Hotshots

When a wildfire burns across the land, the first team sent in are the Hotshots. Named for being sent to the hottest part of a fire, these specially trained firefighters battle the blaze in the roughest and most remote areas. You and your friends are a Hotshot crew called to fight a raging forest fire. Move to the burning areas and roll the dice to try to beat back the flames. Each area provides its own challenge and putting out fires gives you bonuses you can use to your advantage. Use teamwork to press your luck, cut firebreaks, and call in vehicles for support. The fire moves unpredictably and spreads fast. If too many areas become Scorched, the forest is lost!

Hotshots is a cooperative, press-your-luck firefighting game designed by Justin De Witt, creator of our hit cooperative games Castle Panic and Star Trek Panic.

Crews of 1 to 4 players take on the roles of wildfire fighters (Crew Boss, Spotter, Swamper, and Sawyer) with special abilities and roll dice on burning terrain tiles to match the combinations shown on the tiles. The more faces you roll, the better you fight the fire. Choose to cut Firebreaks, which prevent fires from being spread by wind gusts, or push your luck to reduce Flames and possibly even generate Reward Tokens. If you bust and fail to match at least 3 of the 6 symbols on the tile, the fire grows. Another option is to maneuver Vehicles (Air Tanker, Helicopter, and Brush Rig) to save the forest.

Flame tokens are added at the end of each player’s turn by the draw of a Fire card, which can bring about light or strong wind gusts, increase the strength of the flames on certain tiles, and start fires. Too many Flame tokens will cause a tile to Scorch and be lost. Losing a terrain tile could also affect the game play. Some tiles are tied to crewmembers’ special abilities, while others help the firefighters and still others cause the fire to spread in unique ways. If 8 tiles or the Fire Camp Scorches, the game is over and the forest is lost. But if your intrepid crew can extinguish the fire, your team wins together.

The press-your-luck mechanic with ratcheting rewards creates a lot of great tension, and the variety of ways to fight the fire makes for interesting choices. The modular tile layout and Fire cards bring high replayability to the game, and the eye-catching Flame tokens provide an enticing table presence.