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Hi everyone!
I'm a former player of an old French Flash game called Défi Mahjong, which disappeared when Flash was discontinued.
I've been searching for a modern equivalent and, surprisingly, I haven't been able to find one that recreates what made this game so special.
I'm not a developer and this is not a paid job offer. I'm posting here because I'd love to find a developer who finds the concept interesting and might want to discuss, prototype or revive something inspired by it as a hobby/indie project.
What was special about it?
It was competitive Mahjong Solitaire, 1v1 against a real human opponent.
Both players received exactly the same tile layout, but each played independently on their own board.
There was no timer. Your opponent was the pressure.
You couldn't see your opponent's actual tiles. Instead, a small representation of their board appeared in a corner of the screen, made entirely of blank white tiles. As your opponent removed pairs, you saw those white tiles disappear in real time, so you always knew how far ahead or behind they were without being able to copy their moves.
You could also see both players' scores in real time.
The clever part: finishing first didn't necessarily mean winning
When stuck, players could shuffle their remaining tiles, but every shuffle caused a score penalty.
As soon as one player cleared their board, the match ended for both players.
However, the highest final score won the match.
So you could actually clear your board first... and still lose because you had sacrificed too many points by shuffling.
This created a great balance between speed, strategy and score optimization.
The social/competitive part
The game had a lobby displaying online players and their ratings.
You could freely choose who you wanted to challenge instead of relying only on automatic matchmaking.
Rating gains/losses depended on the difference between both players' levels: beating a stronger opponent was much more rewarding, while losing against a weaker opponent could cost significantly more.
There was also a private chat between the two opponents during the match.
Over time, you started recognizing usernames, meeting the same opponents and developing little rivalries.
What would a modern version need?
The core experience could remain very simple:
• Mahjong Solitaire
• human 1v1 multiplayer
• identical starting boards
• no timer
• live opponent progression using blank tiles
• real-time scores
• shuffle with score penalty
• player lobby
• freely chosen challenges
• rating system
• private match chat
• rematch button
• leaderboard
I still have screenshots of the original Flash game's webpage and have reconstructed its mechanics in much more detail.
I'm not looking to copy its branding or claim ownership of the original game. What interests me is reviving this multiplayer concept in a modern web/mobile-friendly form.
If you're a developer and this sounds like something you'd genuinely enjoy experimenting with, I'd love to talk about it.
And if you remember this old game — or know of a modern game that already reproduces this exact system — I'd love to hear from you too!
🀄 Mahjong Solitaire is relaxing alone. Against a real opponent, it becomes something completely different.