MahJong vs Original Mahjong™
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MahJong
Experience an endless supply of unique tile arrangements for this classic Chinese game. Enjoy beautifully crafted 3D tiles and immersive music as you match pairs to clear the board.
- Infinite random tile arrangements
- 10 unique tile and table sets
- Hand-designed 3D tile art
- Board rotation and zoom
- Immersive soundtrack
- Classic pair-matching gameplay
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MahJong generates random tile arrangements that gives you infinite game possibilities for this Chinese-inspired favorite. Featuring 10 different tile and table sets, each tile is a delightful, hand-designed work of art, showcased in a 3D view with board rotation and zoom to capture every angle. Select and match pairs of open tiles to remove them from the board, exposing layers of tiles below for more matching. The goal is to match every pair to fully clear the board. Outstanding music completes the experience that will transport you eastward.
Original Mahjong™
Experience the classic tile-matching puzzle game on your mobile device. This app faithfully recreates the popular web version, offering relaxing gameplay with no limits. Enjoy the familiar challenge of Mahjong anytime, anywhere.
- Faithful recreation of popular web Mahjong game
- Relaxing gameplay
- Play on the go
- No gameplay limits
- Optional ad removal in-app purchase
- Optional statistics viewing in-app purchase
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• Top 3 Strategy Game in New Zealand • Top 10 Puzzle Game in Canada • More than 30 million web players around the world Finally available as an App, the No.1 Mahjong game in the world has arrived for iPad and iPhone. Original Mahjong™ takes the No.1 Mahjong game on the Web™ (from FreeMahjong.org), and brings it to the iPad and iPhone, exactly the way you are used to. Now you can play your favorite Mahjong game... on the go! We set out to create the exact same relaxing gameplay as the original web version, that has entertained tens of millions of people worldwide. We could have added more features... but why change a good thing? Original Mahjong™ Features... - Faithful recreation of the most popular Mahjong game in the world (Official release from freemahjong.org) - 100% FREE - no gameplay limits, app is (modestly) advertising supported - In-app purchase to remove ads if they bug you - In-app purchase to view statistics of all your games Our plan is to release new features gradually. We've been focussed on replicating the existing game perfectly, and making it reliable and bug free. If you do discover any bugs or issues, please let us know at help@originalmahjongapp.com, and we'll be glad to help. We sincerely hope you like our mobile app version of Mahjong, which is our first ever mobile app. Thanks... and enjoy! The Original Mahjong™ App Team http://www.originalmahjongapp.com
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Original Mahjong™ at 4.1 against MahJong's 2.9. Original Mahjong™ also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 3 months) and review sentiment (51% vs 36%). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. MahJong sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and Original Mahjong™ sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Original Mahjong™ holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 2.9. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 22 and 98 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 36% of MahJong's written reviews are positive against 51% of Original Mahjong™'s.
MahJong ships an update every 3 months, Original Mahjong™ every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MahJong | Original Mahjong™ |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.9 (22 ratings) | 4.1 (98 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 36.4% of reviews | 51.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 22 | 98 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 6.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 318 MB | 153 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | baKno Games | Affinity Media Inc. |
Customer experience
MahJong
Original Mahjong™
Bugs and requests
MahJong
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Original Mahjong™
Reported bugs
4 issues- Sides of puzzles are cut off
- Stats functionality does not work
- Game reboots completely when switching apps
- Paid for ad-free but still charged
Requested features
6 requests- Viewing ability to see tiles underneath
- Replay of the same game
- Numbered games for record keeping
- Undo last move button
- Background music
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- Pause and return to game in progress
In-app purchases
MahJong
- MahJong 10 Game Sessions$0.99
- MahJong Unlimited for One Month$1.99
- MahJong Full Game Unlimited$24.99
Original Mahjong™
- Mahjong Remove Ads$0.99
- Mahjong Buy Stats$0.99
Questions
Is MahJong free?
Is Original Mahjong™ free?
Which has better reviews, MahJong or Original Mahjong™?
Do MahJong or Original Mahjong™ have ads?
Which is updated more often, MahJong or Original Mahjong™?
Other comparisons
