Introduction

Welcome to Imperial Mahjong!

The aim of this puzzle game, which is derived from the ancient Chinese game of Mahjong, is to remove all 144 tiles from the screen by forming pairs of tiles, which will then disappear.

Use left, right and Fire to select the options in the menu. Press Escape to return to the game.

Tiles

A tile can be selected when there is no tile to its left or to its right, and no tile is placed above it.

Such a tile is said to be "free".

In the following example, only the left and right tiles are free. The tiles in the middle are not, because there are tiles to their left and to their right.

In the following example, only the tile on the top is free. The tiles below it are not, because there is a tile placed above them.

There are 42 different tiles. Three suits consisting of nine tiles each:

The circle suit:

The bamboo suit:

The character suit:

Two sets of honour tiles: the winds (four tiles) and the dragons (three):

Each tile appears four times, with the exception of the eight tiles shown below which are unique:

The flowers:

The seasons:

The player must match two identical tiles to make them disappear. The exceptions are the unique tiles. Although they are not identical, a flower tile can be matched with another flower tile, and a season tile can be matched with another season tile. It is important to memorise these tiles!

The cursor is controlled using the joystick or the cursor keys on the keyboard. A tile is selected by pressing Fire. If the tile is not free, nothing will happen.

It is possible that the player will no longer be able to match any tiles. In this situation, the player will be unable to continue and the game is lost.

The Menu

The menu is accessed by pressing Escape. Select:

[the musical note] ... to select the music (there are six tunes in total)
[the drum] ... to turn the music and sound effects on/off.
[the manual] ... to read an in-game version of this manual.
[the time/tiles] ... to display the number of tiles remaining and the time that
has elapsed. You can also see if there are any matching tiles with the
[skull/question mark]. If so, a tick will appear, if not the skull will appear.
[star] ... to select a new level.
[again] ... to restart this level.

You can choose the layout of the tiles from those shown below:

or select ? to choose a random layout.

The tiles are then mixed:

[dice] ... mixes the tiles randomly.
[pencil] ... defines how the tiles are mixed by entering a phrase. This option allows you to play the same level later, or to challenge another player with the same level.

Loading

Insert the disc and type:

RUN"CONFIG" (ENTER)

on first start. Once the game is configured, type:

RUN"MAHJONG" (ENTER)

What File To Use

1. The DSK is ideal for emulators, or to transfer the game on a real floppy disc. To do so, we advise you to use the latest version of CPCDiskXP. To ensure the best loading rate, please toggle on the "Use Dsk GAP Information instead of calculate it" option. It is shown in the "DSK Write to Floppy Disk" window of CpcDiskXP.
2. The HFE file is used by floppy disc emulators such as the HxC.

Game Credits

Imperial Mahjong is a CargoSoft production.

Imperial Mahjong works on any CPC fitted with 128k and at least one 3" or 3,5" drive. Emulators will also run the game. However, Imperial Mahjong has been created specifically for the CPC. To fully enjoy the game, please use a real CPC if you can!

Programming, music and sound effects: Julien Nevo
Graphics and design: Sylvestre Campin
English translation: Nicholas Campbell
Testing: Laetitia Jehanno

We hope that you enjoy this game! Whether you wish to play merely for amusement, or you prefer to concentrate on the best way to finish each level, you will soon understand that Imperial Mahjong will offer enough challenges to last a lifetime!

http://mahjong.cpcscene.com
http://arkos.cpcscene.com
http://sylvestre.cpcscene.com

Troubleshooting

Note: If the rendering of the menu and the manual seems all "scrambled", run the configuration executable again and, when asked on which side is the vertical line, choose the wrong one.