Mahjong Titans seems to work, that's not the problem. The problem is that the deals are lame. The tiles that are piled highest in the center of the pattern -- whichever pattern is chosen -- invariably include matched pairs right next to one another. Every time; there's nothing random about the deal at all. This makes the game lame to play. Anyone else seen this? Is there a fix?
I'm not sure that Mahjong Titans actually generates random deals.
I think it has some sort of list.
I've also noticed that (occasionally) Solitaire re-generates exactly the same game that I've played a few deals earlier.
I dunno why it wouldn't deal tiles at random; that would seem easier than having a list. AFAIK, the various Solitare games generate a deal based on a random number, so if you input that same number you get the same deal.
Even if the tiles were dealt from a list, what would be the point of a lame list?
The Taipei game that came with Windows XP was *much* better, even though it only made one layout rather than six. The player had the choice of "beginner" or "expert" mode, and I always played the expert. I feel as though I'm having to play the beginner mode, and I can't find the menu to switch it into expert mode.
One way a mahjong game wouldn't have a solution would be if three matching tiles were stacked directly on top of one another. Another way would have all four tiles of each of two groups in the same row, arranged so you couldn't get at three of one without first removing one of the other. So, how hard would it be to include a couple of lines of code preventing such deals from happening? It could, for example, run a quick test to see if either condition has occurred, and if so just dump that hand and deal again. It could do that so fast you wouldn't know it had redealt. That would STILL seem easier than storing a zillion pre-fab hands and choosing one of them at random.
Besides, what's wrong with games that can't be solved? I get dealt solitare games that can't be solved all the time; in fact, in some types of solitare that's probably most of them. If you can deal a game using real, actual cards or tiles that can't be solved, then presumably you should be able to get similar games dealt by the 'puter.
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