Mahjong: Food Connect is a timed matching game. From level to level, the player attempts to clear all items from a purple tile-like grid. Their goals are to complete this task before time runs out and unlock all levels of the game.
The game doesn't use traditional Chinese Mahjong tiles. It also doesn't initially layer the patterns. Instead, it presents commonly sold dishes and related ingredients on the grid floating in front of a room in an eatery.
The items include bread loaves, cake slices, cheese wedges, chocolate pieces, corn cobs, cream pitchers, honey jars, flour bags, milk bottles, peanut butter jars, popcorn tubs, potato wedges, red peppers, white mushrooms, whole eggs, and water buckets. The game increases the number and types of these items as the player progresses through the levels.
The player can select pairs of identical adjacent items positioned side by side or in a stack, in any position along a single side of a pattern, or across a gap. The game displays yellow connecting lines after a gap selection. The player can only select two items that are reachable by no more than three yellow connecting lines that feature up to two 90-degree angles.
Mahjong: Food Connect displays a level reload button in the upper-left corner of the screen. It presents the timer in the upper-center area. The player can refer to the level number or use the hint and shuffle buttons in the upper-right area. If they run out of tools, they can earn more access by watching videos.
