Puzzle Strike Rules
Thursday, April 22, 2010 at 5:17PM 
As we get closer to Puzzle Strike being done, I can now show you the rulebook. For some reason, rulebooks for a lot of board games are ridiculously long and poorly formatted, so I did my very best on this one to make it look nice and be as short as possible. It's 8 pages total (longer than the 1-page rules for Yomi and Flash Duel), but only 4 of those pages are actually how to play. The other 4 are just a chip-by-chip FAQ for various rules issues you might encounter later. And the first four pages are only as long as they are because of all the graphics and visual aids.
The rulebook is not 100% finished, but it's pretty close. As of this writing, the link leads to version 4.7, but it will updated a bit more before release. Oh, and if you're having trouble viewing it in your web browser, then right click the link and download it, and view the pdf in Adobe Acrobat Reader, or better yet, in Apple Preview.
You can see the latest chip files, too. They are also at version 4.7 as of this writing, but these links will lead to whatever the latest version is at the time:
www.sirlin.net/ps/chips1
www.sirlin.net/ps/chips2
I'm targeting a summer release here, and unlike with Flash Duel, I think I'll be able to take pre-orders this time. That is going to be pretty critical on my end actually, to even be able to afford to manufacture it, and kind of critical on your end too if you want to actually get a copy, considering the run is pretty small. More details on pre-ordering (both the regular and all-wood deluxe version) to follow in the next few weeks. Oh, and just maybe it will launch in Canada too. Still working on it, and have made some progress!
If you'd like to playtest a (not yet great) online version, stop by sirlin.net/chat and ask around for some help. For questions or comments, try the boardgamegeek.com page. Don't forget to become a "fan" there, too. ;)
Reader Comments (33)
Responding to the comments about "ripping off" Dominion. I agree with Sirlin that his extension of the mechanics makes the gameplay much different. Thunderstone is also a blatant reworking of the Dominion mechanics, although not as much fun, and people didn't seem to get all hung up about it.
Personally, I'm more bothered by the clear adoption of Matthan's graphic design for the chips - basically copying his Dominion chip variant design (on boardgamegeek.com). I sure hope he's either Sirlin's graphic designer for the game, or at least getting some credit for his previous work.
Quick typo: On page 6, under "Running out of chips" in the "More Rules" box, there is a missing "of" before "1-gems" in the last sentence (running out *of* 1-gems).
As a side note, I personally find the use of "though" in that sentence awkward and would change it to read more like this: "Be sure to check page 8 for exceptions/special rules for running out of 1-gems or wounds". The "be sure" and/or the word "exceptions" could convey what you were trying to communicate with "though"--i.e., this sentence does not cover all situations of running out of chips. The rules as they are wouldn't confuse anyone, but if you are making other changes you might as well fix the typo.
Also, to back up Archon, the back of the box did make me wonder if there would be a playmat (I'd leave it out though in favor of low cost). Really excited to play this game. Also like Archon, I am interested in price estimates for the two versions once they are available. For clarification: you've said that the deluxe version has a wooden box and wooden chips, but the standard version has a cardboard box and what kind of chips (heavy cardboard?)? Honestly, I don't really care about a wooden box but would appreciate wooden chips (if they aren't wooden in the standard). As a cost-sensitive individual that nevertheless appreciates quality products, I could see a market for a cardboard-boxed, wooden chip set (though I obviously don't know if the wooden box really accounts for much of the cost of the deluxe set). Just a thought.
Good work Sirlin.
It's all 100% done, in hands of manufacturing. There will be all wood version and cardboard version and no other version. No matter how you slice it, it's expensive to make small runs of a game with almost 350 chips, no matter what they are made out of.
Pre-orders will be available probably next week.
I've been looking into this game as I'm very interested in the deck-building mechanic and have been working on several designs of my own to use it. I've spoken to David at least once about it and I'm anticipating this game (for some reasons good, some reasons bad, trying to see what will come of it).
In regards to the rulebook, I think that some of the more informal segments like:
"There are a lot of symbols and terms on the chips."
"The rest of this stuff is
just annoying, nitpicky rules in case you get stuck on some detail. You
already know enough to start playing, so get started! Oh,"
...could be eschewed to make the game sound more professional and less informal (unless you're really going that route).
