Flash Point: Fire Rescue

Very difficult game, many will be bbq'd. Few will be saved, fun all the same.

Setup is a bit long but not too bad for what it is. Plays like Pandemic. My kids enjoy it so a good buy for the price.

Setup is a bit long but not too bad for what it is. Plays like Pandemic. My kids enjoy it so a good buy for the price.

What a great concept to a game, you’re a firefighter trying to save people and animals! You start with a basic setup with a two sided board. They recommend you start with a specific side and learn the basics. After you’ve played and figured out the movements you then flip the board over and begin the advanced game. (3 players) We’ve played three times already on the basic side, not attempting the advanced just yet. First time through our walls were compromised and building collapsed. 2nd time through we saved all the humans and animals so it was a successful game. 3rd time through our walls collapsed again. It’s def. an entertaining game and working together as a team to rescue everyone. I can’t wait to start the advanced game with the firetruck and different characters there are. The instructions aren’t terrible, but we did watch a YouTube video walk through to make it quicker and easier. We wanted to just jump right in and start playing so YouTube was a great way to go

What a great concept to a game, you’re a firefighter trying to save people and animals! You start with a basic setup with a two sided board. They recommend you start with a specific side and learn the basics. After you’ve played and figured out the movements you then flip the board over and begin the advanced game. (3 players) We’ve played three times already on the basic side, not attempting the advanced just yet. First time through our walls were compromised and building collapsed. 2nd time through we saved all the humans and animals so it was a successful game. 3rd time through our walls collapsed again. It’s def. an entertaining game and working together as a team to rescue everyone. I can’t wait to start the advanced game with the firetruck and different characters there are. The instructions aren’t terrible, but we did watch a YouTube video walk through to make it quicker and easier. We wanted to just jump right in and start playing so YouTube was a great way to go

