A daring rescue mission! During a regular hiking trip, Mt. Etna suddenly becomes active. The access road is blocked and hikers are trapped. Your mission: fly your helicopters into the volcano to rescue the hikers before the advancing lava reaches them. This game stresses crisis planning, risk-taking, and cooperation. Three separate lava advances are controlled by dice, and hikers run from the advancing lava. Some locations in the volcano are easier to land in than others. Eventually the lava will fill the crater, and any hikers trapped will perish. Pilots who crash into the volcano must also be rescued. It is a race against the lava! Players use dice to simulate the difficulty of flying in tricky conditions. Helicopters can be upgraded with power-ups and individual pilot cards grant special abilities. The overall victory is cooperative, but points are also awarded individually for a best pilot award. This is a great game for introducing the importance of cooperation, teamwork, and risk taking in life-and-death situations. The situation is simulated but tension is real. —description from the designer