 |
| By Restoration Games |
Reignited and Restored
Today, Get Hype! takes a look at a hotly anticipated game by Restoration Games, the remake of the legendary 80's board game: FIREBALL ISLAND!!! If you were anything like me in the 80's, and by that I mean POOR, then really all you have to remember the game by was this commercial:
I mean, MAN. Look at that! LOOK AT THAT! It's Indiana Jones the board game, complete with giant rolling boulder, but it's ON FIRE! I feel bad for my parents, because after seeing this commercial as a kid, most of my conversations about board games sounded like this:
"Do you want to play Monopoly?" Are there volcanoes in Monopoly?
"How about Battleship?" Can I actually SINK your Battleship?
"Scrabble?" I want to scrabble your brains with some FIREBALLS!
Who could go back to traditional board games when games like Fireball Island proved that the future was now... In 1986...
Those of you lucky enough to actually own a copy, like my wife did as she's apt to remind me of on a regular basis (the lucky jerk), have fond memories of scaling mountains, stealing treasure, and most importantly, firebombing the crap out of your friends. The Restoration Games version looks to expand upon the original, while updating some of the rules for the modern board gaming community.
In a Mike Meeple exclusive interview, designer Rob Daviau gives us an idea that this balance was not as easy as people assume, "Trying to combine nostalgia for the original with a fresh approach. If it is too different, people will say it’s not their Fireball Island. Too similar and we didn’t give a good reason to have the new one. Too big and it’s not profitable. Too small and it isn’t as big as people remember..."
Well, it is definitely bigger. Along with the inclusion of plastic trees that will deflect oncoming fireballs and more treasure scattered about the board, the Fireball Island reboot looks to give players more options while traversing the mountain, but also adding 3(!) mouths for fireballs to spill out of, making even more chaos to deal with.
Unfortunately, not everyone will be able to take advantage of the fruits of Mr. Daviau's work, "Fireball Island was our most requested game and, more importantly, we were able to secure the rights." Those rights give Restoration Games the ability to sell their version of Fireball Island in the US, Canada, EU, and Australia. Rights to Fireball Island remain with another company in all other regions of the world, and, you know, unless breaking international copyright law is only a minor thing, I doubt that will be changing anytime soon.
 |
| This game STILL looks rad... |
I mean, MAN. Look at that! LOOK AT THAT! It's Indiana Jones the board game, complete with giant rolling boulder, but it's ON FIRE! I feel bad for my parents, because after seeing this commercial as a kid, most of my conversations about board games sounded like this:
"Do you want to play Monopoly?" Are there volcanoes in Monopoly?
"How about Battleship?" Can I actually SINK your Battleship?
"Scrabble?" I want to scrabble your brains with some FIREBALLS!
Who could go back to traditional board games when games like Fireball Island proved that the future was now... In 1986...
 |
| Is it Fireball Island?!? |
Those of you lucky enough to actually own a copy, like my wife did as she's apt to remind me of on a regular basis (the lucky jerk), have fond memories of scaling mountains, stealing treasure, and most importantly, firebombing the crap out of your friends. The Restoration Games version looks to expand upon the original, while updating some of the rules for the modern board gaming community.
In a Mike Meeple exclusive interview, designer Rob Daviau gives us an idea that this balance was not as easy as people assume, "Trying to combine nostalgia for the original with a fresh approach. If it is too different, people will say it’s not their Fireball Island. Too similar and we didn’t give a good reason to have the new one. Too big and it’s not profitable. Too small and it isn’t as big as people remember..."
Well, it is definitely bigger. Along with the inclusion of plastic trees that will deflect oncoming fireballs and more treasure scattered about the board, the Fireball Island reboot looks to give players more options while traversing the mountain, but also adding 3(!) mouths for fireballs to spill out of, making even more chaos to deal with.
 |
| So many balls... It's like amateur night at Chippendales... |
Unfortunately, not everyone will be able to take advantage of the fruits of Mr. Daviau's work, "Fireball Island was our most requested game and, more importantly, we were able to secure the rights." Those rights give Restoration Games the ability to sell their version of Fireball Island in the US, Canada, EU, and Australia. Rights to Fireball Island remain with another company in all other regions of the world, and, you know, unless breaking international copyright law is only a minor thing, I doubt that will be changing anytime soon.
Curse of Vul-Kar
When asked about other cult favorites from the 80's and 90's, specifically games like 13 Dead End Drive, Daviau played things a little close to the chest, "13 Dead End Drive’s following has only gotten on our radar recently so that’s another game to investigate. Many of these games we are not able to get the rights to but we look at a lot of options..."
Let me be the first to encourage you, Mr. Daviau, and all of Restoration Games, to keep going after those rights. If you can get 13 Dead End Drive, Weapons and Warriors, and Crossfire, you will officially become my favorite designer (don't be sad, Eric Lang, you'll always have a special place in my heart).
As of the writing of this post, Fireball Island is live on Kickstarter until May 3rd, so there' s plenty of time to jump on. With an ambitious delivery date of November 2018, Mr. Daviau assures me that he's learned a lot in Restoration Games' relatively short history, "We tried to do a lot of prep before [the Kickstarter Campaign] started, which helped, but we are still busy every day keeping things going."
He will certainly be busy too, "We have an expansion for Downforce (our racing game) coming out this summer (two new tracks and six new player powers). We also have a kids game coming out called Dinosaur Tea Party, that will be out in the summer. It’s a light deduction game where you play dinosaurs at a tea party."
Personally, I have been reading a lot online about how the price tag for Fireball Island is a little steep for a kid's game (the base pledge is $60 USD). For my money, $60 is a small price to pay for some quality time with your children. Especially when this game has a history of giving them memories that will last until they're as old as my wife and I are. She constantly tells me, "It was such a good game. You should have played it." Well, now, I get to.
Don't forget to Share, Comment, and Subscribe!
If you like what I have to say, make sure you follow me on Twitter @Mike_Meeple
or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MikeMeeple
Comments
Post a Comment