Flash Point is a co-op Firefighter game designed by Indie Cards and Games, also known for producing Coup, The Resistance, Avalon, and other games. It's designed to play with either kids or adults, and has an easier ruleset if you play with kids. Essentially you're trying to save enough victims from a fire before either the building collapses around you or enough victims are caught by the fire and critically wounded (aka killed, but this is a kids game) thus preventing you from saving the required 7 individuals for victory. It costs $40 to get Flash Point. Is it worth it? There are different editions of this game floating around. It was initially a Kickstart product and there are some things that only people who backed the product received. I picked it up at my FLGS and I have the 2nd Edition, which includes plastic fireman for pawns (instead of meeples I believe?) and some minor rule fixes. Also, I will only explain how to play the Experienced version of the rules. The Family version, for kids, is easier to play and mainly ignores vehicles and character abilities plus a few other things. How to Play: As stated earlier, you need to save 7 victims (Find them in the house, get them out to the ambulance) to win the game. You lose if the house crashes down around you (tracked by damage counters on the walls) or if 4 or more victims are caught by the fire (thus preventing you from saving 7, since there are only 10 victims total who will go out on the board). Each side of the map is different. Generally, side B is harder because it has a lot more walls that can get damaged/destroyed by fire and has less total ways in/out of the building. After picking a map, you pick a difficulty level (Recruit, Veteran, or Heroic). The harder difficulties make the game harder from the get go and add more places to the map that can explode as well as more places to the map that can make you reroll the dice to spread the fire even more. You roll to have some initial places on fire (the map is a grid, each space as a 6-sided die number and an 8-sided die number that make them a hex. Roll both dice, find the number, put whatever you are going to put in that space). You resolve at least 3 initial fire placements, setting that space on fire, adding a hot spot to it, and setting each adjacent space that is not blocked by a wall on fire as well. You then add some hazmat to the board (they explode! Very bad!), more hot spots (if you roll them during the game you have to reroll after placing fire/smoke in their space), and 3 facedown Points of Interest (POI). These are either victims or blank, you won't know until you move into the space with the POI and flip it over. After this each player picks a character/color for their firefighter, chooses where they want to start (outside the building), you place the fire engine and the ambulance, and away you go! Each turn happens as follows: Each firefighter has a set number of action points (AP) they can use during their turn. Generally, this number is 4, but some have less and some have more. Additionally, some firefighters get free actions or cannot perform certain actions (the medic doesn't fight fires, for instance). Generally, this is all pretty thematic and is explained on the character card for your firefighter. Here's a list of each action you can take with it's associated cost during your turn: 1 AP: Move to an adjacent space (in a + sign, no diagonals!) 2 AP: Move through a fire (don't stop there though!) 2 AP: Move with a victim or hazmat (get those outside!) 1 AP: Open/Close a Door (need an open door to move into a room, closed doors can save you by blowing up instead of spreading fire) 1 AP: Extinguish Smoke/Turn Fire Into Smoke (only in adjacent/current space) 2 AP: Extinguish Fire (only in adjacent/current space) 2 AP: Chop (through walls- fun but can defeat you if not careful! It takes 2 chop actions to create a passageway through an undamaged wall and 1 for a damaged wall, but fire can use the passageway as well) 2 AP: Drive (bedo bedo bedo bedo!) Free: Ride in a driven vehicle 2 AP: Crew Change (get a new character, only at the fire engine!) 4 AP: Fire the Deck Gun (Let 'er rip! But you never know where it will land! Apparently they didn't train you very well....) You can also save an AP's you don't want to use for a later turn, but you can only save 4 AP so you have to be careful! After you take your turn, you roll for the fire: If you roll a space that has no fire on it, add a smoke marker there. If you land on a space with smoke, the smoke becomes fire. If you land on a space that already is on fire, an explosion occurs! This also occurs if a space with hazmat is light on fire. Explosions push outward from the targeted space in an + formation until they find an empty space or a wall. If they find an empty space, put a fire marker there. If you find a wall, put a damaged marker on it. If you hit a door, blow the door up (aka off it's hinges) and remove it from the game. It's gone. Additionally, add a hot spot to any space that has an explosion occur in it. If you roll a space with a hot spot, after resolving that space, you roll again, placing another hot spot in the space you land on (unless it already has one, in which case you keep rolling until you get a space without a hot spot, resolve that space, place another