Even though the core concept of both types of mahjong is pretty much the same, there are tons of things that differentiate the two kinds of games from each other. The first thing being of course the method in which games are played; digital mahjong games have varying layouts and require you to simply click on similar tiles to make them disappear which isn’t the case when it comes to real life mahjong where the tiles are arranged in a pre-set layout that’s the shape of a square after which tiles are dealt to the players participating in the game.

Objectives of both games vary tremendously as well. Real life mahjong is more of a competitive game so the objective there is generally to complete a hand consisting of all the fourteen different tiles in the game before the opponent can and once the hand is completed, the player of that hand must say “Mahjong” after which players will both show their hands and scores will be calculated before moving on into the next round.

Going further, it’s pretty clear that these games are played pretty differently as well considering the fact that the real life version of mahjong is geared towards playing against an opponent while digital mahjong emphasizes on providing a more single player experience. In real life mahjong, each player draws and discards a card in each turn while trying to make combinations known as Chows, Pungs and Kongs as the player tries to work up to a full fourteen tile hand.

On the other hand, in digital mahjong you’ll be tasked with joining together similar tiles by clicking on each of them one after the other. This process is repeated until all tiles are cleared from the playing area after which you’ll progress to the next level which will have a new layout. Sometimes a level concludes when you find a specified set of tiles but this is a rare case and doesn’t occur in a lot of games.

Each game has its own advantages for instance the real life version of mahjong makes for a great spectator sport as crowds gather to watch players go against each other as they try to get a full hand while at the same time the digital version of mahjong is great for players who want a laid back and casual experience without the stress of competing against an opponent.
All things considered, both types of Mahjong games have been really prevalent and popular and rightly so because they’re great games. It can’t be said which game is better than the other since they both have some great things to offer for the players.