Puzzle Strike

This is the best board game ever made, with a fantastic digital implementation. I was deeply involved in the old online community for some time and it was excellent. The downside is that there is no longer really anyone playing online, so it's only worth getting if you have friends to play with, as the AI doesn't really do the game justice.

This is a deck building game. But instead of cards and a deck, its poker chips and a bag. So a bag builder styled deck builder. This is also a puzzle fighting game. Think Puzzle League or Tetris Attack or Puyo Puyo. You create attacks with gems by combining them and throwing them at your opponent. First to end their turn with 10 gems in your pile is the loser and the game ends! This game is absolutely fantastic and the game gets harder and harder to survive the longer it goes on. If you like simple deck builders and like vs. style puzzle games. You'll LOVE Puzzle Strike!

Puzzle Strike is a strategically dense and highly interactive game developed and published by Sirlin Games that blends the tension of competitive puzzle games with the long-term planning of deckbuilding systems. Originally inspired by classic arcade puzzle fighters and modern tabletop design, the game carves out a unique identity by transforming puzzle mechanics into a head-to-head battle of resource management, timing, and psychological pressure. Rather than emphasizing speed or reflexes, Puzzle Strike rewards foresight, adaptability, and an understanding of how small decisions compound over the course of a match. At the center of the experience is the game’s distinctive gem-pile system. Each player manages their own pile of colored gems, and the objective is deceptively simple: avoid ending your turn with too many gems, because doing so immediately loses you the match. This creates a constant sense of danger, as the very resources that give you power also push you closer to defeat. Players must carefully decide when to combine gems into larger ones, when to shatter them into smaller pieces, and when to send disruptive gems crashing into an opponent’s pile. The brilliance of this…

This game starts with the concept of classic deckbuilding games (e.g. Dominion), introduces some new concepts, and dispenses with some old ones to raise the formula up to another level. It's far more interesting and fun than it looks, and it's the most well-designed classic deckbuilding game I've ever played. Give it a try; you won't regret it. Do play the tutorial, though, even if you're very familiar with other classic deckbuilders; it's short and very helpful.

An ok deckbuilding game. Physical deckbuilding games are not my favourite due to having to reshuffle a lot. The digital implementation makes it more manageable. I think this is alright, but there are better games. 5/10.

Simply the best.