Watch Out for the Real Games: Vita Mahjong life lessons
These days we have to be very vigilant. There are so many scams online. TikTok is a major offender. So many ads there promise you can make money playing games. Actors ask for your phone. They want to show you games you can play to win big money.
The life lessons from playing Vita Mahjong that I want to share today have nothing to do with any of that. This post is more mundane. It took me hours of play before the lessons surfaced. Once they did, I saw how they connect to work and life, not just a mobile game. My point is simple. There are important lessons in everyday situations if you're paying attention. Let's take the game Vita Mahjong. By the way, you won't win any money. Not even a few cents, like most of the many online games out there.
How Vita Mahjong Works
At first glance, the game may seem like it's no big deal. However, it involves strategy. At the top of the interface, there's a box that can hold only four tiles. At the bottom, there are many tiles. The objective of the game is for you to find pairs of matching tiles.
When you click on a tile, it goes into the top box. When you click on a matching tile, it goes into the top box too. That's how you score. The two matched tiles then immediately leave the box, making room for new selections. Sometimes you choose a tile that will not help you immediately. You usually do this because it's blocking the tile you really want.
You may be so focused on selecting matching pairs that you stop watching the top box. Before you know it, you're out of space. The top box ends up holding four different tiles with nowhere to go. You can get a reprieve by watching two to three ads. Or you can start over.
Undo, Hint, and Reshuffle: Your Built-In Second Chances
Below the tiles are three buttons. To the right is an undo button. If the tile you chose strategically doesn't help you, you can undo the play. The middle button is the hint button. Click it if you cannot see matching tiles to play, or even the tile blocking the one you want. Sometimes there isn't a play available. You can use up one hint for nothing. The button to the right is the reshuffle button. Clicking it shuffles the remaining tiles. It keeps those already in the top box intact.
You can earn more tries for each button by watching ads, usually three at a time. Playing this game reminded me of an idea Winston Churchill is known for. Success is never permanent. Failure is never the end. What truly matters is having the courage to keep going.
I have used every option Vita Mahjong offers. There were several instances when I ran out of space in the top box. I was so focused on choosing tiles that I missed the warning signs. One time, I noticed beforehand that I would run out of space no matter which tile I chose. I clicked to watch ads so I could earn an extra undo. After the ads finished, I went back to the game. Instead of clicking undo, I clicked on a tile out of habit. I ran out of space anyway and had to revive the game by watching more ads. By the way, I mute the ads. I get up and exercise while they play.
The Hole in the Sidewalk
Writing this, I also thought of a poem I love from the book There's a Hole in My Sidewalk: “Autobiography in Five Short Chapters” by Portia Nelson.
The poem follows one person walking down the same street, again and again. Each time, she falls into the same deep hole. In the first chapter, she falls in and feels lost and helpless. She's convinced it isn't her fault. It takes forever to climb out. In the second, she walks the same street and pretends not to see the hole. She falls in again anyway. She still insists it isn't her fault, though it takes just as long to get out.
By the third chapter, something shifts. She sees the hole coming. She still falls out of habit, but her eyes are open now. She admits it's her fault, and she climbs out immediately. In the fourth chapter, she walks the same street and simply walks around the hole. In the fifth and final chapter, she chooses another street entirely.
The parallel to Vita Mahjong is hard to miss. The first few times you run out of space in the top box, it feels like bad luck. Eventually, you notice the pattern before it happens. Then you build the habit of using undo, hint, or reshuffle before you're stuck. Eventually, you play differently from the start.
Why Connecting Ideas Matters
Notice what happened as I played. A mobile game led me to a Winston Churchill quote. That idea led me to a poem about a woman and a hole in the sidewalk. None of these things belong together on the surface. A tile-matching game, a wartime leader, and a poem about habits are three different worlds. But the connection was there once I looked for it.
This is a habit worth building. Most people move through their day treating each experience as separate. A game is just a game. A quote is just a quote. A poem is just a poem. But when you ask what one thing has to do with another, you see patterns everywhere. That habit turns ordinary moments into lessons.
I teach this skill in my workshop, Applied Knowledge Is Power. It's built around connecting ideas across books, situations, and experiences, so you make better decisions faster. If this kind of thinking interests you, you can learn more here.
What to Do Next: Vita Mahjong life lessons
Stop being so hard on yourself, and give yourself some grace. Most of the mistakes you make in life are fixable. Look at what you can undo. When you're feeling stuck, ask where you can seek help. Or consider whether a reshuffle would serve you better. Sometimes the answer is walking down another street entirely.
Making mistakes doesn't make you a failure. Don't stop trying because you're scared. Take more calculated risks. I'm writing this for myself as much as I'm writing it for you.
