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01/26/2005: 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. E-mail me!

Discussion Thread: 154 comments

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Has anyone see this? Bible stories told by Mare and Mark Winningham’s aplenty: http://www.thebricktestament.com/

Ghosted by trajeal @ 01/29/2005 2:44 PM EST

Goody-

I believe the dracula game you’re talking about that left the little dots on your finger was called ‘I van’t to bite your finger’ by Hasbro
I hated that game. My brother would make me play it with him. I think you would wind clock hands around and if you were unlucky the dracula’s arm would fly open (would reveal his face) and scare the poo out of you! Then I think you got ‘bit’.

Ghosted by Sorcha @ 01/29/2005 5:19 PM EST

"Zoghade,
This was the post I was referring to in regards to SHRIEKS AND CREAKS. I have no clue what game you are trying to find. Sorry.

Posted by The Manimal @ 01/29/2005 01:49 PM EST"

Ah, ok. Your post sounded a lot like it was referring to mine after I looked it up, with the voice thing in the center and all. Thanks for letting me know.

Ghosted by Zoghade @ 01/29/2005 7:05 PM EST

My brother sent me this review and I absorbed the whole thing, it was great! I not only dragged my dad and brother and sometimes my unexpected mom into playing this game with me while I was a youngster but I recently brought it to my house at school and tried to get my roomates to play.

Well dad came by and played, kicked his butt! And my girlfriend played with me when I’d guilt her into it… but my roomates just would never play!
What kind of people are they?! I just don’t get it, they clearly do not know all of the fun they’re missing out on. They’d rather watch tv or play xbox or computer games..

Alas I know there are others out there still holding on to their age old board games in hopes of playing again and one day passing them on to their kids..

Ghosted by Blizzard @ 01/29/2005 7:42 PM EST

Matt, you got me excited for this treasure from the past. I started looking around the net for a copy, and people are asking for over $100 for copies. I should never have let mine go.

Ghosted by Shelby @ 01/29/2005 11:44 PM EST

Five minutes …untill I take over..HAHAHA

Quote "Oh yeah…THE OMEGA VIRUS. I should have mentioned that one instead, though I didn’t own it, a friend did. THE OMEGA VIRUS is a board game that tries to win itself, basically, and you have to beat it or the space station it’s attacking will be taken over. You could just remove its batteries, but then you wouldn’t constantly get grunted verbal barbs like "I…will…destroy you…FOOL!" Boy, we loved saying that….and it DOES win itself; it’s way too hard to beat it.

Posted by Mars @ 01/27/2005 12:56 AM EST"

Ghosted by -Brandon- @ 01/30/2005 12:31 PM EST

Hey Traj, I’m around; I didn’t even realize how long I’d gone without commenting. I work in taxes and this is a crazy time b/c of all the deadlines so I’ve been busy. Manimal: she’s adorable, just gorgeous. Neo: hang in there buddy, patience is a virtue. Meditate on the Chia plot for awhile; it’s like a koan or some shit.
Sis and I went to a book signing for Alton Brown today. Can’t really make a connection between that and flame spitting Tiki Gods, I just wanted to share. I did hear a commercial on the radio for Mare Winningham’s new TV movie on the way there, though.
13 Dead End Drive was that game where you had to set up a little mansion that was booby trapped to kill off all the other characters, and it looked so cool in the commercials, but I remember that the chandelier was such a bitch to set up that it was played exactly twice before being sentenced to permanent banishment to the back of the closet.

Ghosted by squee4224 @ 01/30/2005 1:03 AM EST

LOL, as you can see, I’ve been off so long I can’t even remember my own name.

Ghosted by squee4242 @ 01/30/2005 1:11 AM EST

…I’m an idiot for not looking at prior comments. Thanks to Brandon, I now know that the game I was thinking of is The Omega Virus. Thanks for posting that Brandon, I would’ve never known! Boy did I love that game as a kid. I’m surprised that it costs so little on Ebay right now. I might have to see about buying one for old time’s sake.

