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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

Anyone remember this game…It was a vampire game…I owned it, but I don’t think I ever actually played the real game. But it came with this stand-up Dracula that would "bite" you. You would have to put your finger in his mouth and push down on something and he would leave two little red dots on your finger showing that you were "bitten." Like I said, I never really played the game, so I don’t even know if it was good. Now that I think about it, the actual biting thing was kinda lame…I just wanted to seem relevant.

Chestnuts roasted by Goody @ 01/28/2005 8:32 AM


Jeez, Erik, that sucks. Did you know any of the guys? I know you’ve been out for a little while, anyway, but I didn’t know if there was anyone still there that you knew. What a mess.

Chestnuts roasted by trajeal @ 01/28/2005 8:54 AM


I heard about that crash over here in Korea- sorry about that, Erik. That’s just awful.

Matt- Of all the articles on this site that have made me want to buy the things you write about, this one is the absolute worst…or is it best?

Chestnuts roasted by Muppet Baby @ 01/28/2005 9:09 AM


I’m sorry to hear that EMajorwitz. My cousin was killed over in Iraq just a few months ago. He was a Marine also. It’s very, very sad. My condolences go to their families as well.

Chestnuts roasted by jhnnywalkr @ 01/28/2005 10:11 AM


@melonian

Thanks for the laugh, I needed it at work today. I’ll take your advice next time I play, only instead of setting my friends and myself on fire, will sit a huge 40 in place of the Tiki and just stare at it when we get fireballed…to torture ourselves cause we can’t drink it.

Chestnuts roasted by Christopher Fireball @ 01/28/2005 10:27 AM


DAN!! thanks for the reminder man, holy cow, dizzy devil had the best board to play on with GI joes. I would have cobras hang out on dizzy’s mountain top and the joes would have to fight their way up. It from the Pitt is also a classic, no other game offer a crescent fresh huge hand that pulls down your game piece. By the way, thats incredible how the whole fireball island boasrd is in pixels, and this if for Matt. I hope you get more visitors with your link on Retrocrush.com which was featured on the netscape home page a week ago. Con-grats man. Oh yeah, and please, pleeeease have an X-E fan contest to see who has the most crescent fresh television that they play video games on. I think it would be cool to see what people would send in as pics of their den of iniquity that they enjoy nintendo in. Please keep up the awesome articles. If anyone wants to send me a message to blab about arcane garbage, my email is SKYNET1984@gmail.com

Chestnuts roasted by SKYNET1984 @ 01/28/2005 11:20 AM


Gozer‘s here? Yeep! My mind’s a total blank!

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash is scared beyond the capacity for rational thought @ 01/28/2005 11:28 AM


Kidneyboy…I remember the Duke’s of Hazzard board game. That used to be my favorite as a kid. It had the General Lee, Daisy’s Jeep, Cooter’s truck and Uncle Jesse’s truck. I forget how to play it, but I remember each player had a road block they could put up to block Roscoe. I loved it, I probably still have it somewhere.

Chestnuts roasted by Y2JB78 @ 01/28/2005 11:55 AM


on the topic of board games, there is one that has haunted me since forever. i remembered the commercials and how bad i wanted it, basically because i had a burning need for anything remotely "spooky". to the best of my memory, the commercial had kids in some sort of haunted house playing the game, and all i remember about the game is that it had some sort of apparatus, in which you would place these cards you held, and it would make scary noises or say things (?). Does this ring a bell with anyone, because sadly everytime i go to a toy store, i always look on the board game shelves half expecting to see it. please help if possible, this has consumed me for upwards of probably 15 years.

Chestnuts roasted by jim. @ 01/28/2005 1:51 PM


They need to rerelease the game with a slight redesign so you can use Atomic Fireballs candy with it. Winner gets to eat the candy.

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 01/28/2005 2:37 PM


Well Matt, I have to say, I’m now officially jealous – and a little depressed.
I remember being obsessed with this game and begging my parents to buy it – I mean, it just looked so cool! An island, a jewel, and a fire breathing devil thing – it couldn’t get cooler than that!
Well, for some reason it never came. I don’t know why I never got it for Christmas or a birthday – perhaps my parents thought the idol thingy would lead to idolatry or devil worship (in the end, it would be Motley Crue that led me to worship Satan). I have to put it right next to the USS Flag as one of the toys I begged for but never got.
Now I find out well over a decade and a half later that this game was awesome.
Now I feel like my life has only been half-lived – I can’t believe I missed out on this. I guess I’ll have to blame my parents. Or Satan.

