Fireball Island is a Board game first published by Milton Bradley in the mid-1980's. It is set on an unexplored tropical island, the home of the primitive idol Vul-Kar. Players progress along winding paths around the island, avoiding fireballs and trying to capture Vul-Kar's jewel and carry it to the escape boat.

Rules
The game mechanics in Fireball Island are moderately complex, requiring both skill and luck to win. The object of the game is to proceed to the top of the mountain on which Vul-Kar sits, stealing the jewel at the pinnacle. The player who reaches the escape boat with the jewel wins. There is only one jewel, so once a player grabs it he becomes the target of the others. The jewel will change hands many times during the course of a game.

Players roll the die to choose who goes first.


Taking a turn
On each player's turn, he rolls the die and progresses that number of spaces in whichever direction he wants. There are forks in the trail and a cave system that can be used to warp across the map (although cave movement is random and so it might be many turns before a player lands where he wants to go). If a player rolls a '1,' instead of moving his player-token he rolls a fireball. Additionally, a player may play cards during his turn.

Two players may not occupy the same space. If a player lands on someone else, the moving player goes forward to the next empty space. If a card is used to move an enemy player back, he similarly goes backward until he lands on an empty space. The starting location is an exception to this rule, since all players must start at the same place.

A player's movement stops immediately on a special space, such as a cave, a bridge, the start location, the dock, or the space at the top of Vul-Kar Point with the jewel. Once someone takes the jewel from Vul-Kar Point that space becomes a normal space.


Fireballs
Fireballs are seated at various locations on the 3d game board. One is inside Vul-Kar's mouth; the entire idol can be rotated to spit the fireball in the desired direction. The player who is rolling a fireball picks one and tips it off its perch. Most paths on the board slope in one direction, so the fireball will roll down the path until it comes to rest. Any player-token that is touched by the fireball, or by another player-token already killed or being pushed along, is 'killed' and moves to the nearest smolder-pit. Being killed by a fireball is not the end of a player's game; it just means that on that player's next turn he must 'stand up' in the smolder pit, effectively losing that turn.

A player must try to hit someone if he can, even if the only available target is himself. Some spaces are only hit occasionally by a particular fireball; it is a usually a matter of house rules whether aiming for a player on such a space is a legal fireball. If a player rolls a '1' and there are no valid targets, he must proceed 1 space.


Smolder Pits
A player who has been fireballed is immediately placed in a smolder pit. Although for most of the map players simply go to the nearest pit, there are definite rules for which smolder pit a player on a particular space heads to. The divisions between the zones of trail that are covered by each smolder pit are usually divided by ridges or steps in the trail. Note that it is the location a player starts on, not where he ends up, during fireballing that determines where his body goes. Any number of players may occupy a smolder pit.


Cards
Each player is dealt one card at the beginning of the game, face down. Players may look at their own hands but not at oppenents'. Throughout the game, whenever a player lands on a dark space, he draws a card. Most cards can only be played any time during any player's turn, although some cards are only played in response to others. There is a maximum hand size of four; a player with a full hand may not draw any new cards.

The complete list of cards:

FIREBALL! Immediately roll a fireball 
FAKE JEWEL! Play this card when a player attempts to steal the jewel from you. You keep the jewel and the opponent must continue his move past you. 
CANCEL ANY CARD EXCEPT FIREBALL CARD! Cancels any card, including another CANCEL or a MAGIC TALISMAN. 
MAGIC TALISMAN STOPS A FIREBALL! Prevents any player from rolling a fireball. 
REROLL THE DIE! The player that just rolled the die must reroll; the original roll is ignored. 
TAKE ANOTHER TURN AFTER YOUR TURN! You take an extra turn after your turn. The rulebook is ambiguous about whether you can play this card to force an opponent to take another turn, or if you can take a turn between two opponents' turns. 
TAKE 1 CARD FROM ANY OPPONENT! Take one card at random from any opponent's hand. 
MOVE AHEAD X SPACES INSTEAD OF ROLLING DIE! (X is 4, 5, or 6). May only be played before the active player moves; the active player moves the appropriate number of spaces instead of rolling the die. The rules are ambiguous about what happens if you use this card on a player who is in a cave. 
MOVE ANY OPPONENT BACK X SPACES! (X is 1, 2, or 3). From the rulebook: 
Play one of these cards on any opponent's turn, to move the opponent back on the trail the number of spaces indicated on the card. If you play the card before the opponent rolls the die, the opponent must move back before rolling. If you play the card after the opponent has rolled the die, the opponent must finish the move, then move back.
NOTE: These cards do not move players out of caves, smolder pits, or the water penalty area at the bottom of Great Sway Bluff. If one of these cards moves an opponent back onto an unoccupied bridge, the opponent must end his or her move on the bridge.

