2025Samuel Bryant, Gwen Ruelle
- Videos
- 6
- Creators
- 6
2 - 5 players40 - 60 minLight weight

2019Samuel Bryant, Gwen Ruelle
Mainly reviews. Fire Tower is covered on BoardGameVideo.com by 16 reviews, 4 how-to-play guides, 8 recorded sessions, 6 unboxings, and 4 other videos.
From BoardGameGeek
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.
Fire Tower has 38 videos from 32 creators: 16 reviews, 4 how-to-play guides, 8 playthroughs, 6 unboxings and 4 other videos. They date from 2017 to September 2026.
To learn the rules, start with "How To Play Fire Tower" by Runaway Parade, which runs 6 min.
For an opinion before you buy, start with "Fire Tower - Right for you / Wrong for you - (Quackalope Review)" by Quackalope. 16 creators have reviewed it. To see it played, watch "Watching the World Burn in Fire Tower - Board Game Show" by Funhaus, one of 8 playthroughs.
If you like it, try Monty Python and the Holy Grail: The Game, Fire Tower: Rising Flames and Punch Bowl, also by Samuel Bryant, or Blokus, which shares several of its mechanics. It appears in convention videos from PAX Unplugged 2017.
8 of 32
2025Samuel Bryant, Gwen Ruelle
2 - 5 players40 - 60 minLight weight
2021Samuel Bryant, Gwen Ruelle
1 - 5 players15 - 30 minMedium weight
2026Samuel Bryant, Gwen Ruelle
1 - 6 players30 - 45 minMedium weight
2000Bernard Tavitian
2 - 4 players30 minLight weight
From BoardGameGeek:
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.
Designers
Samuel Bryant, Gwen Ruelle
Artist
Kevin Ruelle
Publisher
Runaway Parade Games LLC
Categories
Mechanics