Add Kristanix Games’ Mahjong Epic to the the stack of 20-plus Mahjong games in the App Store.

Mahjong is so popular, not just on the iPhone/iPod touch, if you were to throw a stone in any direction, there’s a good chance you’d conk a Mahjong player in the head.

Mahjong is said to be hundreds of years old, although historians don’t agree on when the game came into being.

Mahjong apps come in all variations — some allow you to play against opponents over Wi-Fi, others give you the option of customizing the playing surface. The list goes on.

The game is simple to play. The object is to remove all the tiles on a board in pairs. You can remove the tiles on top of the stack. You cannot remove tiles that are covered by other tiles or have tiles on either side them. If you get stuck, you can undo your moves all the way to the start. There’s a bit of strategy involved, but in general, Mahjong isn’t going to turn your brain into gelatinous goop due to your over thinking.

Mahjong Epic is a good-looking iteration of the classic game. You can get get hints, choose whether the accessible tiles are highlighted, undo moves, change the volume of the Asian-sounding music and other features that are typical of Mahjong games. The boards and tiles depicted in Mahong games for iPhone/iPod touch apps are small and so having the ability to zoom in/out is a must-have feature for fat-fingered folks like me.

Prices for Mahjong games in the App Store are all over the place, ranging from free to $9.99. Try a few free ones before buying. You might like the look of one over the other. That’s what it will come down to, I think.

The tiles and backgrounds are well rendered. Mahjong Epic features 100 unique boards. In addition, you can design your own. I haven’t seen that combination in other Mahjong games I’ve looked at. That doesn’t mean those features are unique — I haven’t looked at all 20-plus games in the App Store.

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app category: Board Games, Games