Windows Phone Thoughts: Getting 'Shanghai-ed' with Pocket Essentials

Layouts? We Got Layouts!
The original Shanghai game on the Amiga basically provided a single, classical layout for the mah-jongg tiles. Not so with this version! LandWare has added over a hundred versions, organized by various categories.


Figure 11: A Huge List of Layouts is available (each one of the categories expands!).

My favorite, however, is the random selection, where a new layout comes up every time the game is restarted.

If your creative juices are stirred, you can also build up your own layouts, up to 5 levels deep, using the included, no-extra charge Layout Editor. You access the editor from the Layouts tab of the Options screen.

Creating a new layout is then as simple as placing tiles on the grid, in whatever order or pattern you wish. The tiles can be stacked up to 5 levels deep.


Figure 12: Creating a new layout.

When you're finished, you can specify which tiles and game types it may be used with, and save it as a new layout set, or a subset of an existing layout group.


Figure 13: Saving your new creation.