Ghosted by Zoghade @ 01/30/2005 4:27 AM EST

Heh. Good to see all these fun gaming bits. But I am a gamer in the tabletop sense so I love these kinds of things. (Gotta second the nomination for Heroscape. Its like crack in a box!) My favorite kiddie era game was the GI Joe missile base game, with Crossbows & Catapults in second, followed up by the Pac Man and Zaxxon games. As an adult Heroscape and Warhammer 40,000.

Ghosted by Bloodcat @ 01/30/2005 6:00 AM EST

Hey, squee. Tax prep, huh? Ugh. All that adding and… subtracting. I finally got my story uploaded at Gay Paree under Crystla Lil. Takes long enough.

Has anyone else seen the Bad Hair Day calendar? http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=2616586&cat=124531&type=3&dept=3920&path=0%3A3920%3A58437%3A124531 They actually had it at the Dollar Tree. Whee!

Ghosted by trajeal @ 01/30/2005 9:07 AM EST

That game looks awesome. It looks kind of like Monopoly except better because there are fireballs.

Ghosted by Pigleg @ 01/30/2005 11:59 AM EST

There should be a board game called Whip A Fire Ball at A Friend. Those jawbreakers called Fire Balls are good, but they’re hard as rock (so they would be good to throw at a friend if thet loose to you in the board game.

Ghosted by Pigleg @ 01/30/2005 3:31 PM EST

It has taken my an hour, but i finally figured out (with the help of google) what this game reminded me of.
Forbidden Bridge. great game! almost the same little adventurers (with the addition of packbacks) and pretty much the same idea, except it was smaller, and, it was motorized.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/3945
http://www.samstoybox.com/toys/ForbiddenBridge.html

Ghosted by Xero @ 01/30/2005 4:10 PM EST

and speaking of games this reminds me of, does anyone remember a game where you are these little adventurer guys and there is a giant bird (a buzzard perhaps) that would circle around from time to time and pick up the pieces on little towers? i cant for the life of me remember the name of it.

Ghosted by Xero @ 01/30/2005 4:18 PM EST

That bad hair calendar reminds me of the 1974 Weight Watchers recipe cards.
Gay Paree does take awhile to get approval, but I see the story now. I’m trying to add more reviews over there and I’m trying to get other people to do the same thing
Anybody watching the new I Love the 90’s? I can watch "the 70’s" over and over again, but it’s just not doing it for me this time around.

Ghosted by squee4242 @ 01/30/2005 4:51 PM EST

I loved this game, but it hurt me most of the time because when I would beat my brothers they would kick the s**t out of me.

Ghosted by K @ 01/30/2005 6:19 PM EST

Never played this game but I was wondering if you could substitute Red Hots for the fireballs. And when you knocked someone over, you would only not send them into the pit but also enjoy sweet, sweet victory.

Ghosted by Another Matt @ 01/31/2005 2:33 PM EST

To Matt and Everyone,
I need to fill you guys in on what you can REALLY accomplish with Fireball Island (with the help of a little game called CRASH CANYON: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/44749), which is quite possibly the greatest superhuman board gaming feat EVER. It’s simply amazing. As kids, my brother and I owned Fireball Island, but we also owned the similar game Crash Canyon. Same ENORMOUS plastic game board, except this one required that water be put into the hollowed out "lake areas" of the game board that your car could jackknife into! So Crash Canyon is a board game that actually uses Micro Machines as game tokens, with the game essentially being a race to the finish through the most dangerous of canyons, you guessed it, effing CRASH CANYON. The game comes with some knockoff cars, but it’s compatible with most any damn officially licsensed Micro Machine in your collection…ensuring that the game will be fun, customizable, AND you won’t get stuck with 1 of their 4 shitty pre-packaged cars. Imagine the possibilities. Also, with the 3-D game board, if you roll and land on a downhill slope, your ass is rolling down the plastic slope, like, 8 more spaces (and no one can bitch about this totally legal move)! This can also mean that if you are trying to get UP a hill, it can be a real bitch.

