Last updated on December 17th, 2025 at 09:56 am
Four Winds Mahjong for iPad – Puzzle Game Review
Four Winds Mahjong for iPad is a Puzzle/Board game from Thomas Tanner, first launched in 22nd September 2010.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 13+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Four Winds Mahjong for iPad Stand Out
Four Winds Mahjong for iPad, is the traditional chinese Mahjong game with four players. You play against 3 virtual opponents. Because of its description of the Mahjong rules this app is useful for beginners to learn this interesting game.
Four Winds Mahjong for iPad is played with 144 tiles and uses the hazard tiles (flowers and seasons). Four Winds Mahjong for iPad is a must have for every Mahjong enthusiast to play this interesting, ancient game everywhere.
Features:
- easy to play with drag and drop
- adjustable game speed
- Special hands like ,Thirteen Orphans‘, ,Twins Of Heaven‘, ,Knitting‘, ,Imperial Jade‘ and more
- Robbing the Kong
- autosave of the current game position
- full description of the rules and how to use this app
This Puzzle game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Four Winds Mahjong for iPad is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 14th December 2014
Recent improvements include:
This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon.
- bug fixes: better recognition of complex mahjong hands
Download & Availability
Four Winds Mahjong for iPad is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Four Winds Mahjong for iPad on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 / iPad Mini 3 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 4 / iPad Mini 4 (Cellular) or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
Best real mahjong game we have played. We recommend.
Finally real Chinese mahjong! NOT the silly matching game or the retirement home American version.
For someone who doesn't want to play the American matching mahjong this is great! Just wish you could mahjong with "silent" hands, mainly with kong (4 of a kind) we had that and the system would not give the option to announce Mahjong. Minor issues but still very fun.
Particularly in situations where the human and a computer player have competing claims for a tile or for Mahjong. Computer always wins the dispute, regardless of position on the board or power of the claim. Ive also seen a case in which the game failed to recognize a Mahjong.
Will not let us discard tiles without providing an explanation. No tech support or help feature.
No info on how to play this game. It's NOTHING like national rules. A big waste of money.
Not the best MJ app as it has a few flaws. 1) players pick up a discarded tile as chow then discard the same tile or the other end of the run, which doesn't make sense at all. Some complains about this program are senseless, for example: A) you can not chow if the last discarded tile was not from the player to your left. That's the rule of the game that we know ever since we started playing this game . B) it is very easy to discard any tile, all you have to do is drag that tile to the center of the board and make sure that there is a replica of the image next to the last discarded tile.
Unless it is your turn, the game will not let you call a chow…otherwise fun game. Please fix the game so we can make our own calls.
Wish we had read the other reviews. Seems like we are all saying the same thing. Can't discard tiles we want. Restarted whole game twice because of that. Please fix this. We're new to the game and wanted to use this to practice. Disappointed.
We bought this app to practice our game. This is not realistic, has many bugs. We assumed since it cost so much it would be a good practice tool. Never assume. We would like to know how to request our money back.
App will not let you make legal moves. Don't buy this if you want to play a good game.
We're from HK and the scoring makes absolutely no sense whatsoever! Pointless.
We are frustrated that we cannot discard any tile! The game does not let us discard. We understand the play of the game, but we cannot play because we cannot discard! We would rather have our money back.
Would enjoy playing Mah Jong but this app will not let you show your pung or chow on the board. Impossible to discard after many tries. This app will only let let you discard the tile they choose. A better experience would let the user discard the tile they choose. Not fun like this. Can we get our money returned.
Have been stuck since starting this, instructions don't help, can't discard, can't progress, lost purchase price? Have played American version for many years and am Frustrated in K C.
Four Winds is great because the speed of play can be adjusted. The tiles also have numbers on them. If it had more sounds and animations, it would be perfect.
Good straight forward rendition of the classic mahjong game. No bells and whistles though. Could use some options for tiles or background and maybe some variation in gameplay. Wish it had the capability of playing with other players. That said, if you like four winds mahjong or would like to know how to play. It's worth the money spent.
Can not figure out how to move on to the next game. Used to just touch box, since change it doesn't go to next game????? Touching dice does nothing. Can you fix it!? We used to love to play it.
We just downloaded this game, spent $5.99 and already it's not working!!!!!!!! What a rip off.
This is just like the game we grew up playing with ivory and bamboo tiles. We recommend it with the highest possible rating. Marty G.
We downloaded this because it seemed to be the only version with Arabic numerals on the tiles. Unfortunately, that is its best feature. Tiles are too small and hard to see. Difficulty is not adjustable, so everyone is playing for 0-point hands. The game alerts you whenever you have the option to take a tile, so there is no motivation to pay attention to the game. Might be good for beginners, but experienced players will be bored.
