We’re back this week with Land Maker. A game whose immaculate style precedes it, Land Maker is a certified banger who takes Puzzle Fighter’s “just make squares” ethos and shifts it to an isometric plane. Come press buttons with us challonge.com/PWLandMaker3rd

We’re back this week with Pochi and Nyaa. Compile’s last effort in a post-Puyo world, Pochi focuses on pathfinding builds over chaining, as well as more poke oriented neutral since every piece you get can be converted to an attack. It’s a good time challonge.com/PWPochiNyaa8th

And Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2 opting for a character and CVS2 style groove system. The game is slower, normal damage is reduced and certain meter build options allow you to erase damage, but the offensive options you can spend on are downright oppressive compared to the prior titles

Stack Columns (also apparently playable on Fightcade and like, we just never checked) attempts to split the difference between II and III. You’re allowed to choose between a “set it and forget it” type where damage instantly resolves after a move or the Columns III “delayed gratification” style

Columns III plays with some interesting ideas decoupling damage from the moment a chain resolves, allowing you to store your attack for a later point and encouraging you to be mindful of your opponents board state and next queue and hitting them where it really hurts.

Columns II holds a bit more of a reputation for being a sickos game, but versus can be wild II tends to weigh towards dumping as many resources into a single clear over chaining, leading towards making a giant x shape, both players tanking the hit and picking up the pieces from there

We’ll be doing a lobby night for Columns I, II, III, Stack and Hanagumi Sakura Taisen 2, each with their own texture and metagame Speaking of 1, I was “last week” years old when I figured out the Flash Columns mode in it had a versus mode, so we have the joy of discovery ahead of us

The problem with slowing down a bit this year means that we run into quandaries on how to fit everything we’ve come to love over the years. Sometimes a series manages to hit so many unique notes that it’s hard to give it the coverage it deserves So please join us this week for “Oops, All Columns”

If Puzzle Fighter is all about making squares, Toryumon argues “why not circles?”. Given pieces with a bunch of circle fragments, you can extrapolate some wild chain theory, especially when damage/chain resolution also feels more circle fragments. Come play with us challonge.com/PWDragon1st

Putting the “Tennis” in Tetris, Puzzle King is a 4-in-1 bootleg with a wild take on the game. Damage patterns are absurd, but don’t ever let that worry you. All you ever need is a single to send it right back to your opponent. See how long you can keep the volley going challonge.com/PWKingTet3rd

We’ve got a lobby night this week and we’re playing Mr. Driller G. Deciding to Trojan Horse it’s puzzle elements, Mr. Driller tasks you with navigating your little guy down to the bottom of an overfilled match 4 color board. We’ll be running both Race and Survival, so come get some games in

We’re back this week with Magical Drop III. No real frills this time, just bringing you some primo Uppy Downy™️ cuts. Come play with us in one of the strongest rush down puzzlers out there challonge.com/PWMagDrop11th

We’re playing Magical Tetris Challenge this week. This game is up there in the “fucked up Tetris Pantheon”, with the game handing you some wild pieces for losing a trade, like pentaminos and The Star™️ Come out this Wednesday and hit us with a Hyuck Yeah challonge.com/PWMagical3rd

We’ve got a lobby night coming up this week, and we’re bringing back Sorcery Slam Building off of Dr. Mario 64 as a solid base, Sorcery Slam further enhances the experience with an interesting item pool, sleek handling and a lot of casual friendly modes Come help us get a 6 player match going

We’re playing Puzzle Bobble 4 this week. The funny one. With chains. Given this game’s penchant for having one good character, we’re opting for the good ol’ Magical Drop Mirrors™️ for balance and variety’s sake. Come watch shit explode challonge.com/PWBobble21st

We’ve got a lobby night this week for Crossroad Crisis While this Pipe Dreams-esque tile shifter isn’t inherently an interactive VS game like a lot of what we rep, the urgent tempo and ease of falling off completely and losing off one mistake allows for more of a pressure cooker situation than most