SO, on a long boring afternoon, my brother and I got the idea to LINK the games. An entire game would consist of this: Racing to the finish line in Canyon, which afforded you a free boat trip to Fireball Island. Then you had to race to get the jewel, make it back down, and race BACKWARDS in Crash Canyon. You can imagine that this is the greatest, most epic board gaming experience known to man. It literally takes HOURS to complete, but not in the way Life or Monopoly takes hours, and leaves you feeling empty and hating life. Also, if your poor brother is stuck in Crash Canyon, you might already be making your way up the hill in Fireball Island. You’re playing two mega-games at mega-once! What does everyone think, ever tried this? Hey Matt, have you played Crash Canyon? Have you tried this epic experience? It’s about time to try and write about it…

Ghosted by Chris W. @ 01/31/2005 4:47 PM EST

I actually remember owning this game and using it to recreate out of scale adventures with my G.I. Joes.

Of course I did the same thing with the impenitrable cobra fortress "mousetrap". A pretty silly thing to do in hind sight, but given the assinine nature of most of Cobra Commanders plots I think I was justified.

Ghosted by dantewyrmfoe @ 02/01/2005 12:23 PM EST

This was was the best board game ever made. If I remember correctly the secret of winning was to wait for somebody else to get the jewel, then take them out with a fireball. That is why I love this website it always brings back wonderful memories from childhood.

Ghosted by AgentPothead @ 02/01/2005 5:38 AM EST

I wouldn’t mind a board game based on Conan O’Brien’s Woman Island.

Ghosted by kingklash @ 02/01/2005 5:21 PM EST

Hi guys. Long time no post.

Anyway, the one time I ever got to play Fireball Island was with 90% of the pieces missing, including the Tiki God, and so my stupid friend used other objects like ugly little pebbles for the guys and one superball for all of the fireballs. I bitched to him that I didn’t wanna play because all of the pieces were missing. He didn’t seem to care.

I still have Omega Virus. That game is the coolest gimmick boardgame ever.

Another one that I like is Weapons & Warriors. My brother still has his castle set and his pirates set. The basic objective of this game was to nail your enemy with orangish-red marbles using various weapons such as catapults, a cannon, and a giant crossbow. It also had kick-ass set pieces (castles & forts (both of which had triggers that caused cool things to happen when hit), ships, forest trees, etc.) and tons of these little dudes for your army. I have fond memories of my brother, my friends, and I having it all laid out on the floor and blasting each other’s armies.

Ghosted by Nate @ 02/01/2005 9:10 PM EST

Thanks for the review. I saw the game at Toys-R-Us back in the day and after looking at the back of the box it became my "must-have" game for that B-Day/Christmas (I can’t remember the occasion). The board was just unbelievable, though I think it was a while until I bothered playing it the right way… it was too fun just messing around with the fireballs.

I remember it as the same era as Torpedo Run. You ought to consider reviewing that game, if you had it (or can find it).

Ghosted by Bobak @ 02/01/2005 11:36 PM EST

I still have this game and all its pieces. The paint at the peak of the mountain is wearing in exactly the same way.

They really should have glossed that part up or something.

Makes for a fun drinking game

Ghosted by spazzamatic @ 02/02/2005 1:30 PM EST

thanks for bringing back these memories matt, I had this game but for some reason it was totally stripped from my memory until i read this article…thanks!

