I’ll level with you here. I went to school and got my EMT license because I wanted to be a firefighter. Had I known how bad I actually was at it I never would have strapped on those boots for the first time. There are only so many cardboard deaths a man can take before it starts to take its toll on him. Even with all of my training Flash Point: Fire Rescue chewed me up and spit me out like a rookie.
Components
Flash Point: Fire Rescue is a game for 2-6 players where you work together to rescue people/animals before the building collapses. After each turn a new fire is added to the board which can kill victims, explode with an existing fire, or cause building damage. As one of the firefighters you are tasked with trying to rescue victims as fast as possible, this may require extinguishing existing fires or even chopping down walls in an effort to reach the victims. The mechanics are simple enough and the start of the game easy enough to lull you into a false sense of confidence leaving you unaware of your impending doom.
Initial setup
You are given 4 actions per player per turn which you can use to move, open a door, bust through a wall, extinguish a fire, or move with a victim. Initially it is fairly easy to move around the board and pick up a few victims for quick victory points, but this is also the point where the game will punish you for your innocence. When placing a victim marker on the board you do it upside so you don’t know who you are rescuing. Some of these markers are blank and represent a false alarm. So after spending 3 turns to get to a victim you can end up flipping a blank token while the other two markers are on the other side of the house, then you roll to see where the fire goes and you end up killing both of them.
Almost won this one.
Most of my games were with 2 firefighters and as we desperately attempted to save everyone the dice and victim markers were rarely in our favor. Normally the fire would block an important path or outright kill the victim we were one turn away from saving. The closest we came was 4 out of the 7 required victims to win. With more players the fire spreads quicker, but you have a greater chance of having firefighter near a victim or near a bad fire they can quickly put out.
I have not yet had a chance to play the experienced version of the rules, but I am excited to try. In the experienced version of the rules there are additional hazards on the board, vehicles, and each player gets a unique firefighter with a unique set of skills.
Flash Point: Fire Rescue is an incredibly hectic and tension filled game. It not often a game can keep you on the edge of your seat while waiting to see how the die roll ends. I had a great deal of fun with this game and would definitely recommend it to any group that enjoys playing with their friends instead of versus.
You can pick up Flash Point: Fire Rescue via our Amazon link here.
