# Mahjong Vacations — user reviews > 175 indexed App Store user reviews of Mahjong Vacations by Graveltree Productions, LLC, rated 4.40/5 from 137 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mahjong-vacations/id478379882/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mahjong-vacations/id478379882.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 90 · 4★ 24 · 3★ 14 · 2★ 3 · 1★ 6 ## What do users think of Mahjong Vacations? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🚀 Challenging gameplay - 👍 Interesting facts about destinations - 💎 Beautiful tile designs - 🎨 Variety of themes and locations **Cons** - 🕰️ Difficult to progress without spending money - 🐛 Touch sensitivity issues - 📚 Lack of clear explanations for game mechanics - 🤯 Frustratingly difficult challenges **Commonly reported bugs** - Game freezing after ads - Progress not saving properly - Incorrect scoring on some challenges **Most requested features** - More vacation destinations - Ability to reset progress - Better save/load functionality - Improved tutorial and instructions ## Newest reviews (13 of 175) ### 3/5 — Good but tough… *2025-07-16, version 3.7* This is a quality game but very difficult at the same time. You have to play a LOT of games in order to attain goals and advance, and for the somewhat impatient player I can understand them not continuing and just giving up. The steps to advance are extremely difficult and the amount of coins required to “purchase” a new country is costly. On the timed games the touch often doesn’t register, so it delays you when you have to repeatedly touch a tile until it registers, and this aspect has cost me a win many times because I ultimately exceeded the time limit. Also, there could be better explanation as to what the various numbers and colors mean, and it’s not clear what it takes to “complete” a country. The tutorial is very basic and not helpful in this regard. Lastly, it’s not easy to match four tiles in a row; it almost seems as though they are “fluid”, meaning, they change position from underneath various other tiles, to foil you from getting a bonus for getting four of the same tiles in a row. I can’t prove this but it does seem that way. Lastly, the game “teases” you when you start a game and it shows you three tiles of the same theme, but the fourth is buried deep and you’ll never be able to claim all four because eventually you will have to match two of them early on. ### 3/5 — Good but tough… *2025-06-04* This is a quality game but very difficult at the same time. You have to play a LOT of games in order to advance, and for the somewhat impatient player I can understand them not continuing and just giving up. The steps to advance are outrageously difficult and the amount of coins required to “purchase” a new country are ridiculous. On the timed games the touch often doesn’t register, so it delays you when you have to repeatedly touch a tile until it registers, and this aspect has cost me a win many times because I ultimately exceeded the time limit. Also, there could be better explanation as to what the various numbers and colors mean. The tutorial is very basic and not very helpful in this regard. Lastly, it’s not easy to match four tiles in a row; it almost seems as though they are “fluid”, meaning, they change position from underneath various other tiles, to foil you from getting a bonus for getting four of the same tiles in a row. I can’t prove this but it does seem that way. Lastly, the game “teases” you when you start a game and it shows you three tiles of the same theme, but the fourth is buried deep and you’ll never be able to claim all four because eventually you will have to match two of them early on. ### 3/5 — Flawed but fun *2025-06-01, version 3.6* Fun and challenging game. Only complaint is any board that requires a certain score before shuffling just doesn't work. I have completed the challenges multiple times, but it still won't register in the game. ### 4/5 — Good but tough… *2025-04-22* This is a quality game but difficult at the same time. You have to play a LOT of games in order to advance, and for the somewhat impatient player I can understand them not continuing and just giving up. On the timed games the touch often doesn’t register, so it delays you when you have to repeatedly touch a tile until it registers, and this aspect has cost me a win many times because I ultimately exceeded the time limit. I can’t believe that the touch sensitivity issue is an Apple screen defect. Also, there could be better explanation as to what the various numbers and colors mean. The tutorial is very basic and not very helpful in this regard. Lastly, it’s not easy to match four tiles in a row; it almost seems as though they are “fluid”, meaning, they change position from underneath various other tiles, to foil