This is not a good game at all. Not at all interactive. It's a shame they don't have a better Mahjongg game. We play International Mahjongg. This so different. Again, not fun or worth the money. Wonder if we can get our money back?? Jane.
This game doesn't work right. We played regularly years ago. But we can't figure out how to draw a tile. The "live" wall doesn't give up any tiles.
We've played this for years on the Mac, and was thrilled to see it for the iPad. The graphics are beautiful, and for the most part play is smooth. There are, however, a few things that would make this a better playing experience. For one thing, it would be nice to be able to replace the generic "Player" with the player's actual name. It would be nice to see the stats for rounds and matches, with percentages so you could keep track if you wanted. And an Undo button so you could take back an accidentally discarded tile would be great.
Beautiful graphics, excellent documentation, fun gameplay. This is by far the best iOS mahjong game out there. Still needs a few things to make it great: – Undo for those times you flick away the wrong tile. – Full details of the score for each round for each player. – As others have said, the ability to claim tiles without automatically being prompted. – Bigger, easier to read tiles. – Auto-arrange tiles in your hand, or allow them to be arranged when it's not your turn. But all in all, can't wait to see how this app develops! We've been chomping at the bit for good iOS mahjong. Even with it's weaknesses, this app offers really fun play.
The graphics are great, however….. It does not always recognize when a tile is beneficial to your hand and with no way to initiate a pung on your own….it has become quite frustrating to even bother playing. We payed too much to simply delete it, but until there is an update, we won't be playing it. It's not worth the frustration! PLEASE fix! This could be a 5 star AP with a few adjustments.
Just purchased this game. After installation, we clicked on the app, and after showing us the intro page in 3 seconds, it crashes! We tried to restart our iPad, hoping this would fix it, but to no avail ! We WANT MY MONEY BACK.
The graphics are wonderful and the app works beautifully! Our only gripe is that the game automatically tells you when to pung, chow or kong… Thus, there is very little actual thinking going on form the player. Perhaps a "we want that tile" button for the player to tap during play would be a good idea? …or something like that? Overall, however, it is totally worth the price.
The pop-ups for pung and chow take all the decision making out of the game. Interface a nice. Computer players voices are all the same and the voice is like speaking to a machine. Needs options for minimum points to win. Otherwise it's chicken hands all the way… If a player who is used to playing real mahjongg, this app may not be rite for them.
Developer: PRO: Game plays well; we like the instruction screens; also like the light that illuminates the current player. CON: Far too much space is taken up by player seats/area, making for smaller tiles elsewhere (suggest a closer-in view of all with bigger tiles, which can be done by removing space elsewhere); suggest putting scoring pane at bottom onto it's own tab like instructions are; lastly, the game does not flip into landscape mode like other iPad apps. Good start, and with changes, will be a most excellent, Tod.
Love the game. We have been hoping that a mahjong real game came out for a while. We would love you to be able to add our name to the player. We play with Ralph, Alex, Kathy, but us, we just player. That is so wrong. Could you add the words pung, chow, knong, and mahjong in one of the small boxes. We live to do it ourselves. Love the game. Norma.
Thank you so much for this great app. We haven't played Mahjong for many years and this app is making it easy to get back into it. The app is easy to use, looks great and works flawlessly. We also appreciate all the game info included. We have been looking for something like this for so long and we're so happy to have it.
This is a good MJ game. The AI plays reasonably well. Yes, it lacks landscape mode, and the board is hard to read because the previous scores are taking up so much room. The scores need to be popup or on separate page (see the Tichu app). Other than that, the layout is good and the app has very good graphics. Needs: Really needs more details of how the scores were calculated. A very experienced MJ player will be able to calculate the scores. Most players will struggle with how the scores were determined, which takes away from the game. Also, would like to see the alert notices removed when there's a possibility of grabbing a discarded tile. Rather, there should be a timer and the onus should be on the player to see the possibility and make the decision to call it or not before his the next player draws. This is a huge part of live MJ that is missing in this app. Overall, very good looking app that is on its way to being 5*'s.
We are a huge mahjong fan and was so excited to see this new app. It has all the potential to be a great electronic version of the game. Unfortunately after a few games, the cracks have started to show. We have been cheated out of wins and hands when the program has not recognized a command to "quit" and the program has not offered us all the options for hands it should. This is not just our experience but also the experience of other members of our family who have been using the app. With some more work from the developer we hope these issues will be resolved as it is the closest app to the real game we have come across and the presentation is lovely.
The program is good but after playing a few rounds, it will not let us back into the program. Also the program does not make all the moves it can. Should add a manual pong call.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.6.2
- Size: 15.51 MB
- iOS: 5.1.1 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: Thomas Tanner
Last updated: 14th December 2014 | Genre: Puzzle, Board | Developer: Thomas Tanner