Fireball Island

It was Christmas 1988 and the last one that my whole family enjoyed together. My parents had just divorced but still came to my aunt and uncle’s house for the holiday, so it was one of the most vivid holiday memories I have. It was the first year my aunt and uncle offered us the Christmas Box, where my brother and I could take the contents of the box or $10. My older brother took the $10, leaving my younger brother to dig through all the crap they put in the box, including about thirty bucks in hidden $5 bills.

That wasn’t the best gift of that day, and neither was the Transformers double Power Master Doubledealer I received, which was still pretty awesome. No, the best gift my brothers and I got was Fireball Island. “The Dimensional Adventure Game of Pitfalls and Perils!” had players climbing to the peak of the Fireball Island to be the first to obtain a jewel from the idol Vul-Kar and return to the beach. But watch out, Vul-Kar will burn and crush you to death, spewing fireballs until all the treasure hunters are destroyed.

Fireball Island was unlike practically any board game I’d ever played because instead of laying flat on a table, it rose with a full 3-dimensional topography. Hell, the box itself was twice as tall as any board game I’ve ever owned before. Many valleys and canyons ran from the peak in the center down to the base of the mountain in fabulous molded detail. Each individually named path is marked with spots players travel along with each roll of the dice, and small indents and caves dotted each trail. Pieces included in the game acted as bridges over some canyons, offering players precarious paths.

As players made their way up the island, red marble fireballs would careen down their path, either when a player rolled a 1 on the die or played a Fireball card. If a player gets hit by the fireball (or knocked off a bridge by one), they end up in a smolder pit or water and may lose a turn or two before they can attempt their run again. As soon as a player reaches the idol and steals the jewel, it’s a race to the beach, with every other player trying to steal the jewel for themselves. 

Of course, the fireballs are the primary draw of the game, with five of them placed atop the board at various locations. Any time a player rolls a 1 or plays a fireball card, they can pick a fireball to roll down the chutes to run over other players. I remember doing it all the time, even when not playing the game, just to run over the miniature figures lined up in the valley. The best spot though was inside Vul-Kar’s idol itself, which players can rotate atop its spot at the peak to go down any path on the board, which is where my brightest memory of that Christmas lays.

You have to remember that I was 11 when we got this game. While everyone else was busy watching my brothers open their presents, I looked around to make sure no one was looking. When I saw everyone was occupied, I enacted my plan – to push the marble out of the idol with my tongue. I got into position and the marble rolled out, and as soon as the mission was accomplished, I discovered that my Uncle Kurt had witnessed the whole thing. He just looked at me, smiling and shaking his head. My secret was safe with him.

Even though the game has been updated after a successful Kickstarter campaign, the original game still holds a special place in my heart, and not just because it was my first French kiss.