Every app here started as a frustration.

Exponology is my home for a growing collection of small apps — each one something I developed to help myself with a real, everyday problem. Some remove an annoyance that finally bugged me enough to fix it. A few are just for fun.

And every one of them was built with the help of an AI — or, more honestly, with the help of an AI agent I worked alongside, from the first sketch to the finished app.

Meet the first app Open the Mah Jongg Hand Finder

Thirteen tiles in your rack, and one question: which hand do you go for? Tap a tile to flip it over.

That question — asked at kitchen tables everywhere — is where the first app on this site came from.

Marketing and product development is the identification of a frustration.

A mentor told me that years ago, and it stuck. Find the thing that frustrates people — really find it, in real life — and you've found the product worth building. This site is dedicated to exactly that: overcoming frustration, one small app at a time. Except when an app is just for fun. Those are welcome here too.

Advice from a mentor — the rule behind every app here

The first app: born at the mah jongg table

Learning mah jongg, I found the hardest part of the game wasn't the rules. It was looking at the tiles in my hand and trying to pick which hand to go for.

A spread of American mah jongg tiles face up — Craks, Bams, Dots, Winds, and White Dragons — Photo: Browne Family Vineyards

App No. 1

The Mah Jongg Hand Finder

Tell it what's in your rack. It tells you which hands are still within reach.

The card lists dozens of hands. Matching them against thirteen tiles in your head — while the Charleston moves and the table waits — is not easy. In fact, it's frustrating. So the Finder does the matching for you.

All 79 hands from the complete 2026 National Mah Jongg League card, each listed separately, just as the card lists them.
Search by what you're holding — suits, numbers, points, and the flowers, dragons, winds, pairs, pongs, kongs, and quints your hand needs.
Made for the middle of a game — when your first plan dies, re-search in seconds and pick a new hand before your next tile.
Runs on any phone or computer — nothing to install, nothing to sign up for.

Open the Hand Finder How it works

Built by a person. Built with an AI.

None of these apps would exist without two ingredients: a frustration I ran into myself, and an AI agent to help me build the fix. Here's how each one happens.

Spot the frustration

It starts in real life — at the mah jongg table, staring at a rack of tiles with no clear hand to chase. If a moment like that keeps repeating, it's a candidate.

Build it with an AI agent

I describe what I need and what "working" looks like. The AI helps design it, write it, and revise it — I steer, test, and decide what ships. It's a partnership, not a vending machine.

Use it myself

Every app here has to earn its place in my own life first — used at the table, in the middle of real games. If it doesn't actually help, it doesn't belong on this site.

A note from the founder

I'm an 80-year-old retiree, learning Mah Jongg and building the tools I wish I had. That's the whole story behind this site: when something frustrates me, I try to build the fix — with a little help from AI.

— Mike

The shelf is just getting started

The Hand Finder is the first app here, not the last. More are on the way — each one will start the same way this one did: with a frustration worth fixing, or an idea that's simply fun to build. When the next one is ready, it will take its place here.