Shanghai

Shanghai is the name Activision gave to series of simple matching games featuring patterns of stacked mahjong tiles on the Apple Macintosh and later Wintel PCs (other companies have sold the same game with various other names; the game is generically known as “mahjong solitaire” or “mahjong” though it has nothing to do with actual mahjong outside of using mahjong tiles). Sunsoft of Japan licensed the name for use in Japan and put out a series of arcade games as well as home versions which have been released for nearly every handheld and console in existence. Like those other SunSoft games, Shanghai Wii is presently only available in Japan, but don’t let that stop you from enjoying this modern classic.

The rules are pretty straightforward: play through a linear series of board layouts composed of Mahjong tiles stacked in 3D patterns with the goal being the removal of all tiles in matching pairs from the playfield. Tiles are considered removable by having no tiles on top of them or touching left or right sides. In addition to two versions of this basic game there are four variant single-player games and four multi-player games.