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Milton Bradley’s FIREBALL ISLAND!

Yay, done. Sorry, had some siiide business going on and it had to take precedence, because I wanted a reason to use the word "precedence." But now I'm here, and we are one again. Bet you thought it'd feel more special. Specialer? Course, I'm zipping back out in a minute anyway, so don't get used to me, I'll only disappoint. Before the big return to my casket of choice, as Uncle Louis would say, the blesss-sing: Fireball Island was one of the best games ever in the entire world, and clicking that link will take you to my tribute hof hit. It's the tale of multicolored explorers traveling the uncharted jungle on the hunt for jewels and on the run from fireballs, told at last.

Posted by Matt on 01/26/2005. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 156 comments

Oh. Fuck. Yes.
I have a new favorite X-E article.

Chestnuts roasted by Mike Fireball @ 01/27/2005 1:49 AM

Holy shit the article number is my birthday.

Chestnuts roasted by Mike Fireball again. @ 01/27/2005 1:55 AM

Matt – review Itt From The Pitt and Dizzy Devil!

Chestnuts roasted by Dan @ 01/27/2005 2:25 AM

I loved this game when I was growning up. I used to play it with my step brother, my sister, and my cousin. Fun times. We also liked to replace the marbles with ball-barings (too lazy to spell correctly) so you really feared the fireball coming for you.

Chestnuts roasted by Sean @ 01/27/2005 2:54 AM

I remember this game. Quite good. Does anyone remember The Real Ghostbuster’s board game? Now that was awesome. It was kind of like Fireball Island (instead of a tiki god, it was a chimney of some sort and you rolled a skull down it) meets 13 Dead End Drive (the skull would trigger traps like a suit of armor with an axe that would chop down on your Busters of Ghosts). I want that game back so bad.

Chestnuts roasted by Brian Thomas @ 01/27/2005 4:30 AM

Man, best game ever, I loved the poop out of this when I was a kid, why does it have to be gone, why, WHY GOD WHY?!?

Anyway. There was a board game from the same time period, I can never remember the name, based in a haunted house with a tape casette with spooky Dracula voice action. Man oh man, I’ve been dying to remember the name of this thing, I wish I could remember more details. Poo.

Chestnuts roasted by big lounging @ 01/27/2005 4:40 AM

Thank you so much for writing this.

Chestnuts roasted by D.R. @ 01/27/2005 5:00 AM

Oooh, I always wanted those board-games so badly… We could never afford them cos of apartheid-era sanctions. So we just have a beautifully antique Monopoly set, but with pounds and dollars instead of rands, and UK street addresses like Park Lane and Mayfair. And Picadilly, so we always sang "It’s a long way to Tipperary" whenever we landed on it. Oh, and we also have my Grandpa’s Scrabble set, I think the tiles are ivory, so feel guilty every time I play with it…

As the Official Ruler of the Childlike Empire (ie that makes me the Childlike Empress, da-DAH!!!), I would like to congratulate the official Ruler (who isn’t very straight) of the American Empire on his Razzie Award.

If anyone wants to emigrate to the Childlike Empire, I am a very good ruler and do not levy taxes on anything except ice-cream, cake and board-games. You may pay in kind…:D

Chestnuts roasted by eminentfreak @ 01/27/2005 5:28 AM

Just reading the article makes me feel like I’m playing. Reminds me of "Escape from Atlantis".

So: games based on really budget B-movie film themes rock, and games based on super-expensive Hollywood blockbusters make kids cry with disappointment.

There is some balance in the world after all.

Chestnuts roasted by fletch's evil twin @ 01/27/2005 7:20 AM

Fireball Island and the Real Ghostbusters game were both awesome!

The Real Ghostbusters game had four rooms and each had some ghost-trap-thing…but I can only remember the axe room at the moment. And at least 53% of the time the skull got stuck coming down the chute. Fun!

I know what I’m going to be hunting for in my parent’s basement next time I’m home!

Hey, why were they called the Real Ghostbusters? Were there Fake Ghostbusters?

Chestnuts roasted by Chuckles the Robo-Turkey @ 01/27/2005 8:38 AM

This looks like one crazy game. I would have LOVED it as a kid. And I always got to be "red" too with whatever games we played! I see you have looked at the Pac-Man board game in the past. I loved this game, so I’m going to check it out right now!