We’re rounding out funny month with Glocal Hexcite. Funny that Glocal Hexcite isn’t a conventional arcade puzzler, rather it’s a port of a board game brought to the PSX. Given a hexagonal board and a bunch of tangrams, you’re looking to maximize your board real estate and deny your opponent moves

We’ve got one of the PuzWed perennial “Good Bad” games this week: Gururin. A game that asks “what if you rotate the board instead of pieces” and not much else. However, that doesn’t stop some of our more intrinsically motivated players from finding cool tech challonge.com/PWGururin4th

We’re back with a PuzWed first: diving into the PC Engine library with Spin Pair. This game asks you to put together two halves of a shape to make a clear, like those heart shaped couples necklaces you had back in high school. We’ll be running the sets in our lobby night this Wednesday evening

We tend to do April Fools differently around here (like not doing anything on the actual day). We cover the entirety of funny month with off the wall picks, like UnStack Take Dr. Mario (sorta), make it 3D and give it a very clip art aesthetic possible. Come play with us challonge.com/PWUnstack3rd

This week we’ve got another great in the “violently volatile puzzler” genre, Welltris. A game that asks you to jockey for position and arguably has more fighting game neutral than puzzle, it’s always a blast to play and watch. We hope to see you this Wednesday, 8:30 pm EST challonge.com/PWWell4th

If you’re not so lucky? Don’t fret, you can rejoin the line, no issue at all. We’ll be streaming from 8:30 PM EST to about 11 (depending on vibes or if @ratttz.bsky.social wants to go to bed earlier)

We’re doing a bit extra this month with a King of the Hill event. Starting at our usual time, drop a coin emote to join the “cabinet queue”, bring your favorite game and if you become the king ala “Winner stays on”, you’ll be subject to the next player’s fave It’s a fun time with a wide variety

I wanted to give a shout out to @phenotype.bsky.social for providing a set of ARS trio acrylics as secondary prizes for Puyo Puyo Sun They’re incredibly cool and regrettably I didn’t capture the whole set of them before they split paths post-Max Mode

We’re back this week with some no frills, no fuss, good old fashioned Puzzle Bobble. The aim and shoot premise belies a vicious game with brutal RNG and frantic tempo where on wrong play might cost you the entire round Plus Bub is there. We like Bub challonge.com/PWBobble20th

Puyo Sun went over much better than we had hoped for an “off the beaten trail” pick. Long live warm days, matching blobs and beachwear vibes Your top 3 are 🥇 @s2lsoftener.bsky.social 🥈 @oz-puzzle.bsky.social 🥉 @pwjuicey.bsky.social

MAX MODE is in the books and we had a hell of a time. Magical Drop III got a boost with CRTs Kajoq allowed us to use for bracket and a phone recording setup (expect uploads later) And shoutouts to our top 3 🥇 @playmagicaldrop.com 🥈 @dekafumopuzzle.bsky.social 🥉 @critifect.bsky.social

We’re back this week with Mouse Shooter GoGo, one of the most stressful games ever. In a “Puzzle Bobble meets Dodgeball fashion”, you get two win conditions between clearing your board or simply choosing to throw something at your opponent when they’re off guard. It’s wild challonge.com/PWMouse4th

Have you ever felt that Dr. Mario NES just didn‘t have enough wacky movement tech? Well, buddy, Tetris 2 has got your back. We’re running a lobby night for the game at 8:30 PM EST and it’ll be a hoot. Press buttons with us in the game that’ll really make you pause and consider “This game sure is 2”

Hey friends, we’re bringing back lobby nights this year, and kicking this off tomorrow is the return of Tetris 2 (or Tetris Flash in Japan) Either way, it ends up being a bit of a misnomer all the same as Tetris 2 ends up skewing towards being a Dr. Mario with target pieces being the major focus