Mahjong Fun

My Experience with Mahjong Fun

I downloaded this app because I had a long train ride on Tuesday and wanted something easy to play. I just wanted to match tiles and zone out for a bit. The first game was fine, it’s the classic Mahjong solitaire I remember. But the second I finished that first board, a loud video ad for a mobile casino game took over my whole screen. I figured, okay, it’s a free app, one ad is fine. I started a new game. Finished it. Another ad. And another. Every single time. I was on that train for an hour, and I swear I spent more time staring at ads for other games than I did actually playing Mahjong. It got to the point where I was dreading finishing a puzzle because I knew what was coming. It completely defeated the purpose of downloading a chill puzzle game. I just wanted to relax, not get bombarded.

Features Worth Noting

To be fair, the game underneath all the junk works. The tiles look nice on my iPhone 15 Pro screen, the colors are bright, and I never had trouble telling the different suits apart. They have a few different board shapes, which is cool. I tried the pyramid layout and it was a fun change from the usual turtle setup. There’s also a daily puzzle, which I think is a neat idea. I opened it on Wednesday morning with my coffee, hoping for a quick brain teaser. The puzzle itself was good, but the immediate full-screen ad after I solved it just killed the vibe. The core matching mechanic is solid and responsive when you’re actually playing. If you could just play, it would be a perfectly decent little time-waster.

What Needs Work

The ads are the entire problem. They’re not just banners at the bottom, they’re full-screen video ads that you can’t skip for what feels like forever. They play sound automatically, which is awful if you’re in a quiet place. There’s no option to watch an ad for a bonus or a hint—these are forced interruptions after every single round, win or lose. It makes the game feel cheap and greedy. The menus are a bit clunky too; sometimes I’d tap the ‘Play’ button and nothing would happen, so I’d have to tap it again. It’s like the app is in a hurry to show you an ad but can’t be bothered to make the buttons work smoothly. This isn’t a small annoyance, it’s a deal-breaker that makes the app practically unusable.

Pricing

The app is free, but it’s the worst kind of free. There’s no option to pay a couple bucks to remove the ads. I looked everywhere in the settings. I would have happily paid $3 to just play the game in peace, but that choice isn’t there. So the price you pay is with your time and patience. You’re not a player, you’re just a viewer they’re forcing to watch commercials. For a game that’s supposed to be relaxing, that’s a terrible trade. I’ve deleted free games with less aggressive ads because they at least gave you a break. This one doesn’t let up.

Developer Notes

I didn’t contact support because the ad issue isn’t a bug, it’s how the app is designed. I checked the other reviews on the App Store before writing this, and tons of people are saying the exact same thing about the ads. The developer, Game Sphere3D, hasn’t replied to any of those complaints that I could see. Their update notes just say “bug fixes,” but the biggest bug, in my opinion, is the constant ad bombardment. Seeing that they ignore user feedback about this makes me think they don’t care about fixing it. They’d rather keep the ad money rolling in than make their app enjoyable.

Security & Privacy

I didn’t have to make an account or log in to anything, which is good. The app did ask for permission to track my activity across other apps, which I always say no to. I have no idea what they do with any other data. The privacy policy is one of those long, complicated documents that’s hard to get through. Since the app is so aggressive with ads, it makes me a little wary about what information those ad networks might be collecting. It’s just another reason to feel uneasy about keeping it on my phone.