It gave the Commodore 64 version three-plus stars out of five, describing Shanghai as 'fanatically addictive'. Describing gameplay as 'swift and deceptively simple', the magazine warned 'Plan on spending a LOT of time with this one'. It is impossible to play 'just one game''. On the Amiga the display is outstanding with the pieces actually looking very much like colorful, ivory tiles.' Info gave the Amiga version four-plus stars out of five, stating 'This program ought to be illegal. Roy Wagner reviewed the game for Computer Gaming World, and stated that 'On the C64, the patterns and stacks are hard to discern (soon your eyes match the screen). Gregg Williams stated, 'I couldn't believe had wasted their resources on putting it out', while Charles Ardai called it 'probably the best game of the year'. Reviews Ĭomputer Gaming World in December 1986 published varying opinions. In 1996, Computer Gaming World declared Shanghai the 146th-best computer game ever released. In Japan, Game Machine listed Sunsuft's version of Shanghai on their issue as being the fourth most-successful table arcade unit of the month it ended the year as Japan's ninth highest-grossing arcade conversion kit of 1988.

Shanghai sold more than 500,000 copies by 1991. The Macintosh and Master System versions show an animated dragon spitting fire. The game ends if no legal moves can be made.Īfter winning a game, a portion of the screen collapses to reveal the blinking eye of a dragon. Any two seasons can form a pair, as can any two flowers. However, only tiles with at least one free vertical edge may be matched on a turn. The object of the game is to remove all the tiles from the board by matching pairs. There are four of every tile except for the seasons and flowers, which have only one tile each. Flowers (bamboo, plum, orchid, chrysanthemum).Seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter).The game uses a full set of 144 mahjong tiles, divided as follows:

Shanghai dynasty mahjongg