Evacuate - Fire Marshall Training Simulation

What happens when you compress a building evacuation into four minutes and put real people in charge? Our tabletop wargame, Evacuate, set out to answer exactly that, and it delivered some eye-opening results.

The full simulation laid out. Providing scenarios for each floor of the building. Tokens to represent different personalities within the building. Cards to create randomness keeping the game fresh each training. And a quick A4 rulepack to get you started on the game.

At its core, the game simulates a fire evacuation under intense time pressure, which truly mirrors the real thing. Each round equals 30 seconds. Fire marshals must clear floors, reveal hidden occupants in meeting rooms and toilets, manage vulnerable or resistant staff, and contend with fires that spread faster than expected. Movement is deliberately constrained: no jumping over desks, no passing through people, which, again, just like the real thing, leads to bottlenecks forming and stairwells clogging if not handled properly.

The game is designed primarily for fire marshals, but its value extends far wider. It can provide vital insights to anybody whose operations involve buildings, which are always vulnerable to fire hazards. It vividly demonstrates why evacuation discipline matters, who is involved, and how people might react when facing such a situation. With fires potentially costing businesses up to £1 million per hour in lost revenue, hesitation is expensive.

During the playthrough, engagement was high, and players felt the pressure. Yet a critical weakness was exposed almost immediately: communication. Fire marshals coordinated well within their own floors, but almost no communication happened between floors. The result? Jammed stairwells, neglected large rooms, and delayed responses to growing fires. Bathrooms were nearly forgotten, while the fire spread felt shockingly fast.

6 trainees going through their first trial of the simulation. Working together against the clock to ensure everyone gets out safely!

Ironically, the strongest takeaway came from outside the board. Players spontaneously set up a WhatsApp group, agreeing on daily check-ins to confirm who could be mobilised in a real emergency. That simple act underscored the game’s key lesson: evacuation isn’t just about routes and rules, it’s about communication and reacting to situations as they come.

Evacuate doesn’t just teach procedure. It exposes habits, assumptions, and blind spots. People always say nobody knows how they would react in an emergency until they are in one, and while that is true, this game can surface many of those possibilities. And it is far better to learn them around a table than when the house is literally on fire.

Pick up your copy today from our webstore here.