you from getting a bonus for getting four of the same tiles in a row. I can’t prove this but it does seem that way. Lastly, the game “teases” you when you start a game and it shows you three tiles of the same theme, but the fourth is buried deep and you’ll never be able to claim all four because eventually you will have to match two of them early on. ### 4/5 — Good but tough… *2025-04-16* This is a quality game but difficult at the same time. You have to play a LOT of games in order to advance, and for the somewhat impatient player I can understand them not continuing and just giving up. On the timed games the touch often doesn’t register, so it delays you when you have to repeatedly touch a tile until it registers, and this aspect has cost me a win many times because I ultimately exceeded the time limit. I can’t believe that the touch sensitivity issue is an Apple screen defect. Also, there could be better explanation as to what the various numbers and colors mean. The tutorial is very basic and not very helpful in this regard. Lastly, it’s not easy to match four tiles in a row; it almost seems as though they are “fluid”, meaning, they change position from underneath various other tiles, to foil you from getting a bonus for getting four of the same tiles in a row. I can’t prove this but it does seem that way. ### 2/5 — Token issue *2024-02-07* Why can’t I access tokens for me to play the other games? Not too pleased with what is going on. ### 3/5 — Could be better *2019-09-13, version 3.0.5* I like the challenge but it gets boring it takes so long to get to other levels.... ### 4/5 — Yes and No *2018-12-15, version 3.0.5* Great game but way too many ads! ### 3/5 — Stuck *2018-10-08, version 3.0.5* I’ve now completed the “cheap levels” if I want to go any further it’s 25000 coins, even if I went back and tried to complete the challenges I couldn’t do before I still wouldn’t earn enough to move on 😔 ### 4/5 — Enjoying but... *2018-09-04, version 3.0.5* This is a fun Mahjong but there are far too many ads and they seem to run as long as each game. I don’t know that I will actually keep this game because of the ads. How about an ad free version? ### 3/5 — Love this game but... *2018-09-03, version 3.0.5* The board keeps shuffling even there are moves available. It’s very frustrating! ### 4/5 — New destinations! *2018-07-06, version 3.0.5* Come on and get some more destinations! Looks like I’m not the only one who has this request. ### 4/5 — More destinations please *2018-06-14, version 3.0.5* This is my favorite game, just wish they would update the app with more destinations less then a year at a time. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Need help *2025-06-03, version 3.6* I’ve enjoyed this game over the years but recently got a new phone and all of my other apps and games transferred over fine except this one. It saved my progress but I had paid the 100,000 coins to have unlimited undo, shuffle, swap, vision and now those are all gone. I can’t seem to find a way to contact you guys, even on the developer’s website. But this is crazy. And additionally, I’m tired of the game not counting a win if you reach it on the last play. Like if the achievement is to score 2mil in one game and I hit 2mil on my last move, it won’t unlock it. Been doing that forever. ### 1/5 — Buy more coins *2024-03-23, version 3.2.0* Why I can’t buy more coins so I can move on? ### 1/5 — I was just ripped off! *2022-09-17, version 3.2.0* I just paid for some coins and selected the 750k for $19.99. The links are all mixed up in the game because the one I selected did not read to be what I tapped on. Once I made my purchase, there was only 300k coins added to my game, but I was still charged $21.39 to my card. I want the rest of my coins or a refund ### 1/5 — No help *2022-08-23, version 3.2.0* This is the second time I lost my coins and progress in this game. No way to contact anyone! ### 1/5 — Impossible Challenges *2020-02-13, version 3.0.5* I would be more interested in the game except the challenges are almost impossible to win. The tiles will tease you by showing 4 matching tiles but forcing the player to have to use other tiles so you can't get all 4 matching tiles in a row. I love the theme of vacationing around the world, but it's a bit difficult to travel when you can't win the challenges. ### 1/5 — Definitely not Free *2018-12-27, version 3.0.5* This game makes you buy coins from the very beginning.... such a disappointment ### 1/5 — LET US GET RID OF ADDS *2013-09-15, version 2.4.1* STUPID ADVERTS EVERYWHERE WITH NO OPTION TO REMOVE.....POOR SHOW GUYS ### 1/5 — "Free"? -- NOT! *2013-02-11, version 2.3* Instructions were not very good, but I enjoyed playing a few times until I wanted to try another location and found out I'd have to pay to do that. The ads appeared at the top of all screens, sometimes with motions, lights, etc., very distracting. Whenever a game ends, there is a full screen ad that you have to close to continue playing. Well, I learned what I don't want! I'd much rather pay for a game than put up with being told I need to pay for a "free" vacation! Particularly when the company is already being paid for displaying ads so relentlessly. Too bad there isn't a paid version of this game. ### 2/5 — Game not working properly *2024-09-06, version 3.2.0* The game won’t allow me to buy coins. ### 2/5 — Token issue *2024-03-18, version 3.2.0* Why can’t I access tokens for me to play the other games? Not too pleased with what is going on. