American Mahjong Practice

I rarely review apps. I know, I know. I’m compelled to review this one because it has been so extremely helpful to me. I am a beginner, just learned a couple months ago, and this app has been invaluable, helping me practice and teaching me when I can and cannot do certain very specific things. It’s also been extremely helpful in recognizing potential Mahjongs and in becoming more adept and faster at the Charleston. Well worth the price for now, but afraid I can’t afford to keep it once I feel really secure in my play. I wish I could. It would be so wonderful if there was an annual subscription that offered a significant price break.

(Updated review) From my original review, "When you declare a Mah Jong, you can't really review the other players' hands, you only see what they racked. Also, the purported hands you can go for are not limited by the tiles already discarded. The latter is a nit, as you can see for yourself which tiles were discarded but it is still misleading. " The developer's response to the former of these last two points were that in real life you wouldn't be able to see the player's tiles and see their strategy. Well, this isn't real life, and the name of this app contains "Practice" which implies to me that you should be able to analyze what real players *might* be thinking, as we do in practice games when players are brand new. If you are truly trying to teach someone you are not worried about "exposing your strategy". If the game didn't want to give this level of help, then it should also not tell players what hands are available to them or give them any help at all. Let them think for themselves! Actually, this would be a great option in any case-- a no-help option that requires them to have their own card and figure things out for themselves as in a real game. In my initial review I was totally wrong about picking up a pair with a joker-- I am a beginner and was thinking of picking up a pair for Mah Jong with the tile in the pair itself. My rating remains the same.

I am new to Mahjong and have found this app to be a very beneficial way to learn the hands and start to see patterns faster. I really like being able to see the potential hands in "real" time and also being able to turn that feature off when I am ready to challenge myself. The controls are hyper sensitive, though, so if I happen to have a finger resting on my iPad in just the wrong spot, tiles will be discarded without me even noticing sometimes. Must. Keep. Fingers. Away. The only real issue I wish would be corrected is that the Concealed Hands in the Tiles list should be hidden once a partial hand is exposed. I have Mahjonged numerous times only to realize later that, as in the real game, it should not have counted. As a newbie, I often miss this and feel I would learn better if this responded appropriately. Additionally, one interface feature that would be helpful is the ability to switch where the discard pile is. It would be more comfortable for many of us to play left-handed, but as it is playing that way means the left arm has to reach over and it covers the board. An otherwise terrific app--thank you! **Edit: To be clear, if I try to Mahj on a hand that is not on the card, the app shows me that it is not allowed. Similarly, it would be helpful if the app would disallow a Concealed hand with an already partial exposure.