Also, after seeing the following tagline for the last few months: “A card game played with chips instead of cards that simulates a puzzle game (that doesn’t exist) that simulates a fighting game (that also doesn’t exist),” I am beginning to think that this should be replaced. I think it's a bit of an inside joke for your audience that limits greater marketing potential, and there are a lot of boardgamers that are absolutely interested in a more theme-rich deck-building game but aren't necessarily familiar with or interested in the Puzzle Fighter reference (it doesn't smack me as something that is easy to explain, especially without referencing you or your blog in some way).
Little note, while I agree with you on many boardgames having terrible rulebooks, the practice of writing a rulebook is VERY difficult for a designer. We see our game with vastly different eyes than the person sitting across from us that we are trying to teach. Whenever I sit down to write a full ruleset, I tend to waste more time avoiding it because the words aren't coming to me the right way. However, there are significant benefits to writing a great rulebook (the Essen Feather is an achievement of this work), but a lot of the time it's either poor translation or the rule-writing edit is lost in transition from design to publication.
Aside from that, the layout looks great and absorption-friendly, and I think you just need tweaks. The choice to go with game-then-glossary really benefits this type of game, too.
Actually there will be no more tweaks because the game is done and being manufactured. Also, I disagree with the notion that "professional" and "informal" are opposites. Really, "professional" is a code-word for stilted writing most of the time. If anything, it's more professional to speak plain English, in my opinion.
Also, when I said rulebooks are often bad, I wasn't really referring to the difficulty you mention. Yes, that is a very serious source of difficulty, I agree, but I meant most rulebooks I've seen fail at a much more basic level than that. By having 100 pages, for example. Or by being printed on horrible blue noisy backgrounds with unstyled, solid-colored pink sidebars (maybe you know what I mean...). There are a few rulebooks that are great (Revolution!) but I found it surprising how many seemed like non-starters for various typographical or gramatical reasons, like they weren't even really trying. Not sure what's going on there.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the game, despite the tag-line.
So is the balance finalized as well?
ApooloAndy yes, here are some quotes from above:
"It's all 100% done, in hands of manufacturing."
"Actually there will be no more tweaks because the game is done and being manufactured."
So yeah, it's done and it's being manufactured. ;)
Hey Sirlin,
I don't want to miss out on pre-orders. Will you announce it on your blog? Or where should I stay tuned for announcements about where/how to pre-order?
Yeah, I'm waiting the pre-order too, I think I "F5" your website a hundred times a day XD.
Pre-orders ARE up, actually. After waiting a while for David to announce them, I clicked the store link and saw there were already in there.
Prices are high enough to give you pause ($75 and $160, including a pre-order rebate), but shipping is very low ($9 to Canada), which is where international customers usually get ripped-off.
Note that I'm not claiming there's anything wrong with the price -- $75 is a legitimate price for a board game so high on components. It's just that when David said "significantly more expensive than Flash Duel", I was expecting $40 and $80, or so. I mean, nowadays when I pay $150 for a deluxe edition, I've been made to expect a giant helmet or night-vision goggles. We know whom to blame.
I'm still getting it - good games are rarer than hundred dollar bills - but it's unlikely I'll clear the deluxe edition by my girlfriend -- not if I want to get any future expansions.
We also get a price quote on Yomi ($17 per deck, $200 for the full set of ten), which is puzzling: what do you get for an extra $30, besides a storage box? While I like the lower barrier of entry the individual decks produce, it'd probably be a good idea to make the Complete box the "deluxe edition" and offer a full 10-characters package (just the individual character decks, no special packaging) for, say, $150 -- get one character free when you buy all ten together.
What about a "poor version"? =).
75 dolars almost sounds like a joke, it's really expensive for me...
No idea if you read old comments, Sirlin, but the chips links here (chips1/chips2) are NOT the latest version of the chips. The files say version 4.7 and I can spot that they definitely don't have Lum's change to Living on the Edge and Panda's Bargain.
Yes of course, because you're reading an old post. The latest chip images are at http://www.sirlingames.com/pages/puzzle-strike-chip-images and the latest rules are at sirlin.net/ps/rules