Mōjya

両替パズルゲーム もうぢや」(Ryōgae Puzzle Game Moujiya, also Romanised Moudjiya) is a falling blocks puzzle game developed by Digital Pad for FPS, the consumer software division of Japanese tech giant Fujitsu. It is a Tetrislike in which yen coins fall in pairs on the board and the player must exchange coins of equal value by placing them side by side, until they are eliminated from the board after finally being traded for a ¥1,000 banknote. It is obviously reminiscent of the later, more successful Neo Geo game Money Puzzle Exchanger by Face, who essentially mashed Moujiya and Data East’s Magical Drop together to create their game.

This item contains a copy of the CD-ROM distribution of the original Windows 3.1 version, released in 1995. It was also simultaneously released in a pack of six 3.5″ floppies, and later received an updated version for Windows 95 and Mac OS with online play support. Less obscurely, it would get a fresh coat of paint and become an arcade game in 1996 through the hands of developer house Etona. The differences between the arcade and the PC original are far from just cosmetic, however, with practically everything except for the very core mechanic of the game working differently, from garbage blocks to special items. Notoriously, the difficulty was changed as well, going from fairly challenging on PC to quarter-guzzlingly difficult on the arcades. Virgin Interactive quickly snatched up home console rights to Moujiya, and Etona’s take on the game would be ported to the Sega Saturn and PlayStation. Years later, the game would see new life in the various mobile phone game services available in Japan in the 2000s. No version of the game was ever officially released overseas.