What do you think of when you think of fireworks? For me, it’s the rush of excitement that comes from loud noises and bright, beautiful colors on display. In Skyrockets: Festivals of Fire, you get much of the same experience in a cooperative game that puts you in the role of working with your fellow players to put on a fireworks show for your wizard school.
Read on to see if Skyrockets blasts off to greatness or fizzles on the ground!
Gameplay Overview:
Skyrockets is a cooperative real-time game where the goal is to advance the countdown timer, while keeping the other fireworks timers running. On a player’s turn, they play a card and flip the two sand timers whose colors are on the card. The only caveat to this is that they can only flip and advance the countdown timer if it has already run out. Play then continues to the next player, who plays a card and flips timers, and so on. If a fireworks timer runs out, players have two opportunities to reflip a timer to keep it running. The game ends in victory when the countdown timer reaches the end of the countdown track, or ends in defeat if a fireworks timer runs out for a third time.
The game begins with the basic rules as described above, but contains 29 more scenarios with increasing complexity of rules within each setup. In the first scenario after the intro, you have a reduced hand size and a stack of 10 unknown cards that you can flip instead of playing a known card from your hand, with the 10 cards all having to be played before victory can be achieved. Some scenarios prohibit talking, some provide all the cards in a Freecell-type layout, and some end up being more like puzzles. Each scenario has its own feel and level of difficulty.
Game Experience:
Skyrockets fires off the table with a bang! To get into the game requires no time at all—we brought it to a game night and we were having players rotate in and out of the game after watching a single scenario. It is also worth noting that two of these players were 9 and 7 years old, showing that Skyrockets can be picked up with ease by gamers of all ages and ability levels.
One of the more clever aspects of Skyrockets is the fact that (completely missed by us when we started playing) the sand timers all empty at different rates. This allows there to be some planning and strategy in the order and timing in flipping over the fireworks timers rather than just random and frenetic choices. This extra wrinkle of strategy gave us something new to consider when planning our plays (after, of course, we realized that the different timers were a thing.)
The scenarios included in Skyrockets are designed in a logical progression of complexity, starting with simple and small variations and advancing to complex situations to challenge the most serious of gamer geek. The great thing about the sequence is that it is thoughtfully constructed to create a gentle slope of increasing difficulty to support the needs of both beginner and advanced players alike. To be honest, some of the very advanced scenarios are extremely difficult. We are not ashamed to admit that we definitely failed some of the harder ones in very spectacular fashion. This scaling of difficulty allows Skyrockets to be brought to the table for young gamers, old gamers, and everyone in between.
We tend not to evaluate games based on their visual appeal, but it would be difficult not to mention just how pretty the fireworks cards in Skyrockets are. The art is lovely, and the colors of the corresponding timers are integrated into the art in clever and thoughtful ways. It is also worth noting that each timer also has a stylized symbol printed on it, and on the corresponding fireworks cards, adding to the accessibility of Skyrockets. It is a credit to Floodgate Games and their developers that they take the time ensure that a game like Skyrockets has the ability to be enjoyed by all.
Final Thoughts:
While Skyrockets may be the successor to Kites, there is definitely room on your shelf for both. It provides a lot of excitement in a small and easy-to-learn package, and is great for both gaming groups and families alike. Of course, if your family IS your gaming group, then you definitely should pick it up.
Final Score: 4.5 Stars – Frenetic. Fast. Fireworks. Fun!
Hits:
• Great for a wide audience
• Logical progression of complexity
• Fast to learn and play
Misses:
• Advanced scenarios are very difficult
