Puzzle Strike: Bag of Chips

Overview

Puzzle Strike is a deck-building game using chips instead of cards, inspired by puzzle fighting video games. Players draw chips from bags, play actions, buy new chips, and “crash” gem chips into opponents’ gem piles. If your gem pile reaches 10 gems at the end of your turn, you lose. Each player has a unique character with 3 exclusive chips, creating asymmetric gameplay.

Components

Component	Quantity
Puzzle chips (various types)	Multiple sets
Character chips (3 per character)	10 characters
Gem chips (1-gem values)	Many
Bank chips (purchasable)	Multiple types
Player bags	4
Gem pile area markers	4
Rules booklet	1

Setup

1. Each player selects a character and takes their 3 character chips plus starting chips (wound chips and 1-gem chips).
2. Place all starting chips in your bag and shuffle.
3. Set up the bank with purchasable chip stacks.
4. Draw your starting hand from your bag.

Turn Structure

1. Ante Phase: Add a 1-gem chip to your gem pile from the bank.
2. Action Phase: Play action chips from your hand. You get 1 free action; additional actions come from chip effects.
3. Buy Phase: Spend money from played chips to purchase new chips from the bank. You get 1 free buy.
4. Cleanup Phase: Discard hand and played chips to your discard area. Draw a new hand. When your bag is empty, shuffle your discard into your bag.

Actions

Crash Gems

Combine gems in your gem pile into larger values, then send them to opponents. Crashing is the core offensive mechanic.

Character Chips

Each character has 3 unique chips with special abilities – some offensive, some defensive, some combo-enabling.

Purchasing

Buy chips from the bank using money generated by played chips. Better chips improve your engine for future turns.

Countercrashing

When gems are sent to you, you may countercrash by combining and sending them back, if you have the right chips.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Losing condition: If your gem pile contains 10 or more gems at the end of your turn, you are eliminated.

In a multiplayer game, last player standing wins. In a 2-player game, the player who doesn’t bust wins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Gems crash combines: e.g., four 1-gems combine into a 4-gem before being sent to an opponent.
• The ante mechanic ensures pressure builds every turn.
• Wound chips clog your bag (like curse cards in Dominion).
• Character balance is a key design focus; all characters play differently.
• The 3rd Edition includes updated balance changes.

Player Reference

Phase	Action
Ante	+1 gem to your pile
Action	Play chips (1 free action)
Buy	Purchase chips (1 free buy)
Cleanup	Discard, draw new hand
Lose	10+ gems in pile at end of turn