This card is a prime candidate for house rules, since it is sometimes unclear which direction is 'back' and it often would make more sense to move a player during your own turn rather than on their turn. 
DOUBLE THE NEXT DIE ROLL! The next die roll is doubled. Importantly, a '1' becomes a '2' so no fireball is rolled. It is unclear what happens if a player in the caves must double his die roll and rolls above 3. 

Caves
There are six caves placed at various locations around the island. A player may opt to step into a cave that is adjacent to the space he is on instead of continuing with his move (assuming he has at least one move left). The player then rolls the die and moves to the cave with that number (if it is empty). If that cave is occupied, then the active player stays where he is and does not reroll. If a player moving in the caves rolls a one, he rolls a fireball and goes to cave one if possible.

A player who starts his turn in a cave must choose, before rolling the die, whether to stay in the caves or come out. If he chooses to stay in the caves, he proceeds as if he had just stepped into the cave, rolling and going to the appropriate cave if it is empty.

Cave number four is special in that it has no adjacent path, and so there is nowhere to step out to. The only choice is to stay in the caves.


Bridges
On the route to the escape boat, there are two bridges over rushing gorges. A player who steps onto an unoccupied bridge must end his turn there. An occupied bridge can be stepped over like any other space.

A bridge is a perilous perch, since there are fireballs which can roll down the gorges and knock players into the river, leaving them stranded on a beach back along the path. This special smolder pit does not require a fireballed player to stand up, although the steps up from the water take a few turns.


Tokens
There is an altar near the start of the map where each player can pick up a token. These poorly-named game tokens may be traded in at any time for a full hand of cards, but if you have a token and the jewel, then other players cannot play 'take one card from any opponent' on you.


The Jewel
The jewel is the most important game token, since it is required to win. The first player to reach the top of Vul-Kar Point gets the jewel, fills up his hand to four cards, and rolls a free fireball. Then he takes three full turns.

If another player passes the jewel carrier, the passing player steals the jewel. If the jewel carrier is fireballed, the jewel is placed on the trail outside the smolder pit, to be picked up by anyone. If the jewel carrier is fireballed on a bridge, the jewel stays on the bridge.

A player who lands on the dock (a special space) with the jewel wins. It is not necessary to roll the exact number of moves.


Ambiguities
The rules of Fireball Island are tersely stated and are sometimes open to interpretation. The most significant of these ambiguities is the lack of a stack nor any ordering of priority (these concepts were popularized by Magic: The Gathering in the 1990s, after Fireball Island was published). If one player wants to FIREBALL! the active player, and someone else wants to MOVE ANY OPPENENT BACK 3 SPACES!, who gets to go first? The rules seem to state that the first player to announce his card (or perhaps the first to place his card in the discard pile) gets priority. The only exceptions are CANCEL ANY CARD EXCEPT A FIREBALL CARD! and MAGIC TALISMAN STOPS A FIREBALL!.

Other ambiguities include:

What to do if a player in a cave doubles his die roll 
Whether trading in a token can be done in response to another card, in order to (possibly) draw a CANCEL or a MAGIC TALISMAN 
These ambiguities are often clarified by house rules.