Goodsol Newsletter #86 - Sea Towers MahJongg

Goodsol Newsletter #86
-----------------------
http://www.goodsol.com


New Layouts for Pretty Good MahJongg
-------------------------------------------------- -------
http://www.goodmj.com/layouts.html

Five new tile matching layouts are available for Pretty Good MahJongg at <http://www.goodmj.com/layouts.html>. These layouts are in addition to the 160 tile matching layouts available in version 2.0 of Pretty Good MahJongg at <http://www.goodmj.com/download.html>.

Check the layouts page often as we will be adding new layouts regularly.


Improved English Tile Set
------------------------------------
http://www.goodmj.com/tilesets.html

The English Tile Set for Pretty Good MahJongg has been improved for version 2. The tile set has been made clearer and sharper and updated for the new graphics of version 2. You can download the new improved tileset from <http://www.goodmj.com/tilesets.html>. This new tileset requires version 2 of Pretty Good MahJongg, it will not work in version 1.

We will be updating more tilesets in the near future.


Pretty Good MahJongg Tip
--------------------------------------

In Pretty Good MahJongg 2, there are new color and shading options for the tile matching games. While playing a tile matching layout, I highly recommend going to the Options menu, selecting Game, and looking at the options there. The "Depth Shading" option shades tiles on lower levels darker. The "Color Blocked Tiles" option will shade tiles that are not available (no long edge free). The "Color Free Tiles" option will highlight tiles that are available (a long edge free). The "Highlight Tiles" option will highlight an available tile when you move the mouse over it.

You can adjust these options to your preferences. I like to play with Depth Shading off, and Color Blocked Tiles, Color Free Tiles, and Highlight Tiles on.

Also note that you can change the shading and highlighting colors to any color that you prefer.


Featured Game - Sea Towers MahJongg
-------------------------------------------------- --------

Sea Towers MahJongg is one of the new games in Pretty Good MahJongg 2. It is similar to the Sea Towers game in Pretty Good Solitaire, except it is played with MahJongg tiles.

The game starts with 132 tiles. 128 of the tiles are dealt out into 16 piles of 8 tiles each, in the form of a 16x8 grid. There are an additional two empty spaces at the bottom of each pile, making the full grid 16x10. The remaining 4 tiles are dealt to six cells.

The object of the game is build 12 foundation piles up in sequence, starting with a dragon tile, then the 1 up to 9 tiles of a suit, followed by a wind tile. The game is won if all the tiles have been moved up to the foundation piles.

In the 16x10 grid tableau, you can build down in suit. The bottom tile of each pile is available for play on the foundations, the cells, or other tableau piles. Groups of tiles in sequence down in suit may be moved as a unit, if there are enough empty cells that they could be moved individually (this is similar to the way groups of cards can be moved in FreeCell). Any tile or legal group of tiles may be played to an empty space.

The game differs from the card game Sea Towers in a number of ways. There are only 3 suits of tiles instead of 4 suits of cards. There are 4 copies of each tile, meaning there are a total of 12 suit sequences to build. The building in the tableau is the same, but there is a limit of 10 tiles in a pile.

With proper play the game can be won nearly every time. All the general strategies for FreeCell type games apply, most especially keeping the cells as empty as possible.

The online player statistics for Sea Towers are at <http://scores.goodmj.com/topscores/scores/pgmj/sea towers_all_stats.html>. The climb mode statistics are at
<http://scores.goodmj.com/topscores/scores/pgmj/sea towers.html>. Climb mode is a new mode of play in Pretty Good MahJongg where you start at game #1 and play the games in sequence for a cumulative score.

Sea Towers MahJongg is one of the 55 solitaire and puzzle games in Pretty Good MahJongg. It can be downloaded from <http://www.goodmj.com/download.html>.


See You in 2005
-----------------------
This is the last newsletter for 2004. 2005 will be the 10th anniversary year for Pretty Good Solitaire! Look for new versions and games, as usual, in 2005. Have a good holiday season.


---------------------------------------
Thomas Warfield - Software Designer - [email protected]
Anne Warfield - Order Fulfilment - [email protected]

©2004 Goodsol Development Inc.
PO Box 9155, Springfield IL 62791
Pretty Good Solitaire, Action Solitaire, Pretty Good MahJongg, FreeCell
Wizard, Spider Wizard, and more. Visit us at <http://www.goodsol.com>.

List Archive: <http://www.goodsol.com/cgi-bin/news/mail.cgi?f=arc hive&l=news>
View past newsletters.

Goodsol Newsletter subscribe or unsubscribe:
<http://www.goodsol.com/cgi-bin/news/mail.cgi>