Mah Jong on your Psion
This section covers computer software for playing (or scoring) the
Mah Jong game of Four Winds - as described throughout this site - and
not the solitaire tile matching game often called Shanghai.
 Psion
5 / 5mx,
Revo, Series 7
Mah Jongg for EPOC v.1.20
Series 5 / Series 7 / Revo
This is a shareware offering from A.
Collister. Registration costs UK £12 or US $20.
Screenshot: (from Psion 5mx)
Requirements:
There are separate versions for Revo and Series 5/5mx. The files
on the 5mx take up only 122 KB in the \System\Apps folder.
Review:
If you want Mah Jong on your Psion then buy this version. If
you want Mah Jong on your Psion and only have a Psion Series
3 then first buy a Series 5mx and THEN buy this version.
This is a version of Mah Jong that Onflo (see JongJong below)
could learn from: the game plays the Chinese Classical rules,
with four players (1 human vs. 3 AI) and a very usable Westernized
tileset. Options when you start the game allow you to customize
the players names (in the screenshot below I am playing against
my wife Jane, Tom Sloper and Martin Rep... and even in AI, as
in life, Tom is winning!), and decide how long the game will
last: East's round only (the only setting available in the trial
version), 2 rounds, 3 rounds or the full game of 4 rounds.
Once the game begins you are presented with a beautifully laid-out
screen (see screenshot above) with the Wind of the Round, number
of tiles left on the wall and the last tile discarded displayed
on the left, the other players hands taking up about 3/4 of
the screen, and your own hand along the bottom of the screen.
The toolbar on the right offers options for starting a new game,
getting help (which is wonderfully written), viewing discarded
tiles, and viewing the score card.
Play is intuitive and pleasing. Tap the screen to prompt the
next player to discard, and the discarded tile is accompanied
by a delicate 'popping' sound as though being placed on the
table. While not quite the chattering of sparrows is does add
something to the play.
Given that play is dictated by the pace of your tapping you
have plenty of time to claim that discard, by tapping the Last
Discard box and selecting your action from a pop-up context
menu. So no excuse for missing a discard because another player
discarded before you worked out how to claim it.
Overall, this is a beautifully written and very well thought-out
offering from a young British Astrophysicist. I cannot recommend
it highly enough.
Download:
Download
MJ EPOC Trial (Series 5/5mx) (77 KB)
Download
MJ EPOC Trial (Revo) (40 KB)
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Psion
5 / 5mx,
Revo, Series 7
JongJong32 v.1.26
Series 5 / Series 7
This is a Shareware offering from Onflo
Software in Hong Kong, for the Psion S5 or GEOFOX One. I am not
sure whether it will run on the Revo. Registration costs US $20.
Screenshot:
Requirements:
- at least 433K free spaces for storage.
- at least 56K free internal memory for running.
Review:
This is the 32-bit version of Onflo's JongJong. In comparison
with the 16-bit SIBO version (reviewed below) due to the larger screen-size
tile definition is much better, however many of the same criticisms
stand: only two player options available (human vs. AI), game finishes
as soon as the human player loses a hand, disappointing GUI, and a
feeling that the AI player cheats: the last game I played (and lost)
the AI player won with concealed pungs of East, South, West, North
and a pair of White dragons! Just like in real life! Play also feels
slower than on the SIBO version, despite being played on a faster
machine.
As I said about the Series 3 version this is a disappointing rendering
of an excellent game. However, unlike the Series 3 there IS a better
version available (Mah Jongg for EPOC above). Save your $20
on this version and buy Adrian's far superior offering.
Download:
Download
JongJong S5 Trial (448 Kb)
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Psion
5 / 5mx,
Revo, Series 7
MJ Scorer
Series 5/5mx and Series 7
Freeware:
This is a freeware Mah Jong score
card program for the Psion Series 5/5mx.
Screenshot:
Requirements:
This program has no fancy .sis installation file. Simply delve
into the \System\Apps folder and copy three files, weighing-in
at less than 8KB.
Review:
As the author writes, "if you regularly play Mahjong, you
will already know how tedious it is to work out each players
score, and then work out how much each player must pay all the
other players."
This scoring program for the Psion 5/5mx will
allow you to work out each players score, by entering details
about types of chows, pungs, kongs, doubles, etc. from a series
of drop-down menus. While this method of entering a score might
be a godsend for a beginner it could become quite irritating
for the seasoned player, for whom there is a simple box where
he or she can simply enter their final score.
Having worked out basic scores and ascertained
who 'went Mah Jong' MJ Scorer calculates how much each player
must pay the others, as well as keeps track of the rounds, wind
of the round and who is East.
This program is based on the rules that the author
and his family use, based on the scoring system found in the
book IMPROVE YOUR MAH JONG, by Patricia A. Thomson & Betty
Maloney.
While this could be a handy program, it little
more time spent coding error handling routines might have gone
a long way towards turning a rather good application into an
excellent one. However, the author himself notes this in his
readme file, stating "This program was written for my own
use. It has been amended several times, contains very little
error handling, does not handle the use of the <Esc> key
very well, etc.". You have been warned.
