It’s the summer and Mage Academy is closed but you have recently discovered a book all about some of the biggest and brightest explosives and fireworks! Let’s open it up and see what we can find. Today we are going on an adventure together and perform some great, fantastical fireworks shows!
Skyrockets Festivals of Fire is a new game from Floodgate Games, designed by Charlie McCarron with art by Silly Jellie. It plays 2-4 players in a series of events that can be played one at a time or together, each taking around 10-15 mins.
Overview:
In Skyrockets, players work together to perform fireworks shows by playing cards and flipping sand timers that match those cards. Players work to communicate and win together by playing the right cards, flipping sand timers at the right time helping the countdown timer reach the end of the track in time. Complete events, strive to finish them with 3 stars and bring your team to victory!
Gameplay:
This game has a number of events that you can do one after another in the order they recommend or curate your favorites into a unique festival to enjoy. The event card you select for the round will tell you the basics and the parts of the event you need to use.
Shuffle all the fireworks cards and deal the number shown on the event card to each player. the remaining cards become the draw deck. Some events have you make personal draw decks, check the details for the specifics.
Each sand timer is set to the position as indicated on the event card to start and some start on their side as well. Crowd tokens are placed in the crowd area and a player is chosen and given the first player token to begin.
Once the game starts, timers that need to stand up go upright and the first player goes. As this is a timed game you need to play focused and quickly because you cannot stop a game in the middle of it while the sand is flowing!
On the active player’s turn they play a card face up in front of them. Flip the timers that match the card you played and finish by drawing a new card to your deck. This will continue around player to player, watching the countdown timer and wanting it to run out. If you play a card when the countdown timer is empty, play a card with that color and flip it and advance it down the track.
However if one of the other timers runs out it’s a bad thing-you lose a crowd token. If you must do this three times your crowd has left and the game ends in a loss. The game either ends this way or with a win when you move the countdown timer on to the final space. Your score is based on how many countdown timers you have to flip over.
Impressions:
This is a game of strategy that the whole table must be together on for a chance to get a win. There is a rhythm to the game that is easily understood but hard to master. I find that my style of play doesn’t lean into this in a way that I really succeed at on my own but really need my companions to help get there with. This game is a real strong cooperative play and if that is what you are looking for in a game you won’t be disappointed.
I really like the multiple events that this game includes, being able to play them in the sequence they present is a nice way to climb up the ranks in the game. But once you find events you like the most you can make your own sequence and order that fits you and your playgroup!
The lack of words and reading make this great for players of any age to join in on-we had some younger family members who played and enjoyed it. So multiple players can find ways to join in the fun and really get in on the action.
If you enjoy real-time, cooperative games that give everyone a chance to work together in a speedy setting this is a game for you. Although it is not my personal favorite type of style for games I can see where this one would be popular and for my friends that enjoy this type of gameplay they had a great time. Make sure to give Skyrockets a look for your next game night!
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