Ghosted by Jimbuktu @ 02/02/2005 10:37 PM EST

This was my favourite board game until I discovered HeroQuest. That I owned.
My Favourite game that I never owned was called Mystery Mansion to my recolection. It had a modular board with three (or maybe four) levels of height that was built differentally each time it was played. Like Zombies! is nowdays (if you’ve ever enjoyed that one, Highly recomended). The game played somewhat like clue and looked sorta like it. Each game board tile was a room and you had to explore, find keys and treasure, blah… I always loved how lovingly detailed the boards were. Much like Fireball Island (as I recall there was a skeleton laying dead somewhere forlorn on the beach. Matt,tell me he is still there on yours?)
The second favourite I never owned was Dark Tower. Electronic bad assed talking tower tower-ing over all you and your buddies kingdoms. Fighting orcs and buying supplies n shite.
Of course after reading this blog I have a new catagory. Favourite games I never knew existed until just now. It From the Pit. OH my god is that cool. Like Fireball Island, huge in it’s own way, MOTORIZED SLIME PIT MONSTER! Crap, I think I strained something.

Ghosted by spooky @ 02/04/2005 7:58 AM EST

Not even a week ago my friend and I were trying to remember "that wacky game with the red marbles", I don’t think I’ve ever been that excited to see a post. Good work Mattaholic!

All your cheeseburger sandwiches are belong to me

Ghosted by JoJo Harley and the Sugar Boys @ 02/04/2005 12:15 PM EST

for all of you guys who still play fireball island. i find that if you run out of peices, use star wars action fleet figures, in place of your explorers. nothing beats Greedo and Bossk in a rush to the top of witches peak, then on to vul-kar. i suppose you could get an action fleet figure of Indy, and race the Nazi treasure collectors to the boat.

Ghosted by casinoskunk @ 02/05/2005 11:17 PM EST

oh yeah, and since i lost the jewel, i use a tiny plastic beer, from my bob and doug mackenzie diarama!!!

Ghosted by casinoskunk @ 02/05/2005 11:20 PM EST

thank you for paying tribute to this game.
some of the cards are so creased after playing hundreds of games. When we have to pick a card from an opponent..we have to hide our entire hand except for the corners of the cards..it’s a skill in itself

Ghosted by Paul @ 02/06/2005 2:34 AM EST

I loved this game as a kind, and luckily my parents have kept pretty much everything I have ever owned. Now that I have moved back in with them after college, I am currently sitting 3 rooms from its storage place in the eaves of our house. Although I haven’t played it in years, I may have to now.

Ghosted by Jay @ 02/07/2005 12:58 PM EST

I got this game for my 8th birthday. It beat the crap out of Crossfire, and that’s saying something. I vaguely remember finding the cracked and rat-feces-covered board in the loft of my folks’ barn some years ago, but even sadder was that Vul-Kar and the explorers had vanished without a trace. My parents weren’t very good at preserving my childhood…

Ghosted by Yode @ 02/07/2005 1:14 AM EST

And you know, this reminds me of my vote for Awesomest Board Game Ever: Shadowlord. It was in space, it had cool characters and it was by goddamn Parker Brothers. If I ever find my old copy I’ll send it to you post-haste.

Ghosted by Yode @ 02/07/2005 1:25 AM EST

This brought back some serious memories. I never got to play the game more than once because I had few friends, but I loved it just for looks alone. The tiki, the board and the stupid little crystal with its cool (but totally pointless) black bases all impressed me greatly.

I mostly used it as a home for my "monster in my pocket" figures. It was monster island, and the tiki was the vampire’s evil castle. He was married to medusa and the Kraken lives in the lake between those perilous bridges.

Ghosted by Scythemantis @ 02/07/2005 1:37 AM EST

Oh man! This game was THE BEST! I had it, and unlike most of my other toys, I made absolutely sure that no pieces were ever lost. I had no idea it existed before I got it for christmas back in elementary school. I wonder if it is still at my parents’ house? DAMN! I HOPE THEY STILL HAVE IT! I WANT IT BACK!

