In the cooperative, press-your-luck game, crews of 1 - 4 players play the roles of wildfire fighters — crew boss, spotter, swamper, and sawyer — with special abilities, then roll dice on burning terrain tiles to match the combinations on those tiles. The more faces they roll, the better they battle the fire. Players can pick to cut firebreaks, which protect tiles from embers blown by wind gusts, or push their luck to reduce flames and possibly generate reward tokens. If players bust and fail to match three or less of the six symbols on the tile, the fire grows. Another option is to maneuver vehicles — air tanker, helicopter, and brush rig — to protect the forest.

Flame tokens are included at the end of each player's turn by the draw of a fire card, which can bring light or strong wind gusts, increase the strength of the flames on certain tiles, and start fires. Too many flame tokens will make a tile to scorch and be lost. Losing a terrain tile can also affect the game play. Some tiles are linked to crewmembers' special abilities, while others help the firefighters, and still others cause the fire to spread in unique ways. If eight tiles scorch or the fire camp scorches, the game ends and the forest is lost — but if the intrepid crew can extinguish the fire, the team wins together.

The press-your-luck mechanism with intensifying rewards creates tension, and the variety of ways to fight the fire makes for interesting choices. The modular tile layout and fire cards offer high replayability to the game, and the acrylic flame tokens provide an enticing table presence.