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MahJong--or at least the solitaire version of it--has been a casual game favorite since at least the late 1980s. The gameplay is basic--given a multi-layer sculpture formed of various MahJong tiles, you match unblocked tiles to remove them. If you remove them all, you win; if you reach a point where no more tiles can be removed, you lose.

With so much history--and very simple gameplay--companies must stretch to come up with ways to distinguish their offering from the mountains of shovelware versions out there. MahJong Suite 2008 does it by sheer volume of variants.

Standard? Fortress? Dragon? Please! MahJong Suite has dozens of layouts, rated by complexity and number of tile sets--try American Pyramid, made with 255 tiles and with only a 1% chance of victory if you want a real challenge! Of course, there is a layout editor so you can make your own.

There are also numerous tile sets, ranging from the usual variants of the standard layout to wholly un-Asian sets like birds or American Indians. (Most of these are 'locked' in the trial and can only be used in the unlocked version.)

The demo has two limits--a 30-day timer, and the fact each layout of tiles only has one "shuffle"--once you've solved it, you're done. Given the huge number of layouts, though, it is likely there will still be plenty left by the time the 30-day limit is over.

The sheer number of layouts available make MahJong Suite a worthy choice for anyone looking for a high-quality version of this venerable game. If it lacks something in flash and dazzle (no animated tiles, for example, or odd custom sounds), it more than makes up for it in variety.

--Ian Harac