Ghosted by Homero_G @ 02/07/2005 1:41 AM EST

Freaking wicked game! I remember how the fireball would sometimes get lodged against a corpse, sparing the explorers below from a firey death. And the cover of the box was so cool and detailed!

Ghosted by ElGuapo @ 02/07/2005 1:58 AM EST

About time you listened to one of my emails and blessed us with that review. Best board game Ive ever played.

Ghosted by Mr.T @ 02/07/2005 3:14 AM EST

I had Fireball Island when I was little. Box is still at my parents house. My problem is, it’s been so long since I played I don’t remember the rules and I lost the book. Could someone give a nutshell version of them.

Ghosted by Fireball Chris @ 02/07/2005 9:33 AM EST

This had a sister game: "Crash Canyon."

It came out the next year with a similar 3-D board, but this time you actually put water in the middle of the board and raced Micro Machines around it! That game was sweet too!

Ghosted by Dudey @ 02/07/2005 2:23 PM EST

That game was totally lost in my limited memory. Thank you for reignighting that lost fire in my soul. I think I bought that game from a thrift shop sometime in 91. God, what a game. Does anyone remember that other game that consisted of a bridge that shook and would send you and your jewels to the chasm of doom? I cant remember the name…damn.

Ghosted by Alex @ 02/08/2005 11:34 AM EST

Fuckin A, man. Yeah!

Ghosted by Megan @ 02/08/2005 7:27 PM EST

Man! That just may be the most entertaining thing I have ever read on the web! If the creator of this website is not a professional writer he should be. I beg you to begin a career in Hollywood immediately and save us from steaming turds like "Joey" smeared at the top of the ratings. With the proper publicity this could be bigger than the JibJab website. Hey, I’m doing my part, I plan on sending a link to all of my friends (all 3 of them….sad, but true). Long live the red guy!!

Ghosted by Jonzilla @ 02/09/2005 10:49 AM EST

Man—I LOVED this game. totally forgot about it…great article.

Ghosted by Brad @ 02/16/2005 3:08 PM EST

Aw Man! My parents found my copy of this game when they were cleaning out their basement, they were going to throw it out but I rescued it by basically throwing a grown-up fit…it was a low moment in my life that reaped a greater good.
This game was amazing for just the board, I remember using the board as a jungle area for G.I. Joes, or using it as a blankey one night that I slept on the floor, or even better still, using it as a weapon to beat on someone that was making fun of me…greatest game ever!

Ghosted by Pager @ 11/17/2006 5:18 PM EST

This game rocked. I remember the birthday party when I got this, it was the only thing we played with the rest of the day. With chants of “Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!” hoping the next player rolled a “1″ to prevent someone else from winning. The ultimate party game. Excellent article.

Ghosted by Matthew @ 12/12/2006 4:16 PM EST

I got this game as a gift when I was young. This game was the ccause of many family arguments and grudges. Truly a GREAT game! I actually just got done playing it with the family for xmas.

Found out this game has a cult following and was goin for good money on ebay. Check it out for yourselves. Looks like one sold for $200 and this is USED! To the guy two posts before me, show the ebay pages to your parents and have the last laugh. lol

GREAT article about the game! Seriously! I laughed numerous times. This is truly the best game ever made.

Ghosted by Johnee Deformed @ 12/24/2006 4:13 AM EST

That was cool.

Ghosted by austin broom @ 02/26/2007 4:17 PM EST

I just got this game a few days ago off ebay. if i keep all the pieces intact, i’ll be able to flip this bad boy for $US500 in a few yrs! just looking at the board takes me back to days of whimsy and crying over fireballs!!

Ghosted by padre @ 03/17/2007 4:47 AM EST

I know I am commenting on this a little after the fact, but when I was in 3rd grade (early ’90’s) a friend of mine brought this game to school on the last day (game day). I thought it was the coolest thing. I couldnt remember the name till I saw this and it took me back immediately! Wow.

Ghosted by Ashley @ 06/06/2007 1:49 AM EDT

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