My grandmother wants to install Mahjong onto her phone. I couldn’t find any results on the Play Store with no ads or in-app purchases. She doesn’t understand technology and could get tricked into purchasing stuff or compromising her data.

    • PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S [he/him]OP
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      1110 months ago

      I saw that, but the description says:

      Shisen-Sho is a Japanese tile-based game which uses Mahjong tiles.

      I’m not a Mahjong player, but are Shisen-Sho and Mahjong the same game?

      • Björn Tantau
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        2310 months ago

        Do you know what she actually wants to play? Mahjong is a multiplayer game, usually played with four players. Shisen-Sho is a singleplayer game but it is colloquially called Mahjong. When someone says Mahjong they often mean Shisen-Sho without even realising there is a difference.

        • PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S [he/him]OP
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          1210 months ago

          When someone says Mahjong they often mean Shisen-Sho without even realising there is a difference.

          I ended up installing FreeShisen for her. You’re probably right because she’s looking for a single-player game where you match tiles. She got into “”“Mahjong”“” because it was previously installed on her laptop under that name, i.e. she’s not looking for the “true” or otherwise more obscure game.

  • @jemikwa@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1010 months ago

    It’s unlikely but if she wants Japanese riichi mahjong and not solitaire style, Kemono Mahjong is a really solid app. No ads or micro transactions (the only in app purchase is to optionally support the dev for $1/month), full feature, minimal to no tracking (email address for online game purposes). It’s not open source or free but it’s only $3 one time purchase.

    I don’t have any suggestions for solitaire/tile matching mahjong, unfortunately. Microsoft’s app is not malware but will be datamine galore. It also has ads unless you pay per month. Anything else, id be leery of the security of the app and your data.

  • PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S [he/him]OP
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    1010 months ago

    I went with FreeShisen for now, since it is simple and she liked it. Thank you everyone for your recommendations so far.

  • Jilanico
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    1010 months ago

    Maybe look for a webapp and put a shortcut on her home screen?

  • @atnqty@lemmy.world
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    310 months ago

    iirc there are different regional rules so might be better to specify which one e.g. Cantonese/Hokkien/Japanese