‘80s marble-rolling classic Fireball Island is being rebooted by the makers of Downforce

Goodness gracious, great balls of fire: Fireball Island is coming back.

The zany ‘80s board game about marbles rolling down hills (and wiping out your adventurers along the way) has long been out of print, but remained a much-loved favourite of nostalgic fans longing for the chance to chuck a load of marbles in the game’s iconic Vul-Kar mountain once again.

In fact, the number of people clamouring for a new Fireball Island was so great that the game apparently topped a list put together by Restoration Games, the studio co-founded last year by Pandemic Legacy and SeaFall designer Rob Daviau, while asking for ideas of which forgotten classic it should resurrect, having already turned its magic touch to racing game Downforce, trick-taker Indulgence and app-powered criminal-hunting chase Stop Thief!

Upcoming reboot Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-Kar is Fireball Island in name and premise, but makes several big changes to the since-dated ‘80s gem. The enormous island that players’ adventurers journey around has been remodelled, with trees and paths able to divert the fiery marbles spat out by the idol in the centre.

The new game still has a large luck component, but there’s a focus on giving players more control over dodging the fireballs, playing cards to move and perform special actions as they race to collect treasure and snapshots from around the massive main board.

The original Fireball Island came in a seriously sizeable box, and The Curse of Vul-Kar certainly doesn’t skimp on the epic feel, but its board can be broken into pieces for easier storage, making it less of a shelf hog than before.

The game’s already made close to £500,000 on Kickstarter ahead of a planned release this November, with a further four expansions – adding everything from poison snakes, killer bees and a pouncing tiger to a new pirate ship map – already planned.