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Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Fire in the Library in Tabletop Games
Feb 11, 2020
My main job currently is working in an academic library. I have lots of different responsibilities to handle. So when I heard about a game with a title, “Fire in the Library,” I knew we HAD to play it. What employee wouldn’t want to play a game where the game ends once your workplace inevitably burns down? Imagine my giddiness as I learned this game and set it up for the first time.
Fire in the Library is a push-your-luck card game that rewards players for pushing their luck well beyond their comfort zones… but as with all push-your-luck games, defeat is also imminent.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rulebook, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS. -T
To setup, each player will choose a player color, place their Libreeple (I think it’s Libreeple anyway) near the scoring track, and take the corresponding Player Reference Card. The Library will next be built from sequential Library Cards. The Library is a group of individual decks of cards arranged in a 2×2 pattern, and the card fronts create a lovely picture of the Library. Add all cubes of five different colors to the Library Bag (keeping aside 10 red “fire” cubes). Shuffle the Tool Cards deck, deal each player two Tool Cards, place the top three Tool Cards face-up next to its deck to form the Tool Card Market. Shuffle the Turn Order Cards per the player count rules in the rulebook, deal one to each player, and the game can begin!
Phase One of the game is Choosing Turn Order. Once the turn order has been established (just for the first round – after that, the player who is in last place will choose which Turn Order Card they would like to use for the round) the 1st Player will move onto Phase Two. Yes, Choosing Turn Order is an entire phase by itself. This becomes more important once I explain Tool Cards a little later.
Phase Two is the meat of the game. It is split into two sections, but they flow so nicely into each other. The active player consults their Turn Order Card to understand how many book cubes they would like to pull from the bag, thus “saving” them from the impending fire. The Turn Order Cards will have blank square spaces for “safe” areas, and spaces with fire icons in “risky” spaces. More points can be scored by placing cubes into the risky spaces, but also is more dangerous. You see, a player can pull out a red fire cube from the bag and still choose to continue to pull cubes, assuming the red cube is placed on a safe space on their card. But pull a second fire cube and their turn is immediately over. However, pulling just one red cube and having to place it in a risky space ends the turn immediately. A player can choose to stop pulling cubes at any time and earn the rewards on the Turn Order Card printed directly below the last cube placed as well as the points for each book saved, which are the large numbers printed on the Library Cards (the 2×2 grid with the picture of the Library). These rewards from the Turn Order Card could be merely a Tool Card (under safe spaces), or it could result in points on the scoreboard (under risky spaces). Even if a player busts with the red cubes, they will be able to take a Tool Card as consolation. If the active player did not bust and voluntarily stopped pulling cubes, they add their points for the turn and adjust their Libreeple accordingly. On the other hand, if a player had to end their turn due to pulling red fire cubes, then the fire spreads!
When the Fire Spreads all the books that the active player had thought they saved are burned (returned to the bag). These lost books will also cause the fire to burn down portions of the Library that match the colors of the cubes pulled. Remove the top cards for each of these cubes from the Library. Sometimes this will reveal a printed fire icon on the revealed Library cards. Every time a fire icon is revealed in this way, one of the red cubes that was set aside at setup will be added to the Library Bag – thus increasing the ratio of fire to safe books in the bag.
Phase Three is called “After Scoring.” Every Tool Card in the deck will have an icon printed to show when it can be played during a turn (check the Reference Card). The Tool Cards can be played during Choosing Turn Order, Saving Books, Fire Spreading, and After Scoring.
Once all players have had their turn for the round, a portion of the Library will burn. Remove the appropriate card (according to the rulebook). All players will have a chance to discard one of their Tool Cards and replace it with a Tool Card from the top of the deck. When complete, a new round begins. Play continues in this fashion until a section of the Library is revealed with an icon signifying the end of the game. Players will have one last round to earn as many points as— I mean, save as many books as they can.
Components. There’s a lot going on in this game, and the components are really really good. First, the game box is one of those awesome magnetic boxes (like Biblios) that unfolds and reveals the score tracker. The Libreeples are normal meeple fare, the cubes are normal cube fare, and the Library Bag is one that is loved by Guy Fieri (probably). The cards are great quality and feature really amazing artwork by Katie Khau and Beth Sobel. Overall, the components are wonderful and we really enjoyed playing with them.
As you can tell from our score, we genuinely enjoyed this game. The push-your-luck mechanic is so central to the game and the Tool Cards help to mitigate frustrating pulls, or help to manipulate other areas of the game, and we love both of those aspects. All in all, Fire in the Library is a truly enjoyable experience, and one that I find myself thinking about outside of game night. I cannot wait to play again, and hopefully save more books. I would suggest adding this to my workplace library’s board game collection, but I don’t want any students getting any great ideas… Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a hot hot hot 15 / 18. Check it out for a different take on push-your-luck, where you actually care about what you’re doing. Oh, and of course I won – I work in a college library.
