Mahjong! vs Gugong
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Mahjong!
Engage in a traditional tile-matching game against AI or friends. Aim to form sets and a pair to win rounds, with customizable scoring rules and tile options. Enjoy realistic gameplay with intuitive controls and multiplayer chat.
- Play against AI or up to 3 friends/network players
- Real-time voice and text chat in multiplayer
- Customizable scoring rules and minimum point values
- Optional flower and season tiles
- Intuitive tile dragging and sorting
- Adjustable game speed and sound
- Customizable backgrounds and tile colors
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Traditional Mahjong game in which you play against 3 other players - sole against all computer players, or play with one to three other friends or network players via Game Center. Seats not filled by friends or network players are played by the computer. You may exchange group text messages and voice chats while in the multiplayer game. Each player is dealt 13 tiles in a hand. The players take turns to draw a tile and discard one. The goal is to make 4 sets and 1 pair. Declare a win by tapping on a received tile or tapping/dragging on discarded tile that completes the hand of 14 tiles. The default mode will auto prompt you when a set or a winning hand can be formed with a tile drawn or discarded. Hands formed must be of some minimum point value (0-3) in order to win the round. A zero base point would allow chicken hand. The default is 0 base point, but can be customized. If the base point is set to greater than zero, an attempt to steal a discard that does not produce the minimum points to win will be preempted by another player's claim for pung, for example. Falsely declaring a win when the hand does not meet the base point will be penalized. The claim on a discard to form a hand with enough points to win has priority over other attempts to form kong, punt, or chow. Refer to wikipedia for a detailed description of the suite and scoring system of the game. As few reviewers noted, this game offers realistic play. Drag a tile out to discard it. You will be prompted to make a choice to pung, declare a win, etc, or drag a tile discarded by another player to claim it. Tap any tile on your hand to declare a win if not using auto prompt mode. You can move and rearrange the tiles at will. To have them sorted automatically, do a horizontal swipe above your hand. You can adjust the game speed and sound. You can also control that hands be of some minimum point value (0-3) in order to win the round. A zero base point would allow chicken hand. You can choose to play flower and season tiles. Choose "Align discarded tiles" to line discarded tiles neatly, else discarded tiles are spin and placed randomly. You can change the the color of the background and tiles, or use a picture as the game background. Multitask switching on supported iOS. Game is paused when you switch away from the App and automatically resumed when you return. Resume button is used to resume game saved if App is terminated (or for older iOS without multitask support). The players bank will be shown at the start of the game. To see the bank during the game, tap on the player's name. Your name in the game is taken from the Game Center alias and can be customized in the Game Center app. If you did not login to Game Center,the name is determined from the following sources (if used) in order: your name used for iCloud, other email, the name on your iPad/iPhone/iTouch. You may customize the names of the computer players.
Gugong
Engage in a strategic board game set in 1570s China. Players represent powerful families vying for influence by exchanging gifts with officials, making strategic choices to outmaneuver opponents. Explore historical China, build the Great Wall, and seek an audience with the emperor.
- Historical setting in Ming Dynasty China
- Strategic gift-exchange mechanics
- Solo play against AI
- Multiple difficulty levels
- In-game tutorial
- Full rulebook included
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China, 1570. China is under the reign of the Longqing Emperor, of the Ming Dynasty. He inherited a country in disarray after years of mismanagement and corruption. He resided in the Forbidden city, which was the seat of many emperors under the Ming Dynasty. Constructed from 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 buildings and covers 72 ha (over 180 acres). It is also under the Ming Dynasty that the Great Wall of China was rebuilt, fortified, and expanded. Around this period, China was under heavy attack from the Mongols, so maintaining the Great Wall was essential. Most of what we now have left of the Great Wall, we owe to the Ming dynasty. The country was already famous for its very intricate bureaucracy, but this also led to a lot of corruption. Even though the penalties for corruption were very high, the highest Officials of the Forbidden City would pretend to uphold the ban on corruption, by accepting gifts of petitioners, and returning one of seemingly lower value. Gugong uses this extraordinary custom as its basis. Players take on the role of powerful Chinese families trying to gain influence and power by exchanging gifts with Officials. The gift cards you offer as a player have to be of a higher value than the one you receive, forcing you to make strategic choices regarding which actions you want to take each turn. You will travel around China, sail down the Grand Canal, purchase precious jade, help construct the Great Wall, secure advantages through decrees, influence the game through intrigue, and ultimately, receive an audience with the emperor. In this App version of the board game you will play vs. Meng, the solo automata, with three different level of difficulty. The App includes a short tutorial which explain the basic concepts of the game to help the player dive in immediately, and a full set of written rules.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Mahjong! at 2.5 against Gugong's 1.8. Mahjong! also leads on review sentiment (17% vs 0%) and chart position (#194 vs unranked). On in-app purchases 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
Mahjong! costs $1.99 and Gugong $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Mahjong! holds the better App Store score, 2.5 against 1.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mahjong! has 31 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 17% of Mahjong!'s written reviews are positive against 0% of Gugong's.
| Parameter | Mahjong! | Gugong |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 — better | $2.99 |
| Rating | 2.5 (31 ratings) — better | 1.8 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 16.7% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 31 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | — |
| Ads | No | — |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #194 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | — |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 124 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | POK | ycyclop games |
Customer experience
Mahjong!
Gugong
Bugs and requests
Mahjong!
Reported bugs
7 issues- Game asking to declare winner when dealing needed tile
- Inconsistent behavior when claiming discarded tiles
- Frequently showing winning hand but then saying lost
- Next player not able to claim discarded tile
- Game crashing when drawing last tile
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- Tiles not flipping over so player can't see what they have
- Scoring not accurate, sometimes treating pongs as chicken hands
Requested features
7 requests- Pause and save solo games
- Ability to rearrange tiles in hand
- Indicator for current round
- Undo button
- Ability to see all discarded tiles
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- Option to play against other players online
- Detailed instructions on gameplay and scoring
Gugong
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Mahjong!
No in-app purchases
Gugong
No in-app purchases









