This mode requires some quick thinking and reflexes, but is more enjoyable in the end. Origins mode contains larger, more challenging puzzles, as well as more relaxed time limit, though the later stages still expect you to move fast. Truthfully, I found this too stressful and not what I’m looking for when it comes to a game of mahjong. For Dash mode, it’s a race against the clock, with the only way to add more time to it by quickly matching tiles and using special power-ups to help you finish more rounds faster. Allow me to sum each of them up in a few sentences.

There are three modes of play in Taptiles: Dash, Origins, and Relaxation. I’ve only run into a few spots where I ran out of moves, but the game just auto-shuffles the tiles for you. Can’t find another tile with those squiggly blue water lines on it? Turn, turn, turn, and you’ll either see it on the other side or find another pair to make to clear the path forward. This time around, you can rotate the stack of tiles Fez-like to see every clickable, decorated rectangle, which means you can’t ever really get stuck. Usually, a mahjong field is static, either from a top-down perspective or three-quarters view, meaning you can’t see what is behind a number of tiles until you clear the ones on top away first, working only with what is before you. Taptiles, beside being a free download on Windows 10, is mahjong, but with a twist. You might be wondering what the two of those have in common, and it is beyond evident once you sit down and give Microsoft’s Taptiles a go. Conversely, I also adored the time I spent with Picross 3D.

It kept me active at a moment’s glance despite my angry eyelids wanting to shut and bring in Mr. I’ve been a huge fan of all things mahjong since the good ol’ college days when I discovered some Flash-based version online that I could play in a resized browser while having AIM conversations next to it with friends and girlfriends into the late hours of the night and the early hours of the morning.

Microsoft mahjong achievement guide