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There is an old joke about what to do if you are lost in the desert with only a pack of cards to keep you company. The answer is to start playing patience and you can guarantee that someone will come up to you and say "the red six goes on the black seven". The 1980's version might well substitute Shanghai for a pack of cards.

An unusual game, it combines elements of some patience games with the pieces of a mah-jongg set, for anyone unfamiliar with the Chinese gambling game (which incidentally, is not as ancient as everyone seems to think - it was developed in the early 1920s), it is played with a series of 144 tiles, originally made from bamboo and ivory. Just as we have suits in cards, so they have suits. There are three of them: circles, bamboos and characters. These suits run from 1-9 and there are four of each number e.g. there are four of the seven of characters.

There are also four tiles representing each of the four winds, four of three different dragons - red, green and white and finally, eight individual tiles - four seasons and four flowers.

In Shanghai, these tiles are arranged into a 3D pyramidal structure called a dragon. The object of the game is to remove all the tiles from the dragon by taking away a pair at a time. There are, however, strict rules as to which tiles are available at any given time. Firstly, the two tiles removed must be an exact pair. Thus, two red dragons are OK but not a red dragon and a green dragon.

The only exception to this is with the individual tiles. Thus any flower can go with any other flower. Secondly, a tile must be free. This means that there is nothing on top of it, and that it can slide away to the left or right.

At first sight, the game looks ridiculously easy and you can't see how you can possibly fail to remove all the tiles every time. After you have played it a few times, you soon realised that things are not quite that straightforward.

The problem lies in the number of options available to you. Because there are four of each tile, you will often find the three of them are free at any given time. It is vital that you remove the two that free vital pieces for later in the game.

Timing is also crucial. Quite often, you must delay shifting a pair until another one is moved first. Look ahead as far as possible and try and work out the implications of each move. If you do eventually succeed in removing all the tiles, you are rewarded with a fire-breathing dragon.

The game is very simple to play although initially confusing as you try to work out which tiles are free. The graphics look somewhat cluttered and are the weakest part of the game. There are plenty of options though. One or two players working either as a team or as opponents, even playing against the clock if you want to.

Shanghai is a nice gentle game, very addictive like all the best patience games and quite challenging. My only qualm is that I think that it is somewhat overpriced but having said that, it *is* relaxing and I will definitely keep going back to it to while away the odd hour.