Fireball Island is Making A Comeback And We Want It Right Now

[Nergal]

 

Retro gaming fans are in for a treat as ’80s classic Fireball Island makes a comeback in a big way.

For those who ever played the original, 2-4 players were sent on a perilous trip to a tropical island and were forced to survive the volcanic eruptions of the idolized Vul-Kar. Spitting marbles instead of actual chunks of molten rock, Vul-Kar proved to a nuisance as gamers were sent flying off the board in their quest to capture the island’s jewel and escape to safety. That was then and this is now thanks to a 21st Century update.

While the original was released by Milton Bradley in 1986, a Kickstarter campaign from Restoration Games promises to reinvent Fireball Island while still keeping the heart of the ’80s burning within. With a flashy video to explain what’s new, Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-Kar looks like a must-have addition to anyone’s board game stash.
 

As a worthy upgrade, things have got more complicated thanks to the addition of new gameplay and even more marbles. Giving Vul-Kar the ability to spit little glass balls onto the board to cause chaos was the best part of the original, how could The Curse of Vul-Kar possibly fail by cashing in on this?

A lot of work has gone into the project, with board game designer Rob Daviau creating something much bigger. In fact, The Curse of Vul-Kar is over twice the size of the original but comes in three handy pieces to easily store away. Adding expansion packs like “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Bees” and the “Wreck of the Crimson Cutlass” pirate ship, there is plenty to keep fans coming back for more. Elsewhere, the new game mechanics help guide the marbles, as well as the promise that everything will move a lot quicker.

With Fireball Island having disappeared from stores long ago, The Curse of Val-Kar looks like a faithful update that has effectively done what Jake Kasdan’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle did to Joe Johnston’s original movie. In a similar vein to the runaway success of Welcome to the Jungle, The Curse of Vul-Kar proved that it isn’t just nostalgic movies that are popular with the reboot treatment as Restoration Games smashed their $250,000 target within just two hours of launching.

While it is understandable that gamers old and new want to get their hands on Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-Kar now, Restoration Games are looking to ship around November – just in time for that big Christmas rush. One thing’s for sure, even some 30 years later, Vulk-Kar still looks pretty mad that board game aficionados are trespassing on his sacred island.