Download
s5_mj_score-1086.zip (4 KB Zip)
NOTE: As I could not find the author's website,
or an alternative download site, I'm offering it here.
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 Psion
3a / 3c / 3mx
JongJong v.1.13
Psion 3a / 3c / 3mx
Shareware
This is a Shareware offering from Onflo
Software in Hong Kong. Registration costs US $20.
Screenshot:
Requirements:
- at least 413 KB free spaces for storage.
- at least 88 KB free internal memory for running.
Review:
Given the lack of versions on offer for the SIBO-range of Psions
this could be your only hope. And if that is the case, then it
is almost certain that you are going to be disappointed.
While JongJong emerges from a Far Eastern software house they
could be forgiven for the lack of Western Tiles, especially given
the limited screen size on which to squeeze them. However, perhaps
someone should have told the programmers that (a) there should
be FOUR players, and (b) that the game does not end as soon as
you lose a hand. This makes for a very stop-start play.
The odds seem decidedly stacked against you from the start, as
you'll see from the screenshot below, as the Psion begins with
200,000 points and the human with 50% of that!
The rules seem to follow something akin to Classical Chinese,
and despite the disappointments outlined above play is quite straight-forward.
Chows, Pungs, Kongs and Mah Jongs are accompanied by a spoken
exclamation in the language of your choice: English, Chinese or
Japanese. Language choice on start-up also dictates how options
for Chows, Pungs, Kongs and Win are shown.
All-in-all, this is a rather disappointing offering, but given
that this is all there is for the Psion Series 3 if you want Mah
Jong you have to make do with this version. $20 is rather steep
for something this disappointing, but there is a crack available
on Usenet if you are willing
to search for it, and dirty your OPL-writing fingers.
Download:
Download
JongJong S3 Trial (302 KB)
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Psion
3a / 3c / 3mx
Mah Jong Scorer v.1.0
Psion 3a / 3c / 3mx
Freeware:
This is a freeware application for keeping track of winds, rounds
and scores during a game of Mah Jong. This version is from May 21,
1997.
Screenshot:
Requirements:
A Psion 3 series and the ability to dump the application into the
correct folder and install it onto the System desktop or into a Group.
Review:
While I do have this installed on my 3mx I have never actually used
it in a game. If you are fed up of using scoring sticks then you'll
love this program. While it won't score a hand, where it does excel
is in working out who pays whom, and in keeping track of which hand
and which round you are on.
Download:
Download Mah Jong Scorer
(6 KB)
Psion
3a / 3c / 3mx
MJ Calculator
Psion 3a / 3c / 3mx
Freeware:
A score calculator for lazy (geeky?) Mah Jong players! from
Austin
Wilkinson.
Screenshot:
Requirements:
This application runs on the Psion 3a, 3c and 3mx only (or
compatible machines). The total file size is 16.3 KB. Installation
must be to the \APP\ and \OPD\ directories on the Internal drive,
not SSDs. It uses about 95 KB to run.
Review:
Now this is a rather good application, which I'd forgotten
that I had. Once I'd managed to install it (I tried to install
it on SSD B:) I was presented with a screen showing four players
(Player 1 - 4) sitting around a wall, with East at the top.
I soon sorted that and renamed the players to something more
akin to humans I know and play with.
Hitting Psion+S allows you to work out the scores for each
player by stepping through a series of dialogs. This is great
for those who are new to the game, but for seasoned players
it would have been useful to have an option to simply manually
input their final score. Also, if the dialog boxes were numbered,
e.g. 3 of 7, would help the user not feel that they were lost
in a never-ending vortex of dialog boxes. However, that said,
the inclusion of a scrolling, illustrated list of special hands
was impressive and goes to show what can be done.
Having input everyone's hand the program works out who pays
whom what and you are dumped back at the 'table' screen, which
also gives information on scores, wind of the round and current
game number.
This version uses the rules as laid down by the British Mah
Jong Association (BMJA) in the Know the Game book (see Books
for more details).
This is the closest to the kind of Mah Jong scoring application
that I would like to use. As I said, the option to simply enter
the score manually without having to trawl through pages of
dialog boxes would make this a far more flexible application,
and the inclusion of other rulesets too would expand its use
beyond only those who use BMJA rules.
I may just have to write my own now!
Download
MJ Calc (9 KB Zip)
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 Psion
Siena
JongJong Siena
Psion Siena only
Shareware:
This is a Shareware offering from Onflo
Software in Hong Kong. Registration costs US $20.
Screenshot: (actual size)
Requirements:
- at least 104K free spaces for storage.
- at least 80K free internal memory for running.
Review:
This is the Siena version of JongJong. The only major difference
between this and the Series 3 version is a smaller screen. For
more on this see the Series 3 review above.
Download:
Download
JongJong Siena Trial (56.3 KB)
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