Fireball Island

One of the games I never owned but once I learned about I would've killed to have owned is Fireball Island.

First published by Milton Bradley in 1986, it's hands down one of the single coolest looking board games ever made. It's got so many aspects to it, it comes with so many pieces and the overall game itself can be rather complex at times, but just look at this gorgeous thing. I believe this image is of the redesigned Kickstarted version from the past few years, but even then it's incredible. The level of detail and the amount of artistry that went into this is nothing short of astounding, especially when compared to other board games, and especially when compared to other board games near its original release date. Stuff simply didn't look like this back then. Now-a-days, board games can be very visually complex and interesting, but back in 1986, this sort of thing just wasn't really done. Board games mostly had all the art on the board itself, unless you were something like Mouse Trap that came with a full apparatus.

Not to mention the genre of it alone is rather unique. It's a treasure hunting game that takes place entirely on an island where an angry god can spew fireballs at you from a volcano and other players can steal the jewel from you in order to win. It's got a very 1940s adventure sort of setting, and I love that sort of thing, so it instantly appeals to me. What's even cooler is that the newer version comes with expansion pieces to make the board even bigger, and that's awesome. Having these giant set pieces really gives the board a true life and personality, and there's nothing better than a truly visually engaging board game, and nothing worse than a game that simply puts colored boxes on a piece of board leading to the end goal.

Now, there might actually be a genuine reason why this game is so cool, and that's because it was invented by two artist/toy designers by the names of Bruce Lund and Chuck Kennedy.

Lund, owner and founder of the company Lund & Company Invention, also had a hand in putting out the Tickle Me Elmo doll, just to give you a taste of how big time this guy is. They also were involved with Baby Alive, which I remember the commercials of from my youth far more than I wish I did, and lots of other various toys. Chuck, on the other hand, worked for Applause while developing ideas after always having taken an interest in art and such from a young age. Always making up stories and adventures with his own toys, he eventually crafted a prototype of Fireball Island which was then bought by Milton Bradley and combined with elements of a second game to create the full thing in its entirety. Applause, for those who don't know, is yet another toy company, most known for - in my opinion - their enormous figurine lineup from popular pre-existing IPs. Hell, I myself own a lot of Applause stuff simply because, for the longest time, they were the best at what they did.

Sadly, and this is somewhat only partially related to the topic, Applause filed for bankruptcy in 2004, after CEO Bob Solomon took his own life once he realized it wasn't going to be a successful company any longer, and was then acquired, in name only, by Russ Berrie, later known as Kids Inc, which produces, mostly, toys and things solely for toddlers and extremely young children sold primarily through baby superstores. Why Russ Berrie's company would want the brand name of Applause, especially if just to sit on it and never bring it back to market, makes absolutely no sense, but I found it somewhat interesting enough to include here, nonetheless.

Anyway, I think it's because Lund was a toy inventor himself and Kennedy was an artist that they managed to create something really unique and not done before. With toy halves of two different, yet semi similar, types of people involved, they managed to bring together something that was totally different...a 3D printed board game, complete with massive set pieces, center pieces and more. It's just a shame that, even if we managed to get it brought back in the last few years, board games back then didn't follow suite and learn from its differences. We could've wound up with a lot of other cool stuff like it.

The point of Fireball Island is simple enough; traverse the island, traveling through caves, picking up cards that could hurt either you or another player, all while avoiding fireballs that could knock you down and lose you a turn or knock you off of bridges, and get to the jewel which you then must take back to your escape boat, all while avoiding the other players around you trying to steal the jewel for themselves. That's the extremely easy way to put it, anyway. If you want to look more into the games rules itself, I highly suggest reading up the Wikipedia article on it, because it can get somewhat in depth.

I found an article from the last few years in which Chuck Kennedy discusses his inspiration, the birth of the game and his feelings towards the industry these days, and one thing he said really caught my eye. He mentioned how sad it is to see the industry not take chances, especially now, and everyone just copies whatever the latest most popular and successful thing is so they can hope to get a piece of that money pie for themselves, and, honestly, I couldn't agree more. Kennedy and Lund really made something totally unique back then, and while a lot of more minor known board games these days have sort of the same ideas and do the same things, the more mainstream stuff simply doesn't. If anything, things have become even more sterile and watered down as time has gone on.

Fireball Island stands as a true testament to just how artistic and innovative a board game can really be if only given the chance, and has a person with a solid vision leading the way. Even with the re-release, which is a great thing to have, we'll likely never get anything else truly like it, but that's okay. At least we got Fireball Island.

And in an industry chock full of knock offs and repeats, we're lucky to have even just one game boldly stand up and proclaim itself to be different.