It’s time once again for another installment of Tabletop Co-Op. Once every month or so, we’ll go a bit beyond the realm of video games and take a close look at board and card games that feature co-op. Our focus this time around is on one of the hottest (if you’ll pardon the pun) games, funded at Kickstarter just a few months ago: Flash Point Fire Rescue.
As you can undoubtedly surmise from the title, Flash Point Fire Rescue has a firefighting theme. Players take on the roles of brave firefighters sent to rescue victims trapped inside a burning building. As the game progresses, the fire spreads, putting the people trapped inside in great danger, to say nothing of the firefighters themselves. If you can rescue seven victims before you lose four to the inferno, or the collapse of the building, you win the game.
Flash Point Fire Rescue has a modular rule set, one of my favorite features in any game. The basic or introductory game is simple enough to be taught in five minutes, and is easy enough to understand that even a pretty young kid (I’d guess a 6 or 7 year old) can make decisions and play without much help. But there is still enough challenge and strategy in the introductory game to appeal to older players.
Once you have the basic rules down, you can move on to the more complex, challenging advanced rules. Here, players choose roles granting them special abilities, firefighters can interact with the fire engine and ambulance, and fire spreads in a more dangerous manner. Having two versions of the game to play is a tremendous aid for first timers or playing with inexperienced gamers.