- Joined: 01 Apr 2008
- Posts: 197
- Location: Spain
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Shanghai - Solutions for the stored patterns in ALV notation
 Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2020 1:11 am
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I've managed to solve some of the stored patterns of Shanghai (I suspect not all of them are solvable). I'd like to share the solutions for the Dragons I've solved so far, in a notation that I have created from scratch for the occasion, a là PGN chess, since it seems there is no one, official or unofficial, for Mahjongg Solitaires.
I have named it ALV Notation, which stands for "A Layout Valid", and also are the first three letters of my real surname :D
ALV Notation for Solitaire Mahjong games
These are the abbreviations for the pieces:
b01 to b09: Bamboos suite
c01 to c09: Numbers (Craks/Characters/Chinese Numerals) suite
d01 to d09: Dots suite
WIN-SPR-SUM-AUT: Seasons suite (Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn/Fall)
NOR-SOU-EAS-WES: Winds suite (North, South, East and West)
WDR-GDR-RDR: Dragons suite (White Dragon, Green Dragon, Red Dragon)
ORC-PLM-MUM-BAM: Flowers suite (Orchid, Plum, Chrysanthemum and Bamboo)
How are the pairs noted down?
For pairs of free tiles which have only one option to be matched, the notation is the name of the tile. Example: a pair of free Five of Bamboo tiles which can only be matched one way, with no other Five of Bamboos on the table, would be scored simply as b05.
If there are three identical free tiles of the same suit and number, then there are 3 possible combinations (avoiding the reciprocals) for matching them in one (and only) pair: first with second, first with third and second with third. Which is which? The First would be the free one on the top left, and the second free one, the next we could expect to find if we would go across the visible tiles on the rows from left to right and from top to down, beginning again from the left and to the right once a row has been examinated. Same for the third tile, which would be the next and last free tile to find. The possible pairings for 3 Six of Dots tiles would be as follow:
d06.1-2
d06.1-3
d06.2-3
We just simply choose the correct one for solving the game! =)
In this case, a 4th Six of Dots has still not appead yet. No matter which combination we choose, if the final Six of Dots finally becomes a free tile, the movement for pairing it would be
d06
since there will be no other possible identical free tile to pair it with than the one we did not pair before.
When all four tiles of a same suit and number are visible and free, we could pair it as we want. If all the Four Seasons would be free, we could go:
WIN-SUM
AUT-SPR
or
AUT-WIN
SUM-SPR
or
WIN-SPR
AUT-SUM
And also their reciprocals. No matter the order or the pairing, since all four will be gone, whatever we do, because they all are free.
Another example of this one, with 3 of Cracks:
c03.1-4, and then
c03
since after pairing the first and the last of this free tiles, there will be only one possible pair (the former c03.2 and c03.3, which now are c03.1 and c03.2). It happens the same for the rest of the pairings (after c03.1-2, the next pairing for those tiles would be c03, and also would be c03 after c02.2-3, c02.2-4 and c02.1-3).
Having said that, let's show the solution for the Pattern No. 3:
d01.1-2
d08
SOU
c02
b02
b03
b08
c05
EAS
d09.1-3
b01
c08
b05
c07
d04
WDR
b09.1-3
SPR-SUM
d06
NOR
b04
b06
d01
b08
d09
c04
b07.2-3
c09.1-2
c09
c02
BAM-MUM
ORC-PLM
d04
c07
d02.1-3
c06
c08
d08
WES
c05
b07
d05.1-3
c03
c01.1-2
c01
d07
d05
c06
RDR.1-3
d06
AUT-WIN
d03.1-3
WDR
c03
d03
EAS
b09
c04
RDR
b06
d02
GDR.1-2
b03
WES
b05
b01
b02
b04
NOR
GDR
SOU
d07
Every ALV notation game will have exactly 72 moves, since there are 144 tiles and thus, 72 pairs. Following the movements described, it is possible to solve the stored Pattern No. 3 and see the amazing dragon of the ending!
Here I have attached the solutions for Patterns 2, 3, 4, 8 and 10.
Enjoy and let me know what you think of my notation! :D
P. S. - Although the extension of the files is .ALV, they are just plain TXT files, with the extension changed only for better identifying them as Mahjong Solitaire solutions in this particular notation.[/code]
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