hot spot, and you're done). If a fire spreads or starts on a spot with a POI, flip it over and hope it's a blank. If not, it is removed from the board and you have 1 less person until you lose. If fire spreads to the space a firefighter is on, they are knocked down and moved to one of the 2 spaces the ambulance occupies, starting their next turn there. After you resolve everything for the fire, if there aren't 3 POI's on the board, roll and place POI's facedown until there are 3. If you land on a space that is already on fire or is occupied by a POI, there are little arrows on the map to show you where to place them. Just follow them until you find an empty space and put them there! And that's the game- it's simple, really, but it's complex at the same time. Keeping going until you win or lose. We typically lose because the building falls down around us. If you run out of damage counters (there are only 24) the whole place tumbles down around you! Characters: Yes, they are called specialists, but for consistency between games we call them characters. Generalist: My wife's favorite character behind the Veteran/Rescue Dog, she loves his 5 AP's. Not too much else to say about him, he's really handy to use and good at any roll in the game. CAFS Firefighter: Probably my favorite character in the game, he gets 3 free AP to deal with smoke/fire and 3 AP to do whatever he wants with. This makes him slightly less useful in the larger maps because he has to run all over the place (don't worry, those come in the expansions) but he is ALWAYS great for fighting fires and saving the day. Don't drag victims with him, you'll regret it! Rescue Specialist: We don't use her that much because A) We don't chop though walls often- bad business bringing the building down on top of you and B) She has to pay double to get rid of the fire. We'd rather use the Medic, who can help everyone, instead of the Specialist. She's not our favorite but I've seen her do great things. She's just not our style. Imaging Specialist: Very useful because they can flip over the POI's to see if you need to scramble to save them or not, plus they fight normally against fires. We use this character a lot as well since they are extremely handy. Driver: Definitely the specialist we use the least by a long shot, the driver sits in the box because we don't use the deck gun that often. Some maps you can't even use it on (I'm looking at you basement!) and it's really random what you hit since you have to roll coordinates instead of just putting the fire out for free. He just collects dust in the box, unfortunately for him. Hazmat Technician: I really like him. He gets rid of those stupid hazmat objects that love to blow up (and so some reason love to exist in the bathroom) and also fights fires perfectly. He is a great utility character- he can bring victims out, fight the fire, or work on hazmat, whatever is needed. We use him a lot as well. Paramedic: Loads better then the Rescue Specialist, the Paramedic can treat a victim so that ANYONE can move them for 1 AP instead of 2. Can you say awesome? I can. She sees a lot of action as well, usually in conjunction with the CAFS Firefighter. They make a great team. Fire Captain: A VERY useful character since he can order units around the map, especially great with characters and victims who have been treated by the medic. He can only order the CAFS Firefighter once per turn since they would be crazily powerful otherwise. We use him a lot as well. Final Thoughts: Initially, I thought Flash Point was ok when I played it but the wife loved it so much we purchased it because she was still not a huge gamer then (that's changed, fortunately). However, the game grew on me as we played it more and played with harder difficulty levels. It is a LOT of fun to play, though the rulebook is not the prettiest thing to look at (It's not poorly written as just not eye-catching like an FFG rulebook) and is a horrid white background on it. There's a lot of game in this box, and it's a GREAT game for medium-to-non gamers to play. We use it to introduce our friends to the sport and will play it with our son when he gets older. Currently, he's only 17 months old and likes to pick up the fire markers and stack them, usually on the board in a space that is empty. Makes for some crazy fires... until we move them. The biggest drawback to this game is that there are only 2 maps and they can get old quickly, but each expansion produced so far includes at least 1 double-sided map board in it so you get some variety quickly. Indie Cards and Games did a great job with Flash Point. It's a fun, quick co-op (usually 30-45 mins) that requires some real decisions, a little luck, and, for us at least, makes us want to play one more time if we lose, which happens about 50% of the time on Veteran difficulty. All in all, this is a great game that caught my attention slowly but, after 5 plays, lead me to realize how much fun it actually is. A game doesn't have to be really complex (this isn't) to be fun. I'd recommend this game to anyone who likes lighter co-ops and doesn't like/is sick of Pandemic. It's also great for kids and for non-gamers because it's pretty easy to understand. Flash Point is a lot of fun and is a great intro game, a great filler game, and a great game to play with the family!

