No, not that kind of fireball. This one isn’t about that cinnamon whiskey that some people like to slam down; honestly, I can’t stand that stuff. It’s a bit much, you know?
No, this one is about a board game my parents dug out of their basement and dropped off at our house this past weekend. Do you remember this game? I do; it’s a classic.
No Outside Adventures Allowed
“Rain, rain, go away, come again another day..” was the theme this past weekend. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday all featured rainy/gloomy days. The Hattie and Dad adventure would have to be indoor this weekend. So why not some classic Fireball Island for some family fun?
Last week was a bear; forced to apply for my job at work, cornered into taking a demotion as a “promotion” as my current job no longer exists…let’s just say it was a brutal one. Enough so that I wasn’t able to get in the mood to get in on the #engagetheweekend question that 
Believe it or not, all the pieces still exist. The board is still intact, and the fireball monster, Vulkar, that rules the island still works. How did we not destroy any of this? I don’t know, to be honest. I mean, look at this piece of art!
The complexity of the adventure game was lost on my daughter, but Hattie seemed to appreciate the three-dimensional aspect of this game. Who wouldn’t, to be honest? This game was all the rage back in the day.
The game actually has quite a number of rules to it; I glanced through the rule book and it seemed more complicated than I remember it being. Cards, choices, more rules…were games that much more sophisticated back then? Or has my mid-40s brain just lost its board game savvy?
The premise is simple; be the first to get to the jewel first. Then, one must escape off of the island by getting to the boat landing. All the while, you must avoid other players, and most importantly, avoid those damn fireballs!
I knew the rules were a bit too complex for Hattie at her age, so I let her come up with her own rules. Here they are, for reference:
- Hattie goes first
- Hattie has to always be in the lead
- Hattie gets the jewel first
- Hattie loses interest
Here are some highlights of this exciting adventure.
The Layout
The layout is pretty cool, to be honest. Place four marbles/fireballs on four separate locations on the game board. Also, place one marble inside Vulkar.
Two bridges then go up, and the jewel goes near the top of the mountain.
We set up two pieces for each of us: Hattie was blue, and I chose red.
Then the Hattie rules began to play out; note the red player is already behind.
So far so good, but we’re starting to fade a bit here, and intrigued by Mabel's dog carrier...
Back to the game, you can see the blue piece is just about ready to capture the jewel.
Also, we’ve decided we’ve needed Halloween music on my Droid phone.
Here I cheated and sent a fireball after the escaping blue piece…Hattie didn’t seem to mind.
Some shakes of the die later, and again I cheated and sent the fireball barreling down upon her blue piece on the bridge.
More laughs, more Halloween music, until finally, the blue piece made its way to the boat landing by swimming. Hattie wins at yet another game. Amazing how that works out, isn’t it?
A Future Family Game ?
I think so! She might be a bit young now, but this game will definitely be fun to play when she's older. My wife was even intrigued by the game and the game board...we'll have to return to some serious Indiana Jones esque fun soon enough. That is if I can remember the rules...
That was it for this past weekend. What do you think? Have you played this game before? Do you own it? Or am I that old you have no idea what any of this was above? If you are young and reading this, you can think of this as "what us kids born in the 1970's" thought was equivalent to the current Nintendo Switch. Ok, maybe that was the Atari 2600 for me, but hey, this game brought some serious street cred with the neighborhood kids. Thank you K-Mart clearance rack! Now you are probably asking, "what is a K-Mart?"
If you do own this game and want to part with it, I've noticed that it goes for quite a bit of money on eBay. That's a big if you are willing to part with this nostalgic piece of board game history, that is. I will not, of course. Instead, I will save it for a future raining day.
Hoping everyone out there in weekend land had a wonderful and dry Saturday and Sunday. Back to the grind, as it were. If the weather cooperates, I'm thinking it' time for a Mothman adventure next Saturday. Thanks, always, for reading!