Review: Fireball Island: Race to Adventure

The year was 1986 and a fun new game from Milton Bradley hit the market. Fireball Island was born. In May of 2018 Restoration Games revived Fireball Island with 3 expansions and all the fixings that come with doing a large Kickstarter. Both of these are not what we are reviewing here. Today we bring you Fireball Island Race to Adventure. In 2021 Restoration and Goliath released this version of Fireball Island. Race to Adventure is a scaled down version of the 2018 release and has none of the bells and whistles of its 2018 sister. That being said it still packs a lot of fun.

Fireball Island RtA has the same table presence as the original and its 2018 remake.The board is 3 formed plastic pieces that stack together to form the island. When you are taking them out of the box pay attention to how they were in there. It took me a couple of tries to get everything back into the box. Along with the board there are 6 ember marbles, 4 fireball marbles, 7 trees, four plastic figures along, 2 bridges treasure tokens, a die and the Vul-Kar statue. There is also the deck of cards and the heart of Val-Kur.

Setting the game up is straight forward. once you get the island setup then Val-Kur goes on top, next to him place the Heart of Val-Kur gem. Place all the treasure tokens randomly face down on the treasure spots on the island. When you put the trees in the spots for the tree make sure you face them towards Val-Kur. The six ember marbles are placed in the starting spots on the middle section of the island. Shuffle the deck of cards and place a player token for each player on the helipad spot.

The basics of the game are simple. Draw a card and move that many spots and preform whatever other action is listed on the card. As you come across spots with the red arrows on them you can take the adjacent treasure token. Once all three of the special treasure tokens are drawn then the game ends when one of the players makes it back to the helipad.

So when do we get to all the marble action?

So when do we get to all the marble action? The marbles are triggered by the cards you draw. The Marble action comes in two ways. The first is a card that will allow you to push an ember marble. The second will let you the 4 fireball marbles into Val-Kur there are three ramps out of the statue so it gets pretty random and fun at this point of the game. The marbles will follow the different paths down the island to the edge of the board. Once the marbles stop At the beginning of your turn you can pick your charecter up and keep moving. If you were hit by a marble on another players turn they can take any one of your treasures if its your turn and you managed to hit your own figure with a marble then lose a treasure of your choice. Long story short don't get hit by fireballs (or embers) its bad for you.

Long story short don't get hit by fireballs (or embers) its bad for you.

FIreball Island RtA keeps everything streamlined and easy making this a hit for family night. The simplicity of the movement and the light weight rule book is perfect for the younger gamers. The game will reinforce dexterity skills and light weight strategy. The game is also great for my generation because we grew up with this game and the nostalgia factor is very cool. By no means think that your getting the awesome 2018 kickstarter version the expansions that are available for Fireball Island Curese of Val-Kur will not work with this version. The Island is smaller than the 2018 version including the marbles. I picked this up from target on sale for $12 USD and I did not expect much and was pleasantly surprised.

When the last special treasure is found and one of the players makes it to the helipad the game is over and its time to count up points to find out who won. Normal treasure is worth 1 point Special treasure is worth 2 If you were the one to make it the the helipad first you get 4 points and if you have the heart of Val-Kur you get 6 points. Highest point total wins. The simple math helps reinforce this as a good choice for the younger players.

Fireball Island Race to Adventure is a great game for family game night. I played with my best friend and his 7 year old son. His son really like the game we must have played 6 other games with him that night including munchkin and this was his favorite of the night. If you have some younger players at game night this would be a great fit.

Players: 1-4

Year Published: 2021

Recommended Ages: 7+

Time to Play: 30 minutes