Chestnuts roasted by Jason @ 01/28/2005 3:07 PM


Oh – and speaking of long lost board games – anyone remember ‘Splish Splash’ – I didn’t have it but a friend did – it was comples and took forever to put together like ‘Mouse Trap’, but it involved water. Cool stuff.
Also, anyone remember the ‘Bigfoot’ board game? I had it right when there was a ‘Bigfoot’ (meaning the monster truck) fad (anyone remember the ‘Bigfoot’ fad?). Man, it was great to be a redneck in the 80s.

Chestnuts roasted by Jason @ 01/28/2005 3:11 PM


I meant ‘complex’ in the above post. I can spell most of the time.

Chestnuts roasted by Jason @ 01/28/2005 3:12 PM


OldSkool25,
I totally remember ‘Crossbows and Catapults’ – my neighbor had it and it was oh so sweet.
The real question is – do you remember the ‘Trojan Horse’ accessory you could by for it? It shot the little thingies just like the crossbows and catapults, but it was the Trojan Horse. Cool!

Chestnuts roasted by Jason @ 01/28/2005 3:18 PM


Jason – I remember the Trojan Horse! We had it, but we didn’t really like it. It was too easy to hit the target with a crossbow, and way too hard to shoot the ammo properly. But it was way cool looking! :D

Chestnuts roasted by Ryane @ 01/28/2005 3:46 PM


Wow, a drastically cool-looking childhood board game that I’ve never heard of. Good show.

I remember the long-ago Christmas when I got "Dark Tower" — the thrill of Fireball Island must have been similar.

Chestnuts roasted by Plainsman @ 01/28/2005 5:20 PM


I remember getting Fireball Island for Christmas when I was young. One to go down in my Christmas history.
I loved it, my friends thought it was dumb.
So I ended up playing with myself a lot, much like I do now….. wait, can I take that back?

Chestnuts roasted by Nick @ 01/28/2005 5:59 PM


Ryane,
That’s right – I totally forgot how easy it was to destroy the trojan horse with the crosbow! But you’re right – about the only thing it had going for it was how cool it looked. Man, the memories brought back by this site.

Chestnuts roasted by Jason @ 01/28/2005 7:41 PM


I remember I played this once when I was majorly smaller, I got fireballed 5 times in a row, I cried. My friends just kept playing though. Good times

Chestnuts roasted by Erik @ 01/28/2005 8:10 PM


This article reminded me of another board game I loved as a child. It was set in a futuristic setting having to do with computers. There were three backpack attachments (I distinctly remember a satellite as one of those attachments), something about code numbers (may have just been the room names…they were 3- or 4-digit numbers), and a center object that directed the game through a recording. The objective was to destroy some enemy after getting all the pieces. Does anyone remember what the name of that game was?

Chestnuts roasted by Zoghade @ 01/28/2005 11:48 PM


Sorry I am so late, but been pretty busy. Too bad because I could have helped out.
I recently acquired a THUNDER ROAD on ebay. I had it when I was a kid and then….
Good job to everyone who answered the Ghostbusters vs. the REAL Ghostbusters question.
Never had FIREBALL ISLAND, always wanted it though. YEah, it is WAY TOO EXPENSIVE on ebay. I have tried to get it but I have my pride, somewhere. I guess it is because of the little parts and general sensationalism of the game.
BIG LOUNGING,
I think the game you seek is SHRIEKS AND CREAKS. It was produced by Golden in 1988. Would make for an excellent Halloween article (hint, cough, cough). I lost that one to the ages too but just got it back on ebay. It is lesser known and thus, harder to find. Hope that helps.
Yes, CATAPULTS AND CROSSBOWS was great.
Erik-My condolences.
I think that is everything….

Chestnuts roasted by The Manimal @ 01/29/2005 11:24 AM


Hey! Those bastards lied to me! They told me that the cool guys take the Lavender guy! Ha Ha

Actually, I never played Fireball Island. I remember the commercials and thought it looked like a fun game…just for whatever reason never played it. Having seen the article, I now wanna try and track down a copy of the game…damn you Matt! (ha ha, just kidding) On a serious note I would also like to send my condolences to Erik

Chestnuts roasted by Jabo @ 01/29/2005 12:18 PM


Just checked around, it’s not Shrieks and Creaks, thanks for the attempt though :) . I’ll try to explain it better though. As I said, it was a more futuristic setting. It had various rooms with numbers to them that you had to reach (I think the rooms were also color-coded as well). As I said before, there’s the backpack attachments…just a clip-on type of attachment, nothing more. The only reason I remember the speaker part in the middle is that I accidentally spilled orange soda inside it as a kid, and my dad had to open it up and clean it and such in order to get it working again.

Chestnuts roasted by Zoghade @ 01/29/2005 1:20 PM


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.

Posted by big lounging @ 01/27/2005 04:40 AM 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.

Chestnuts roasted by The Manimal @ 01/29/2005 1:49 PM


Maybe if you look up games similar to MALL MADNESS, you might find it.

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 01/29/2005 2:42 PM


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