The bonfires are sources of light, energy and warmth created by the guardians of light in order to brighten the cities on the otherwise dark planet. The residents of the cities, however, took the bonfires for granted and exploited them for their personal gain. Disappointed the guardians of light retreated and let the bonfires extinguish. The citizens could no longer live in the now dark cities and were forced to leave.
You are a group of gnomes living close to the cities and you also need the light of the bonfires. Missing it now, you try yourself to visit the cities and learn how to ignite the bonfires once again: You must visit the guardians of light on their holy islands and ask for tasks to prove your good will. For each completed task, they will re-ignite one extinguished bonfire. Whoever manages to earn the greatest trust from the guardians and manages to brighten their city the most will win the game.
The engine for Bonfire are the three-coloured tiles you will be puzzling onto your player board. When you manage to place the same colours adjacent to one another, you will receive more action tiles of that specific kind. This will allow you to specialize in certain types of actions and pursue different strategies.
You can use the tiles to perform the following actions:
Move your ship to an island
Receive a task from an island by spending two resources
Invite a guardian of light into your city
Trigger a procession of guardians through your city and gain resources.
Add a landscape tile to your city (this is where the processions take place)
Recruit a gnome gaining a special ability or victory points
Find support by the last bonfire, gaining portals, resources or action tiles
You will play in turn order until a fixed number of tasks has been solved, after which each player has 5 more turns. During final scoring, you will receive points for your completed tasks (the bonfires) and any improvements made there (portals, landscapes or guardians).
—description from the publisher
- High replayability
- Interconnected mechanisms
- Mechanics that support theme
- Rewards strategic thinking
- Overwhelming for new players
- Complex ruleset
- Many symbols and components
- Reigniting magical light sources
- Gnome cities with extinguished bonfires
- Mystical ritual-based quest
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- action selection — Choosing and placing action tiles strategically
- Path building — Creating paths for guardians and processions
- Resource management — Collecting and spending specific resources
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Once you get the gist of it, you're gonna automatically try to locate the info for specific tactics
References (from this video)
- fast and engaging two-player experience
- engine-building via goblin characters
- tight sequence of actions that lead to a win
- some may find the esoteric mechanics opaque
- not as scalable beyond 2 players
- esoteric mechanism-driven traversal and mission completion
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- engine-building — goblin characters and portals enable more efficient actions and point generation.
- Mission-based scoring — complete missions on your personal board by utilizing the tile actions and engine to gain points.
- tile placement — action tiles are placed to create an engine and pathway; involves building a personal board and missions.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is bonfire... kind of one of his more recent ones
- I thoroughly thoroughly enjoyed this two-player game
- it's remarkably fast as well I think I played it in about 75 minutes
- I think it's absolutely fantastic and one of the best two-player games I've played this year
- I love this game because the dice system in Bora Bora is great and the powers help balance outcomes
- expansion Mekka & Bah definitely did make a big change in the gameplay
- Caesar's Empire ... an evergreen feeling game that should be up there with Ticket to Ride
References (from this video)
- unique chain-tile mechanism creates tense planning
- highly satisfying when you execute complex task chains
- fast variational play with clear decisions
- theme may feel abstract to some players
- the learning curve can be steep due to chain interactions
- task-driven coordination with resource management
- gnomes rekindling magical bonfires in a mystical world
- slot-and-chain planning with potential for misdirection
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- chain-based task completion — tasks require sequential planning; players race to complete feasible tasks before others
- grid-based action chaining — placing a tile adjacent to an existing group creates repeated actions for that tile group
- tile queue drafting and placement — each player chooses top or bottom tile from a queue and places it into a personal grid
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Players take on the role of farm managers who want to deliver the goods to the market stalls, local towns, and hopefully to the ports of Palma.
- the same basic mechanisms as Lacrania, just kind of turned up to 11 essentially.
- with the dice drafting mechanism, you're going to be drafting a die and taking out the inner and outer action.
- One of the key other points I really enjoy about this one is the help your neighbor.
- This is the engine building that I find so enjoyable.
- You're working towards gaining the most prestige before the arrival of the Napoleonic forces.
- The main mechanism in this one is kind of a common action selection.
- There will be more workshops opening up along the way as where players can play their cards.
- This is another Euro game that has some very intricate working cogs.
- Trade with a noble action, cascades into more options depending on which noble you trade with.
- Everything is tied together in interlocking cogs.
- I love planning everything out and cursing the other players when they foil my perfectly laid plans.
- It's a game of chains. I want to take this task because I think I can achieve it.
References (from this video)
- Engaging planning with strong synergy between actions
- Great balance of long-term and short-term objectives
- Possibly a heavy game for some players; can require investment
- Objectives alignment with short- and long-term goals
- Archipelago/island exploration and settlement
- Strategy-forward with modular synergies
- Istanbul
- Bonfire
- Aqua Sphere
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- action strip drafting — Actions are selected via strips and combined orthogonally for stronger results.
- modularity — Modular components and synergy between actions.
- Objective-driven play — Complete island/objective goals while balancing long- and short-term aims.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- What a Beautiful Design
- it's criminal that this game isn't so widely accessible
- one of the cleanest Euros I've played in quite some time
- I am absolutely terrible at this game and despite that I love this one
- this game is quite a polarizing game
- it's a real Euro Gamers game
- ton of planning and strategy here
References (from this video)
- Stefan Feld quality
- engaging pacing and planning
- heavy setup and rule depth
- resource engine-building and route management
- Fantasized forge of projects and networks
- elegant, clever design
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- engine-building — progress through a layered action economy with powerful cards
- resource-management — collect and allocate resources to fulfill tasks and build routes
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is the best area control game out there
- a perfect 10
- I adore El Grande
- really nice game I taught this to a complete non-gamer
- I love Feld games this one is just an absolutely brilliant one
- it's one of the best two-player games ever made
- overproduced to say the least
- one of my favorite dice games and it's actually just broken into my top 100 for the first time
- the sudden death mechanism where if you are the first player to collect three buildings then you'll instantly win
- really cool decisions
References (from this video)
- Noted as one of Feld's heaviest titles
- Compared to Bora Bora for potential tightness
- Appeasing gods to rekindle fire in your territory
- Mythical creatures / gods; central bonfire on the board
- Bora Bora
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- heavy, tight euro — Described as one of Feld's heaviest, with tight decision-making
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- "it's kind of a weird year for board game releases"
- "this is top five most anticipated essens digital releases"
- "we are going to discuss our top five"
- "there's 500 coming out this year"