Differences between 2nd edition and latest?

Hi everyone.

I love Puzzle Strike and years ago I snagged up Puzzle Strike 2nd edition for just $10 :slight_smile: Today, I finally picked up the Shadowlands expansion in the most recent printing. Does anyone have a list of all the differences made between the two editions? I’d like to know all the differences between 2nd edition and 3rd edition so I’m aware of them while playing.

Thanks!

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Like a billion.
I personally recommend not mixing versions. Stick to one or the other.

Conveniently, Puzzle Strike Shadows is still a stand alone game that works fine as just one box, so your purchase definitely wasn’t wasted.

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The change logs I found in old threads were now dead dropbox urls (except for this photo of someone’s edited chips), but you can browse the 3E base set chips here and compare yourself.

The big overhaul between the editions was Combine gaining -$1, which prompted a lot of changes to other chips too. 2E chips play fine under 3E rules for the most part, but a couple of characters are a bit too good and the following changes are usually recommended:

Rook
Stone Wall
Main: +chip + pig
Reaction: Reflect any gems sent to a player to the bank. (Just trash them.)

Argagarg
Hex of Murkwood
+blue
Each opponent gains a wound or discards two wounds.

Additionally, there are actually two versions of 2E around, as there was an upgrade pack for it that included screens, playmats and three new bank chips, but also slightly rebalanced character chips. I don’t remember what exactly was affected there, but if you have just the base 2E then Val’s Burst of Speed at least is something you may or may not want to change.

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Thanks. My version of 2E is the upgrade pack version then. I think I should be okay just to replace the Combines with the updated ones and play with the two of them.

I just like the base bank a lot more than the expansion bank :joy:

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Off the top of my head, the changes to common and puzzle chips between 2.5E and 3E were:

  • :ps_1: combine
  • Buffs to every puzzle chip with pigs on it:
    ** Secret move gains a :blackarrow: and became cheaper (3->1)
    ** One of each is cheaper (6->5)
    ** Training Day puts the gained chip in your hand rather than discarding it.
  • Combinatorics doubles combines instead of punishing them, and is now purple
  • Mix Master does a combine rather than gaining a combine chip, and has a red-purple banner as a result
  • Knockdown is reworked; it doesn’t reveal hand and the opponent chooses what to discard, but it turns off their :pspurpleshield:s for the turn. Its old :redarrow: became a :purplearrow:. Basically, it’s a rushdown attack now.
  • Thinking ahead is cheaper (3->2) and has an extra +:ps_: on its main. But the reaction trashes it.
  • Combo Practice has been renamed Chip Damage, and putting the chip on top of the bag is optional.

Two more changes were made for the new multiplayer rules but are irrelevant 1v1:

  • Stolen Purples only affects one opponent.
  • Gems to Gemonade gives money to the target of the crash instead of the player that sent them.

As far as characters go, I think everyone except :chibisetsuki: changed at least a little.

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Ooooooh, there were a lot of changes. Now I wish I owned 3rd edition of the base game…

Thanks!

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From what I’ve heard, you can basically use the combine rule and keep things as normal, if you’re not aiming to get intensely into the game.

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