Fire in the Library is a push-your-luck card game that rewards players for pushing their luck well beyond their comfort zones… but as with all push-your-luck games, defeat is also imminent.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rulebook, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS. -T
To setup, each player will choose a player color, place their Libreeple (I think it’s Libreeple anyway) near the scoring track, and take the corresponding Player Reference Card. The Library will next be built from sequential Library Cards. The Library is a group of individual decks of cards arranged in a 2×2 pattern, and the card fronts create a lovely picture of the Library. Add all cubes of five different colors to the Library Bag (keeping aside 10 red “fire” cubes). Shuffle the Tool Cards deck, deal each player two Tool Cards, place the top three Tool Cards face-up next to its deck to form the Tool Card Market. Shuffle the Turn Order Cards per the player count rules in the rulebook, deal one to each player, and the game can begin!
Phase One of the game is Choosing Turn Order. Once the turn order has been established (just for the first round – after that, the player who is in last place will choose which Turn Order Card they would like to use for the round) the 1st Player will move onto Phase Two. Yes, Choosing Turn Order is an entire phase by itself. This becomes more important once I explain Tool Cards a little later.
Phase Two is the meat of the game. It is split into two sections, but they flow so nicely into each other. The active player consults their Turn Order Card to understand how many book cubes they would like to pull from the bag, thus “saving” them from the impending fire. The Turn Order Cards will have blank square spaces for “safe” areas, and spaces with fire icons in “risky” spaces. More points can be scored by placing cubes into the risky spaces, but also is more dangerous. You see, a player can pull out a red fire cube from the bag and still choose to continue to pull cubes, assuming the red cube is placed on a safe space on their card. But pull a second fire cube and their turn is immediately over. However, pulling just one red cube and having to place it in a risky space ends the turn immediately. A player can choose to stop pulling cubes at any time and earn the rewards on the Turn Order Card printed directly below the last cube placed as well as the points for each book saved, which are the large numbers printed on the Library Cards (the 2×2 grid with the picture of the Library). These rewards from the Turn Order Card could be merely a Tool Card (under safe spaces), or it could result in points on the scoreboard (under risky spaces). Even if a player busts with the red cubes, they will be able to take a Tool Card as consolation. If the active player did not bust and voluntarily stopped pulling cubes, they add their points for the turn and adjust their Libreeple accordingly. On the other hand, if a player had to end their turn due to pulling red fire cubes, then the fire spreads!
When the Fire Spreads all the books that the active player had thought they saved are burned (returned to the bag). These lost books will also cause the fire to burn down portions of the Library that match the colors of the cubes pulled. Remove the top cards for each of these cubes from the Library. Sometimes this will reveal a printed fire icon on the revealed Library cards. Every time a fire icon is revealed in this way, one of the red cubes that was set aside at setup will be added to the Library Bag – thus increasing the ratio of fire to safe books in the bag.
Phase Three is called “After Scoring.” Every Tool Card in the deck will have an icon printed to show when it can be played during a turn (check the Reference Card). The Tool Cards can be played during Choosing Turn Order, Saving Books, Fire Spreading, and After Scoring.
Once all players have had their turn for the round, a portion of the Library will burn. Remove the appropriate card (according to the rulebook). All players will have a chance to discard one of their Tool Cards and replace it with a Tool Card from the top of the deck. When complete, a new round begins. Play continues in this fashion until a section of the Library is revealed with an icon signifying the end of the game. Players will have one last round to earn as many points as— I mean, save as many books as they can.
Components. There’s a lot going on in this game, and the components are really really good. First, the game box is one of those awesome magnetic boxes (like Biblios) that unfolds and reveals the score tracker. The Libreeples are normal meeple fare, the cubes are normal cube fare, and the Library Bag is one that is loved by Guy Fieri (probably). The cards are great quality and feature really amazing artwork by Katie Khau and Beth Sobel. Overall, the components are wonderful and we really enjoyed playing with them.
As you can tell from our score, we genuinely enjoyed this game. The push-your-luck mechanic is so central to the game and the Tool Cards help to mitigate frustrating pulls, or help to manipulate other areas of the game, and we love both of those aspects. All in all, Fire in the Library is a truly enjoyable experience, and one that I find myself thinking about outside of game night. I cannot wait to play again, and hopefully save more books. I would suggest adding this to my workplace library’s board game collection, but I don’t want any students getting any great ideas… Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a hot hot hot 15 / 18. Check it out for a different take on push-your-luck, where you actually care about what you’re doing. Oh, and of course I won – I work in a college library.
Hazel (2934 KP) rated The Dying Hours in Books
Jan 12, 2018
This is the 11th instalment in the saga that is Tom Thorne; a fantastic, interesting and unorthodox police officer wonderfully created by Mark Billingham and I want to thank my local library for lending me a copy at no cost :)
My review: http://readingstuffnthings.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/the-dying-hours-by-mark-billingham.html
My review: http://readingstuffnthings.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/the-dying-hours-by-mark-billingham.html
starwarsluvr (236 KP) rated School Spirit (Suddenly Supernatural #1) in Books
Jan 30, 2018
Chelsey (1 KP) rated Perfect Silence in Books
Jan 7, 2019
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Loved It.