Flash Point is a co-op Firefighter game designed by Indie Cards and Games, also known for producing Coup, The Resistance, Avalon, and other games. It's designed to play with either kids or adults, and has an easier ruleset if you play with kids. Essentially you're trying to save enough victims from a fire before either the building collapses around you or enough victims are caught by the fire and critically wounded (aka killed, but this is a kids game) thus preventing you from saving the required 7 individuals for victory. It costs $40 to get Flash Point. Is it worth it? There are different editions of this game floating around. It was initially a Kickstart product and there are some things that only people who backed the product received. I picked it up at my FLGS and I have the 2nd Edition, which includes plastic fireman for pawns (instead of meeples I believe?) and some minor rule fixes. Also, I will only explain how to play the Experienced version of the rules. The Family version, for kids, is easier to play and mainly ignores vehicles and character abilities plus a few other things. How to Play: As stated earlier, you need to save 7 victims (Find them in the house, get them out to the ambulance) to win the game. You lose if the house crashes down around you (tracked by damage counters on the walls) or if 4 or more victims are caught by the fire (thus preventing you from saving 7, since there are only 10 victims total who will go out on the board). Each side of the map is different. Generally, side B is harder because it has a lot more walls that can get damaged/destroyed by fire and has less total ways in/out of the building. After picking a map, you pick a difficulty level (Recruit, Veteran, or Heroic). The harder difficulties make the game harder from the get go and add more places to the map that can explode as well as more places to the map that can make you reroll the dice to spread the fire even more. You roll to have some initial places on fire (the map is a grid, each space as a 6-sided die number and an 8-sided die number that make them a hex. Roll both dice, find the number, put whatever you are going to put in that space). You resolve at least 3 initial fire placements, setting that space on fire, adding a hot spot to it, and setting each adjacent space that is not blocked by a wall on fire as well. You then add some hazmat to the board (they explode! Very bad!), more hot spots (if you roll them during the game you have to reroll after placing fire/smoke in their space), and 3 facedown Points of Interest (POI). These are either victims or blank, you won't know until you move into the space with the POI and flip it over. After this each player picks a character/color for their firefighter, chooses where they want to start (outside the building), you place the fire engine and the ambulance, and away you go! Each turn happens as follows: Each firefighter has a set number of action points (AP) they can use during their turn. Generally, this number is 4, but some have less and some have more. Additionally, some firefighters get free actions or cannot perform certain actions (the medic doesn't fight fires, for instance). Generally, this is all pretty thematic and is explained on the character card for your firefighter. Here's a list of each action you can take with it's associated cost during your turn: 1 AP: Move to an adjacent space (in a + sign, no diagonals!) 2 AP: Move through a fire (don't stop there though!) 2 AP: Move with a victim or hazmat (get those outside!) 1 AP: Open/Close a Door (need an open door to move into a room, closed doors can save you by blowing up instead of spreading fire) 1 AP: Extinguish Smoke/Turn Fire Into Smoke (only in adjacent/current space) 2 AP: Extinguish Fire (only in adjacent/current space) 2 AP: Chop (through walls- fun but can defeat you if not careful! It takes 2 chop actions to create a passageway through an undamaged wall and 1 for a damaged wall, but fire can use the passageway as well) 2 AP: Drive (bedo bedo bedo bedo!) Free: Ride in a driven vehicle 2 AP: Crew Change (get a new character, only at the fire engine!) 4 AP: Fire the Deck Gun (Let 'er rip! But you never know where it will land! Apparently they didn't train you very well....) You can also save an AP's you don't want to use for a later turn, but you can only save 4 AP so you have to be careful! After you take your turn, you roll for the fire: If you roll a space that has no fire on it, add a smoke marker there. If you land on a space with smoke, the smoke becomes fire. If you land on a space that already is on fire, an explosion occurs! This also occurs if a space with hazmat is light on fire. Explosions push outward from the targeted space in an + formation until they find an empty space or a wall. If they find an empty space, put a fire marker there. If you find a wall, put a damaged marker on it. If you hit a door, blow the door up (aka off it's hinges) and remove it from the game. It's gone. Additionally, add a hot spot to any space that has an explosion occur in it. If you roll a space with a hot spot, after resolving that space, you roll again, placing another hot spot in the space you land on (unless it already has one, in which case you keep rolling until you get a space without a hot spot, resolve that space, place another hot spot, and you're done). If a fire spreads or starts on a spot with a POI, flip it over and hope it's a blank. If not, it is removed from the board and you have 1 less person until you lose. If fire spreads to the space a firefighter is on, they are knocked down and moved to one of the 2 spaces the ambulance occupies, starting their next turn there. After you resolve everything for the fire, if there aren't 3 POI's on the board, roll and place POI's facedown until there are 3. If