went from Slant through Mounds, dying on Target. (Arrgh, so close to seven!


My best on Sheet is 20 tiles left. Now that's also my best on the Box. Some day... some day I be both lucky and good on the same night, and beat these monsters. Some day.


- Sirian

[Doc]

Hello. I am Doc, and I am a hopeless Mahjong Junkie.

I own many Mahjong games for the Mac, the one from Freeverse is pretty good, so is the one by Hoyle. As with any other Freeverse game, prepare to be mocked by monkeys for being a bonehead.

Nice work. Very nice work. I can see that by looking at them, they are tough.

My favourite tile arrangement is called "The Bat." Also like "Oroboros" when I feel the need to tear my beard out.

What is it about these games that are so addicting to people like you and me? Zen like thought? The pretty art on the tiles? The many minutes of restful contemplation while you ponder your next move, so focused that all other thoughts fade out?

Wife likes Mahjong as well but lacks attention span to stick it out.

[Drasca]

Chiming in. I am also a Mahjong addict. The box looks wicked fun. Sick. Just sick. I love it!

[HowGozit]

Doc,

What is it about these games that are so addicting to people like you and me? Zen like
thought? The pretty art on the tiles? The many minutes of restful contemplation while you
ponder your next move, so focused that all other thoughts fade out?

Your wife beating your time at Rivers (Solitaire Mahjong variant in Kyodai - current favourite variant), on your computer (there are 3 in the study, and she has her own - darnit!!@&%!. :wacko:

You can't let her score stay on the top..... (The problem is - she is much better at the wretched game than I am). :rolleyes:

I now have some variant of the game on pretty much any PC or laptop that I normally use, - plus both handhelds..

It is an addictive little cuss..

Siran - what is that Mahjongg program - It doesn't look familiar. I've used the Activision ones, Kyodai, and a bunch of freeware ones - but that looks unfamiliar.

HowGozit

[Sirian]

That's the GameHouse version, aka the Zone.com deluxe version. You can go to zone.msn.com and grab the demo version if you want to try it.

- Sirian

[Sirian]

Woohoo! Second best ever on this arrangement.



One day I will beat it.

[Sirian]

Got my seventh Palace victory this morning. Below you see a winning position from the game.



Sheet follows Palace in the rotation, and I met a typical (dismal) 110 tiles left there.


I pressed my luck again on another Palace and got down to 30.




I tried some Box night before last, but when more than a dozen runs netted me nothing under 120 I gave up.


- Sirian

[Sirian]

Here's an illustration of why some arrangements are so much nastier than others.

This is a "doomed" Castle:



I've marked the fatal placements. In a single row, we have three Four of Circles and three flower tiles. This is a locked situation. We can't get to the third Four without clearing two of the flowers. We can't get to the third flower without clearing two of the Fours. There are four of each tile type, so if we can find the fourth of each, we can pick off the outside tile of each, but it will still leave a XOXO in the middle.

Tis hopeless.

So not only do you have to play correctly, you also have to get lucky and draw a winnable arrangement. You can dial your pain meter up and down by playing arrangements with more or less probability of being winnable.

I'm currently on an eight-in-a-row losing streak on Castle. Also an incredible six-in-a-row losing streak on X, which I will have to downgrade from "second easiest" to "third easiest", as I am now losing there more than with Lines. Oops.


Beat the House again night before last.


OK OK enough puzzle madness for this morning.


- Sirian

[Sirian]

I played a couple dozen games of Box this evening. (That amounts to about sixteen dud games, clearing one to four pairs before hitting the usual early dead end, and then another eight or so where I cleared 5+ pairs, including a game where I cleared 45 pairs.)

So in this one game, I'm getting far along and still lots of matches open. I started to wonder if this might not be "the game" where I finally beat the Box. h34r:



Well, that was not meant to be, but I did tie my current best, with 20 tiles left.



A good note on which to end off for tonight.


- Sirian

[Sirian]

I had a good feeling about this arrangement when I got to this point:



Sure enough, so close I could almost TASTE it!



Arrgh! I think I may have been only one locked tile away from actually winning.

Fourteen in the box! You know, if I ever get it down to two and still lose, I'm going to scream.


- Sirian