Chestnuts roasted by jolie @ 01/27/2005 8:44 AM

Wow. I wish I’d had this game as a kid. I was one of those kids who would set up Mouse Trap not to play the game, but solely to make the mouse trap work. And thanks ever so for the Dick Tracy reference!

Chestnuts roasted by Pirate7L @ 01/27/2005 8:44 AM

Great article Matt! I remember playing this game with my friends and yes, you’re right, the game is a lot better when four people are playing the game (just like Clue). Now I have to see if I can find this game and get it!

Chestnuts roasted by J-Dog @ 01/27/2005 9:27 AM

Once again, Matt has showed me something I must purchase. I have no choice. Soon I will be broke, but I will be playing Fireball Island while wearing my Hulk Hands.

Chestnuts roasted by jhnnywalkr @ 01/27/2005 9:37 AM

Matt,

Great site, I love the articles and the memories. Keep up the good work, I know many of us loyal follows would be lost without your ramblings and observations.

Chestnuts roasted by TIGERFAN @ 01/27/2005 9:37 AM

Great writing! I like how you tossed in "Golden Ticket" and "Star child."

I never got to see this as a kid therefore I will sue my mother and my friends.

Chestnuts roasted by dfggdf @ 01/27/2005 10:23 AM

Matt, you should seriously keep one of those mini reporter recorders on you at all times, and every time you think of something obscure, you could just whip out your recorder and whisper into it like a secret agent. Theoretically, you could write an entire article on the way to work, and only have to type it out when you got home.

Hey, where has Squee been?

Chestnuts roasted by trajeal @ 01/27/2005 10:27 AM

Jesus thats scary! Just the other night I was thinking about Fireball Island and wondered if there was an X-E article on it.

This game was great, but it was even better as a playset for M.U.S.C.L.E. and little plastic army men.

Chestnuts roasted by Lou @ 01/27/2005 10:47 AM

I never played this one, but I remember the commercials for it. That idol that launches the fireballs (or red marbles) from its mouth reminds me of the pinball game, Funhouse, where you had to stop an evil ventriloquist dummy by shooting pinballs into his mouth.

You should really do more articles about video game based board games. Do you know of the Super Mario Bros. board game or the Popeye board game? I’d love to see articles on those.

Chestnuts roasted by Bert Raccoon @ 01/27/2005 10:59 AM

Yeah I loved this game when I was a kid! I ended up getting it at flea market for the low price of $1, but soon found out why it was so cheap. Among several missing items was my red explorer. I found that Micro Master Transformers did a pretty good job of subbing though.

Chestnuts roasted by Czar Matthew @ 01/27/2005 11:01 AM

Wow, this game is going for $41 on Ebay. I think I’ll wait for it to show up at the thrift shop.

In other toy related news, my Art History teacher looks almost exactly like Mattels Big Jim. Not kidding. He looks so much like him I’ve posted a comparison on my web page.

Chestnuts roasted by Kennef @ 01/27/2005 11:09 AM

I love board games that let everybody feel my wrath! I recommend Dungeon! because if one player is getting moe treasure than you are, then you can tem up with the other two and waylay Mr. "I’m-too-rich-to-even-be-in-this-dank-hole-of-a-boardgame." Even though it’s sort of a RPG, it has alternate instructions for beginners that make for a quicker game. Like FireBall Island, you can use cards to screw over the other players, which what makes ambushing the other players so much fun.

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 01/27/2005 12:02 PM

Does anyone remember Crossbows and Catapults? I think that was my Favorite game growing up. There’s nothing better than blowing the shit out of your best friends defensive wall with a catapult.

Chestnuts roasted by oldskool25 @ 01/27/2005 12:08 PM

To answer the question about the "Real" in Real Ghostbusters-

The was a short lived ‘other’ ghostbusters cartoon by some no name animation company that tried to cash in on the ghostbusters craze. (It sucked too! It had a living morph car and a gorillia/monkey thing)

So the RGB show added the Real part to tell it was officaly licanced.

Chestnuts roasted by Mr Mango @ 01/27/2005 12:18 PM

That game looks pretty fly. Matt, you’re Aces. Have you ever played Thirteen Dead End Drive. That was a really fun game. I loved when you could kill the other players.

Chestnuts roasted by Lone Wolf @ 01/27/2005 12:24 PM

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 26th, 2005 at 9:47 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.