you land on a space that is already on fire or is occupied by a POI, there are little arrows on the map to show you where to place them. Just follow them until you find an empty space and put them there! And that's the game- it's simple, really, but it's complex at the same time. Keeping going until you win or lose. We typically lose because the building falls down around us. If you run out of damage counters (there are only 24) the whole place tumbles down around you! Characters: Yes, they are called specialists, but for consistency between games we call them characters. Generalist: My wife's favorite character behind the Veteran/Rescue Dog, she loves his 5 AP's. Not too much else to say about him, he's really handy to use and good at any roll in the game. CAFS Firefighter: Probably my favorite character in the game, he gets 3 free AP to deal with smoke/fire and 3 AP to do whatever he wants with. This makes him slightly less useful in the larger maps because he has to run all over the place (don't worry, those come in the expansions) but he is ALWAYS great for fighting fires and saving the day. Don't drag victims with him, you'll regret it! Rescue Specialist: We don't use her that much because A) We don't chop though walls often- bad business bringing the building down on top of you and B) She has to pay double to get rid of the fire. We'd rather use the Medic, who can help everyone, instead of the Specialist. She's not our favorite but I've seen her do great things. She's just not our style. Imaging Specialist: Very useful because they can flip over the POI's to see if you need to scramble to save them or not, plus they fight normally against fires. We use this character a lot as well since they are extremely handy. Driver: Definitely the specialist we use the least by a long shot, the driver sits in the box because we don't use the deck gun that often. Some maps you can't even use it on (I'm looking at you basement!) and it's really random what you hit since you have to roll coordinates instead of just putting the fire out for free. He just collects dust in the box, unfortunately for him. Hazmat Technician: I really like him. He gets rid of those stupid hazmat objects that love to blow up (and so some reason love to exist in the bathroom) and also fights fires perfectly. He is a great utility character- he can bring victims out, fight the fire, or work on hazmat, whatever is needed. We use him a lot as well. Paramedic: Loads better then the Rescue Specialist, the Paramedic can treat a victim so that ANYONE can move them for 1 AP instead of 2. Can you say awesome? I can. She sees a lot of action as well, usually in conjunction with the CAFS Firefighter. They make a great team. Fire Captain: A VERY useful character since he can order units around the map, especially great with characters and victims who have been treated by the medic. He can only order the CAFS Firefighter once per turn since they would be crazily powerful otherwise. We use him a lot as well. Final Thoughts: Initially, I thought Flash Point was ok when I played it but the wife loved it so much we purchased it because she was still not a huge gamer then (that's changed, fortunately). However, the game grew on me as we played it more and played with harder difficulty levels. It is a LOT of fun to play, though the rulebook is not the prettiest thing to look at (It's not poorly written as just not eye-catching like an FFG rulebook) and is a horrid white background on it. There's a lot of game in this box, and it's a GREAT game for medium-to-non gamers to play. We use it to introduce our friends to the sport and will play it with our son when he gets older. Currently, he's only 17 months old and likes to pick up the fire markers and stack them, usually on the board in a space that is empty. Makes for some crazy fires... until we move them. The biggest drawback to this game is that there are only 2 maps and they can get old quickly, but each expansion produced so far includes at least 1 double-sided map board in it so you get some variety quickly. Indie Cards and Games did a great job with Flash Point. It's a fun, quick co-op (usually 30-45 mins) that requires some real decisions, a little luck, and, for us at least, makes us want to play one more time if we lose, which happens about 50% of the time on Veteran difficulty. All in all, this is a great game that caught my attention slowly but, after 5 plays, lead me to realize how much fun it actually is. A game doesn't have to be really complex (this isn't) to be fun. I'd recommend this game to anyone who likes lighter co-ops and doesn't like/is sick of Pandemic. It's also great for kids and for non-gamers because it's pretty easy to understand. Flash Point is a lot of fun and is a great intro game, a great filler game, and a great game to play with the family!

Flash represents a great value and funny. You and your mates are envolved in plan to put down the fire troubles. Hurry up, and keep calm... your decision need to be correct or we get a victim! Grear game

Flash represents a great value and funny. You and your mates are envolved in plan to put down the fire troubles. Hurry up, and keep calm... your decision need to be correct or we get a victim! Grear game

A cooperative game where the tension starts out high and only builds. It is also one of the few cooperative games where things can become a disaster in a single turn but if you die you get a chance to regroup. I found this to be a great tension builder but also a nice release valve for actually enjoying the game. Lastly, this was a great game and theme for my children and me to play together. They like the cooperative aspect and also the cool fireman minis. The family friendly rules are also still challenging enough to make it interesting for everyone.