There’s a fire in the library and only you and your friends can go in to save as many books as possible! “Fire in the Library” is a push your luck game where you’ll be drawing cubes of different colors from a bag and deciding whether or not to continue. Red/fire is bad and can end your turn with zero points. Luckily, you’ll have some tools to help you out along the way.
I’m conflicted. You see, this game isn’t bad…I just didn’t care for it for a couple of reasons. The rounds felt clunky and we had to restart several times because we missed a rule or two that would have affected our points from the previous rounds. A quick turn order guide would have been nice. There were guide cards but I felt that they were too vague. As a seasoned gamer I thought to myself, “if I’m having trouble with this, then what kind of issues will a casual gamer family have?” Some of the grammar on the tool cards contradicted themselves (Torch Card) leaving us to house rule.Boaf
I hate being this negative because the game has a lot going for it. The art is great, the components are well made, and I enjoyed various aspects of the strategy once we understood the game. For example, Aidalee let books burns after drawing fire on purpose to stay in last place (she would have jumped ahead) allowing her to then choose the turn order card for the next turn. She then proceeded to earn 60+ points due to luck and several tools.
The game has a lot of replayability as it has several variants and robots to play against. That said, I’m personally not a fan of RNG (Random Number Generator)/ push your luck games because I’m generally very terrible at them. No matter how well you do, it’s anyone’s guess if you’ll still win due to the ever-increasing value of the book cards (as more books burn of a color, the more valuable their points).
I still recommend “Fire in the Library” despite the mechanical and personal problems, but only to seasoned gamers who like push-your-luck games. It’s not a game that I was able to easily pick up and play despite my experience in this hobby. The thirty minute average play time listed on the box, I felt, was generous. I would have listed it as an hour, especially if players play it safe and don’t bust (thereby reducing how many library cards burn every round).
You can learn more about “Fire in the Library” and watch us play a full game below.
Disclosure: I received a press copy, though any and all opinions are my own.
Final Verdict: 5/10 (Average)
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