While manning your fire tower you notice smoke in the distance and pull out your radio to report a blaze growing somewhere in the forest. You must protect your tower with all the resources at your disposal: dispatch fire engines to combat the blaze, order air drops of water, and plan the building of firebreaks. Competing fire departments will complicate your work, using the unrelenting winds to their advantage in an attempt to safeguard their own towers and threaten yours. The chaotic Firestorm also stalks the deck and will dramatically swell the flames each time it is drawn. Will you effectively use your forces to outwit your opponents and survive the inferno? Can you be the last tower standing?
Fire Tower is a competitive game where players must fight fire with fire. Most fire fighting games have a cooperative aspect with players working together to beat back the flames, but in Fire Tower your only objectives are to protect your own tower and spread the blaze towards your opponents. The game plays 2-4 players, ages 12+, and takes 15+ minutes. Action cards allow players to alter the direction of the wind, and add varying patterns of fire, water, and defensive barriers to the board. The skill comes in effectively directing the resources in your hand and using sound spatial planning to deploy them.
The game incorporates an intuitive play structure that takes minutes to learn and requires negligible set-up. Each card includes a grid that visually explains the ways it can be used, saving new players from having to constantly refer to the rulebook. Although the core mechanics are easy to grasp, an ever shifting environment forces players to switch up their tactics and experiment with varied strategies, making Fire Tower a difficult game to master and each play through a fresh experience.
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