Pretty Girls Mahjong Solitaire

Developer: Zoo Corporation | Publisher: Zoo Corporation | Release Date: 2015 | Genre: Casual / Puzzle / Mahjong | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Steam

Before Zoo Corporation turned the Pretty Girls series into a regular fixture on Steam with everything from solitaire and poker to breakout and tile-matching games, there was Pretty Girls Mahjong Solitaire. As the very first entry in the franchise, it combines traditional Mahjong Solitaire gameplay with anime-inspired artwork and unlockable costumes. Although later entries would add more features and polish to the formula, this inaugural release remains a surprisingly enjoyable puzzle game in its own right.

The gameplay follows the familiar Mahjong Solitaire formula. Players are presented with layered arrangements of Mahjong tiles and must remove matching pairs until the entire board has been cleared. Naturally, only tiles that are not blocked by neighboring pieces and have nothing resting on top of them can be selected. While the concept is simple enough to grasp, later layouts require a little more thought, as careless moves can leave players with no valid matches remaining.

One phrase that players will quickly learn to dread is “No More Pick.” This message appears whenever there are no remaining matches available on the board, forcing players to restart the puzzle entirely. It is a familiar frustration for Mahjong Solitaire fans and serves as a reminder that blindly removing every available pair is not always the best strategy. To make matters worse, the time limit available to players becomes more stringent as they advance through the game, and towards the end can be quite brutal.

The game features more than fifty different tile layouts spread across multiple stages of increasing complexity. While the overall amount of content is modest compared to modern puzzle games, it is more than sufficient considering the budget price tag. Most layouts can be completed fairly quickly, making the game well-suited for short play sessions.

Unlike some later Pretty Girls titles that place greater emphasis on progression systems and unlockables, Pretty Girls Mahjong Solitaire keeps things relatively straightforward. Completing puzzles rewards players with new outfits for the five girls featured in the game. These can be viewed in the Dressing Room mode, where players can admire the character sprites and the outfits they have unlocked. It is a simple feature, but one that would become a staple of the series moving forward.

Visually, the game already established much of the identity that would define future Pretty Girls releases. The character artwork is colorful and attractive, while the interface is clean and easy to navigate. One feature that stood out to us was the option to display the Mahjong tiles in either 2D or 3D. This might seem like a minor addition, but being able to choose whichever style is easier on the eyes is appreciated, especially during longer sessions.

The soundtrack was another pleasant surprise. Budget puzzle games are rarely known for memorable music, but Pretty Girls Mahjong Solitaire features a collection of upbeat tracks that are genuinely enjoyable to listen to. The soundtrack never becomes distracting and does a good job of maintaining the high-energy feel of the game. The girls are also voiced in Japanese and occasionally react to player actions with short voice clips.

Controls are exactly what players would expect from a Mahjong title. Everything is handled comfortably with a mouse, tile selection is responsive, and navigating the menus is straightforward. There is very little friction between starting the game and jumping directly into a puzzle.

Looking back, Pretty Girls Mahjong Solitaire is clearly a more modest release than many of its successors. It lacks the additional modes, customization options, and quality-of-life features that would become standard in later entries. However, the foundation is already here. The Mahjong gameplay is enjoyable, the artwork is appealing, the soundtrack is better than expected, and the Dressing Room provides a small incentive to keep progressing.