I checked this audiobook out from Scottsboro's digital library on a whim. I'm not ashamed to admit that I am signed up for a reading challenge with the Scottsboro library, and part of that challenge requires you to read so many books in a year; however, the only books that count towards the challenge are books and audiobooks that you physically check out from the library OR that you check out from the library's digital library. So... it's pretty much February, and I'm already having a hard time coming up with new books to check out from the library that I either HAVEN'T ALREADY READ or just have NO interest in reading. I saw this one pop up under new releases, however, so I thought, "Eh. What the hey. Might as well give it a try."
I say all that to express my surprise at how much I truly enjoyed listening to this book. When I checked it out, I did not have high hopes for it -- I had really NO hopes for it to be honest. I was very pleasantly surprised. The story of Tommy Wiseau is at times hilarious, at times uplifting, and at times, horribly, horribly lonely and sad. I was somehow in equal measure shocked, appalled, entertained, and overcome with laughter at different points in the book, and to me, all those emotions rolled into one is what really makes a book worth reading.
I have never watched Wiseau's (dare I say it?) "masterpiece" THE ROOM before now, but my plan is to go home and watch it over the weekend now that I have finished the book because I simply HAVE to watch it. It sounds horrible and hilarious all in one, and I am actually quite excited to sit down and give it a watch.
I plan on watching "The Disaster Artist" as well. I can't wait to see how the Franco brothers' portrayal measures up to this pretty wonderful book that I just finished.
I say all that to express my surprise at how much I truly enjoyed listening to this book. When I checked it out, I did not have high hopes for it -- I had really NO hopes for it to be honest. I was very pleasantly surprised. The story of Tommy Wiseau is at times hilarious, at times uplifting, and at times, horribly, horribly lonely and sad. I was somehow in equal measure shocked, appalled, entertained, and overcome with laughter at different points in the book, and to me, all those emotions rolled into one is what really makes a book worth reading.
I have never watched Wiseau's (dare I say it?) "masterpiece" THE ROOM before now, but my plan is to go home and watch it over the weekend now that I have finished the book because I simply HAVE to watch it. It sounds horrible and hilarious all in one, and I am actually quite excited to sit down and give it a watch.
I plan on watching "The Disaster Artist" as well. I can't wait to see how the Franco brothers' portrayal measures up to this pretty wonderful book that I just finished.
Kaz (232 KP) rated Library of Souls: The Third Novel of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children in Books
May 15, 2019
The Best Book So Far in the Series
The 'Blurb':
'The Peculiar Children are back in the third installment in the bestselling series of YA novels by Ransom Riggs. Time is running out for the Peculiar Children. With a dangerous madman on the loose, and their beloved Miss Peregrine still in danger, it's up to Jacob Portman to channel his newfound abilities and defeat Caul before he loses his friends--and their world--forever. This action-packed adventure features all-new Peculiar photographs from times and places all over the world.'
I've recently finished reading 'Library of Souls' by Ransom Riggs and I thought that this was the best book in the series. I'm not sure if this book was the last in a trilogy or the new book due to come out, follows on from what happened in 'Library of Souls', but I liked the plot of this novel.
Whilst I enjoyed the other two books, I think with 'Library of Souls', the story really gets going and this book was really well-paced and exciting.
I liked the development of the characters and I also thought that the themes running through the book, about how power use others to gain power for themselves, was thought provoking and mature. The teen romance is the only thing that lets this down slightly throughout the other books, but that element was dealt with well in 'Library of Souls'.
Also I think that the writing style is better in this novel. In the first novel, there were a few times where the writing seemed a bit awkward, but I think 'Library of Souls' is well written and at times, funny. At times, the story mirrored 'Harry Potter', but I still thought that it was still quite original.
I hope the new book continues Jacob's story, but even if that's the last thing we hear of this set of characters, this was a fitting end to their adventures.
My Rating **** 1/2 Stars
'The Peculiar Children are back in the third installment in the bestselling series of YA novels by Ransom Riggs. Time is running out for the Peculiar Children. With a dangerous madman on the loose, and their beloved Miss Peregrine still in danger, it's up to Jacob Portman to channel his newfound abilities and defeat Caul before he loses his friends--and their world--forever. This action-packed adventure features all-new Peculiar photographs from times and places all over the world.'
I've recently finished reading 'Library of Souls' by Ransom Riggs and I thought that this was the best book in the series. I'm not sure if this book was the last in a trilogy or the new book due to come out, follows on from what happened in 'Library of Souls', but I liked the plot of this novel.
Whilst I enjoyed the other two books, I think with 'Library of Souls', the story really gets going and this book was really well-paced and exciting.
I liked the development of the characters and I also thought that the themes running through the book, about how power use others to gain power for themselves, was thought provoking and mature. The teen romance is the only thing that lets this down slightly throughout the other books, but that element was dealt with well in 'Library of Souls'.
Also I think that the writing style is better in this novel. In the first novel, there were a few times where the writing seemed a bit awkward, but I think 'Library of Souls' is well written and at times, funny. At times, the story mirrored 'Harry Potter', but I still thought that it was still quite original.
I hope the new book continues Jacob's story, but even if that's the last thing we hear of this set of characters, this was a fitting end to their adventures.
My Rating **** 1/2 Stars
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