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Updates? *2023-12-15, version 3.2.0* Been a few years since there’s been any updates. Are the developers still around? I just keep starting over but wish they would add. More vacations. Hello guys? Where have you been? ### 5/5 — Animations *2021-03-03, version 3.2.0* LOVE the new card animations at the end of the games! So cool! ### 5/5 — Love travelling with you *2021-01-07, version 3.2.0* I really love this game. It's so much fun travelling around the world, doing the challenges along the way. Some of the challenges are a bit hard, but then they wouldn't be challenges if they were easy, would they. Would be good to get a bit more play money for completing them, don't have enough to go to all the countries I want, and upgrade my hints too. Love that I can send postcards to people of places we've been together, and they're great for nostalgia too. Great that I can't lose any board because it just reshuffles until you get it out. Like the bonus matches too, feels really good to get one of those. Update 2020: I haven’t played for a wee while now. I just remembered a couple of things about the game that frustrated me, and possibly was the catalyst for no longer playing. I was never able to get the New Zealand board, I don’t know why it has to come in a pack of 3-4 countries, and is too many coins for me to ever pay for it. I am a born and bred New Zealander, I want to play the board please. And the other thing was I didn’t seem to be able to save my progress so that I could pick up where I left off. I have an iPad 2, the same one I had eight years ago when I wrote this review, so it’s old and slow and I hardly use it. I wanted to be able to play on both my iPhone and my iPad, perhaps could use my GameCenter login to save my progress. ### 5/5 — Awesome game *2020-01-20, version 3.0.5* Love this game but more new boards please!!!!! ### 5/5 — Best Mahjong Ever Created *2020-01-18, version 3.0.5* I used to have this app on my iPad years ago and loved it. iPad broke (and was strictly an android phone user) so I didn’t have this game anymore. I searched every app for mahjong made on the android and nothing even came close to how awesome this is! Finally, at Christmas time, my entire family switched to iPhones. I finally have the app back and I am thrilled! Hours of entertainment! ### 5/5 — Great game! Need more levels! *2019-10-11, version 3.0.5* Love playing this game and it definitely gets harder as you go! But I was so disappointed when I finished this game and there were no more levels to play! Please! Make more levels! I started at the beginning and I am playing through it a second time! ### 5/5 — Game review *2019-08-23, version 3.0.5* Love game but wish that there was more levels. I've gone through the game 3x's and I'm now getting bored since you don't increase vacation destinations. ### 5/5 — Best game ever. *2019-06-25, version 3.0.5* I’ve read some of the other reviews and have to say that you can jump around wherever you want if you pay for boosts at the beginning. Yeah that makes it too easy I know but I’m old. I love this game. It’s the only one I play. If you increase the size of the tiles on your screen (I play on my iPad) you’ll see that some of them are real works of art. Some of the layouts are very clever too. ### 5/5 — M O R E V A C A T I O N S P L E A S E ! ! ! *2019-02-18, version 3.0.5* This is the best mahjong game out there. I’ve been playing it for SIX years. It took me that long to finish and it was worth every minute. It’s so challenging and so interesting. Heavy Ninja you need to make more levels. I became totally depressed after finishing the game. Please make more levels so we can keep playing. I have been looking on the App Store for something that comes close but there is nothing like it out there. I even tried downloading the other game by the same developer and it is no where close to this game. 🥺🤯😡😤😠🙁😕😟😣😖😫😩😿😤😒😞 ### 5/5 — Intriguing...keeps interest *2018-04-18, version 3.0.5* This is a fast paced game. Keeps your interest and can’t put it down. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-09.*