..................................Moderator comment.....................................

For a limited time you can getSubnautica for free (usually £19.99) . check out mikiems post over in the forums HERE. The free offers on Full Throttle Remastered from GOG and Lego: The Hobbit from the Humble Bundle site have ended.

Age of Mahjong

In Brief

Age of Mahjong is a solitaire version of Mahjong with building elements included.

Installation:

Age of Mahjong downloads to a 138 MB zip file that unzips to three files, (a setup.gcd security wrapper, the set-up file and a read me). Those with multiple hard drives can save games on any drive they wish by replacing the C drive with whatever drive letter they wish the game to be installed to, or, If you have multiple hard drives you can save games on any drive you wish by replacing the C drive letter in the path with whatever drive letter you wish the game to be installed to.The newly installed game is 139 MB in size. The game installs to the following path by default:

C:\Program Files (x86)\MyPlayCity.com\Age of Mahjong

However, if you prefer a different path for installation for example I use G:\Games\ name of game instead of 'C:\Program Files (x86)\MyPlayCity\name of game'. You can edit the default path when the Setup - Age of Mahjong - Select Destination Location window appears.

Four shortcuts are installed to the desktop, three of which can be safely deleted (i.e. Play Online Games, MyPlayCity Games and shortcuts to a free online game; the name of which may vary each week). If you don't want to install the games shortcut to the desktop during installation, just make sure the install desktop shortcut is unchecked when the 'additional task's window appears; you will still get two of the other MyPlayCity shortcuts installed i.e. the Play Online Games and MyPlayCity Games shortcuts. Also, if you don't like icons installed to the quick launch task bar, make sure you also uncheck the appropriate checkbox when the 'additional task's window appears (after the Select Start Menu Folder window).

Introduction:

Tile-matching gets an epic makeover in Age of Mahjong, a story-based adventure in which you build a magnificent Chinese city even as you tear down cleverly designed stacks of game pieces. Follow the story of an ancient Emperor and his wife as they struggle to undo a spell that cast their son in a deep sleep and labor to build a city that will stand as a shining beacon of Chinese culture. Learn the benefits of peace and harmony over war and violence as you match tiles, unlock bonus items by completing the corresponding layouts, and gather the resources you need to build your metropolis. With 56 levels in Story mode, a bonus game to unlock, and visuals and sounds that will sweep you away to an exotic land of ages ago, Age of Mahjong will captivate you for hours on end!

Edited reference accessed HERE. 15th December 2018

The Game:

The game is made relatively easy due to all removable tiles being highlighted. I would have preferred to have been able to toggle off this type of help,like you can with the tutorial (via the options menu), or not have it at all. There is a hint button, but this is locked initially. After completing a few levels this is unlocked. to use the hint it has to turn to gold before use. It takes about 30 seconds to recharge. If there are no more moves left you can use the shuffle button located in the top right hand corner of the arena. Using this adds 30 seconds to your timed level. (I had to reshuffle my fifth level several times before I could complete it).

As you progress through the levels you earn resources, which can be used to rebuild your town. The first level ends with the saw mill being build. Early levels talk you through the games various rules via the tutorial (assuming you've not toggled it off). Overall Age of Mahjong is a pleasant mahjong solitaire game with excellent graphics.

You can return to the location map at any time to redo a level and rebuild or upgrade buildings so long as you've collected adequate resources and completed the level or levels that is presented during the initial building selection screen; some buildings require more than one level to be completed for example the brick factory needs a total of three levels to be unlocked and built There are four resources to collect, three of which i.e brick, Gold and peals are locked at the start of the game; only the wood resource is available initially. . Resources are collected by removing pairs of tiles. Every time you remove a pair an indicator to the left of the main arena increases. When it is full resources are added to the resource counter at the top of the screen

Once the level is completed building can proceed..To complete a level you must expose the two golden tiles then remove them. As you progress bonus such as the back stone are unlocked. This enables you to go back one move. There are two other bonuses available in game. These are unlocked as you progress through the level by unlocking the appropriate building connected with that bonus. Bonuses are collected by clicking on them from the playing arena. Each bonus gives you three turns; you can use up to three bonuses per level. Bonuses are not carried forwards to the next level. Depending on how fast you complete a level you may be awarded a gold or silver medal.

Videos of Age of Mahjong:

You can see several in-game videos of game play HERE, HERE, & HERE.

Suggestions:

After you've had an opportunity to play today's giveaway please take a few moments to give some positive or negative feedback; for example, what you liked or disliked about the game, or how it could be improved. If you don't like the genre at all, please explain why and if any, what improvements would change your mind? If you don't have time to post a comment today, please do so at your convenience, thank you. If you wish to post a review or comment about the game later, you can access the comments section by going to the game giveaways home page, then scroll to the bottom of the page where it says Archives and select the date the giveaway was live (giveaway days are in bold type). This will open the appropriate page for you to post your comment or review. Alternatively, you can google the name of the game and include Gamegiveawayoftheday in the search. This should give you a list of links to whenever this game was given away.

If you miss today's game giveaway you can always get the game via MyPlayCity 24/7 HERE; or If you prefer to purchase the game you can get it HERE via Big Fish Games.

Problems getting the game to work:

If you're having problems installing or activating or getting Age of Mahjong to work please visit the FAQ's Thread HERE and read through the communities comments because sometimes fixes have already been posted, for example, a common issue seen since the Themida wrapper was introduced three years ago is that some community members installation of the game are blocked by their security because Themida code has been known to hide malware, (usually an error message is flagged for example 'The executable is corrupted' even though in reality it is not); so as a precaution some anti malware programs will block and even delete the suspect installation files even though the files (i.e. the setup, read me and setup.gcd files are actually totally free from malware. This issue can be solved either by rebooting your computer in safe mode with networking or a quicker method is to temporarily turn off your security software to allow the installation. You could also try whitelisting the setup.gcd file. In the almost 12 years this game giveaway site has been operating there has 'never' been a game given away that was infected with malware.

If for any reason you want to contact the giveaway team, for example, you have a game to offer the community, or are unable to download the latest game or other issues that the FAQ's thread or these comments don't cover or solve you can do so HERE

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank MyPlayCity for giving away Age of Mahjong and also to the game giveaway team, as always, for securing other ways to get free games.

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:

If Age of Mahjong doesn't interest you, but you still hanker for something new to play, you'll find details of some game deals whether they be sale items, indie bundles or games being given away for free HERE (I've not updated the thread in a while, but most of the links still take you to the latest deals).

The rest of the information that used to be posted in the game review can be found in the forums HERE. Finally, check out Delenns threads for details of other free games and offers HERE and elsewhere in the game discussion forums HERE, (usually on the first page of the game discussion forums).