The game Shanghai, and its sequels, use Mah-Jongg tiles in an easy-to-learn yet difficult-to-master solitaire play pattern. Shanghai has become an addiction for many thousands of players all over the world. While it's possible to play Shanghai with actual Mah-Jongg tiles, the mighty memory and computing power of personal computers provide numerous features that add enormously to the fun and the ease of playing. Shanghai was originally created in 1986 for Activision by Brodie Lockard.

-- These Chinese characters spell out the name of the city of Shanghai - the name means "upper sea." This city has long evoked an aura of mystery, danger, and high adventure; that's why its name was chosen for the game.

The game of Shanghai is a game of strategy, memory, and luck. There are 144 tiles, arranged in one of several layouts. There are four of each tile, which can be removed as two matching pairs.

To remove a pair of tiles during the game, simply select the two tiles you want. To select a tile, click on it with the mouse. If it's free to be removed, it will become highlighted. Selecting a matching free tile removes the pair.

When you clear all the tiles from the screen, you have won - and a special reward sequence occurs. It's that simple. But wait - because there are four of each tile, you may well find yourself stuck, with unmatchable tiles blocking other key tiles so you can't clear the screen. As you play, you form winning strategies. And because of the magic of computers, you can undo previous matches and try to find any mistakes, shuffle the remaining tiles, put them all back to the way they were at the beginning so you can try again, and other abilities not available with real Mah-Jongg tiles.

The game of Mah-Jongg has very interesting roots, and many legends about the game abound. It is said that the game evolved from other games played in ancient China. These games were played with cards similar in appearance to the tiles used in Mah-Jongg today. Beginning in the 20th century, Mah-Jongg was introduced to the Western world through expatriates living in Shanghai. Joseph P. Babcock brought the game to the United States by writing a printed list of simplified rules and by adding Arabic numerals to the tiles, allowing them to be more easily read by those unfamiliar with Chinese characters.

Today, Mah-Jongg's popularity continues as strongly as ever.

Shanghai: Dynasty introduces several new aspects to the game of Shanghai. There is a new game entitled Dynasty, that allows gamers to challenge each other over the Internet in a multiplayer version of the tile-matching game. Dynasty allows you to get an even greater challenge in the tile-matching game by pitting you against one to four opponents. Each player has an identical layout of 72 tiles to work with, and the player who is the first to clear the layout wins. You can choose a game against computer opponents, or you can go online and find real people to match your strategies with. There is also a new feature called Power Tiles in the Dynasty game. When two Power Tiles are matched, one of seven available Powers is unleashed on the game.

Pandamonium is also a new game in Shanghai: Dynasty. It allows up to four players to challenge each other on the same layout, to see which player can match the most pairs. When there are no more moves available, the layout is automatically shuffled. This game can also be played online over the Internet by up to five human players. The player who gets the largest number of tile matches wins.

There are several new Shanghai tile sets and layouts in Shanghai: Dynasty that are made especially for kids. The Kids' game in Shanghai: Dynasty provides an opportunity for fun and learning for the whole family. One of the tile sets made especially for kids helps children to perfect their arithmetic. Other sets require a logical matching of similar objects. The Kids' layouts are smaller, consisting of 72 or fewer tiles, which are easier for young children.

Activision is also now offering a version of the Ancient Chinese game of Mah-Jongg in Shanghai: Dynasty, which includes both the standard Western and Chinese versions of Mah-Jongg. Mah-Jongg is a game of four players, similar to Rummy. The first player to build a hand of three sets of three-in-a row or three-of-a-kind and a pair wins. It may seem like a very complicated game at first, but playing a few games of Mah-Jongg against computer opponents will get you hooked.

You can view the tiles from four different camera angles in Shanghai: Dynasty. Press the arrow keys on your keyboard to change the camera angle - now you look down into all of the nooks and crannies of the layout.

A new feature included in Shanghai: Dynasty is the Right-Click (Macintosh users: Ctrl-Click) Help feature: you instantly get information on a tile when you right-click on it (you'll see the name of the tile and its status - what you can do with it). This feature will not only help you to learn the names of the tiles in the Mah-Jongg tile set and the dinosaurs in the Prehistoric tile set, for example, but it can also give you extra help by telling you if that tile is free or not. We've added Internet play to Shanghai, not only for Dynasty and Pandamonium, but also for Mah-Jongg. Gamers with a modem can connect with other folks around the world for challenging play (Windows 95 version only). And the Custom Tiles feature allows you import custom tile sets.