Due to isolated development, many processes in China are strikingly different from those in Europe. The most revealing example is chopsticks, because, as you know, only Asians can hold them correctly. Another striking illustration is gambling. While cards were gaining popularity in Europe and America, people of the East played Chinese solitaire, which later gained a lot of fans around the world.
The most famous solitaire game is Chinese mahjong, and although the rules of classic mahjong resemble poker conditions, the game is completely different from the card game. To begin with, mahjong uses special chips instead of cards, which an unknowing person would easily confuse with a bizarre kind of dominoes. It is interesting that mahjong gained popularity precisely as a computer game, because it is simply not possible to build such intricate figures in real life.
It is generally accepted that mahjong is a game that originated in ancient China specifically for meditation, philosophical reflection, and the like. But it turns out that Chinese mahjong solitaire is not at all ancient, but appeared in the 80s of the twentieth century. It was developed by a Chinese programmer, along with all the basic rules. The main task of the player is to make out an intricate pyramid of chips, finding pairs with the same image. In this case, you can use only chips that are not covered by others on top or on both sides. Although mahjong really calms and philosophizes, modern game developers have turned this solitaire into a real adventure, with colorful illustrations and an exciting storyline, not necessarily related to China. Among other well-known games, one can distinguish the Chinese solitaire "The Sun", however it is far from being as popular and interesting as mahjong, so game developers have bypassed it.
The word "mahjong" itself can be translated as "thundering sparrow." Such a strange name is associated with the association, which causes the sound of mixing chips, similar to the noise of quarreling sparrows. This Chinese solitaire attracts people from all over the world with its intellectual component, amazing atmosphere and excitement. Today, in almost all countries, there are mahjong fan clubs whose members professionally play this challenging solitaire game.
However, there were dark pages in the history of mahjong. For example, there was a time when people in the PRC were officially banned from playing mahjong, like all other gambling. But people did not stop loving this game, and soon the ban was lifted, and in 1998 they even officially recognized mahjong as a sport and developed an international code of practice.
Since the invention of Mahjong, this Chinese solitaire has undergone many changes and modifications in both the rules and the design. Now each game developer can choose the right one from a variety of types. Different solitaires differ not only in combinations, but also in scoring, which can confuse a player who switched from one type of mahjong to another. Professional players use only the rules established at the international level, but this is also not an easy task, since each type of mahjong that exists today has its own.