Puzzle Strike: Bag of Chips is all that and a bag of chips!
Puzzle Strike is a card game played with cardboard chips instead of cards that simulates a puzzle video game called puzzle fighter that, in-turn, simulates the fighting game street fighter that is emulated in puzzle fighter
If you don’t understand any of that, that’s ok! Puzzle Strike is a complete game in a box that has the fun of a customizable card game without the marketing scheme of selling you parts of the game in random packs. You build your deck *as* you play the game. Every game is different because the bank starts with a different set of chips each game. Also, there are 10 characters to choose from, each with different gameplay. Between all that, there are over 411 MILLION starting conditions in a 4-player game.
A built-in comeback mechanic means that when you're on the edge of losing, you're also able to do even more combos than usual.
Shuffling cards takes too long and is boring, so in Puzzle Strike you just put your cardboard tokens in a bag and shake them up to shuffle! Plus, it’s pretty ballin’ to play a game with chips. Play it on your yacht, impress potential mates, etc.
Though the game is fun even if you're terrible at it, it's also balanced for high level play by veteran asymmetric game balancer David Sirlin (Street Fighter HD Remix, Puzzle Fighter HD Remix, Kongai, Yomi, and Flash Duel.)
Puzzle Strike contains:
Almost 350 cardboard chips
4 cloth bags
8-page full color rulebook
Colorful box with inside designed to separate the chips by type, for storage
Re-implemented by:
Puzzle Strike: Third Edition
- clever, puzzle-like feel
- fast-twitch gameplay that scales well
- can feel solitaire-ish for some players
- assemble combos to construct a puzzle-strategy
- puzzle-based deck-building
- abstract, puzzle-driven
- Dominion
- Ascension
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- deck-building — players build a deck to perform actions and combos.
- push-your-luck/stacking combos — the goal is to execute efficient sequences before your opponent.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- welcome to the Going Analog Quiz Show
- you've earned a place on the leaderboard today
- the name is Mallory, but the game is Megaland
- it's War of Mine—the board game, not the video game
- Puzzle Strike's puzzle-strategy vibe is surprisingly satisfying
References (from this video)
- fast, accessible gameplay
- great for lighter sessions and families
- less depth for heavy-game players
- randomness can dominate at times
- deck-building with resource-based abilities
- abstract fantasy/arena confrontation
- board-game abstraction with competitive play
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- deck-building with market chips — buy chips with special abilities into your deck and play from it
- sack-drawing and attack — draw and use chips to attack opponents
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's not at its peak right now it's just gonna keep getting better and better
- I enjoyed Twilight Imperium, I really enjoyed it, it's just a shame that it took like six hours and two turns
- Legacy of Dragonholt looks cool; it's closer to a role-playing game than a board game
References (from this video)
- Fast, tactile and accessible
- Abstract feel may not appeal to all players
- Lightweight, abstract puzzle flavor
- Card-based action economy with chip tokens
- Procedural, tactile gameplay
- Deck-building games
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- bag-building / chip economy — Players assemble chips to activate combos and actions.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- The hobby has become all about quantity.
- More stuff is always better.
- Bag building is a worse version of deck building.
- House ruling should only happen if a question scenario is not addressed in the rule book or BoardGameGeek.
- Ties in games are fine, especially if they're rare.
- Kickstarter exclusives will kill a game in the long term more than it helps the game in the short term.
- The great thing about board games is we can create new types of auctions that don't work in real life.
- Phase 10 is not as bad as some people make it out to be.
- I would rather air on the side of smaller boxes than bigger ones.