Survivor Winners at War: How Fire Tokens will impact season 40

An all-winners theme won’t be the only twist of Winners at War. Fire Tokens presents a brand new spin on Survivor that will dramatically change the strategy this season.

We are just over one month away from the premiere of Survivor: Winners at War! We already know a lot about the contestants, the theme, and the twists, but there is something we don’t know too much about. The season 40 promo at the end of the Island of the Idols finale revealed a brand new twist: Fire Tokens. How will this change the season? Let’s first try to piece together everything we know about Fire Tokens so far.

What we know

Fire Tokens will be the currency of Survivor: Winners at War. The castaways can use the tokens to purchase food, comfort items or advantages. From the promo, we were able to catch a few items available for purchase. Here they are:

Food:

• A regular bag of rice – 6 or 8 tokens

Comfort:

• Two pillows, two blankets – 4 tokens
• A tarp – 5 tokens

Advantage:

• An advantage in a challenge – unknown token amount

This menu will probably change as the game progresses, but at least for now it doesn’t look like the tokens will yield excessive power. Being able to buy an advantage for an Immunity Challenge early in the game is one thing, having the option to buy an idol, a nullifier or Vote Steal is a completely different story. Let’s hope that the advantages up for purchase stay small to prevent this new production twist from compromising the purity of this season.

What we don’t know

There are still plenty of details about Fire Tokens that we currently don’t have an answer to. How can the castaways earn tokens? Will they start off the game with a few? Are there some hidden at each camp? Can players combine their tokens together to buy an item? Will contestants sent to the Edge of Extinction still be able to collect tokens? When and where can they make a purchase? We’ll have to wait and see to figure out exactly how this twist works.

Adds another layer to the game

In addition to all the other Survivor dynamics that these 20 winners have come to know and master, Fire Tokens presents a level of gameplay that is new to all of them. In a way, this twist could actually help balance the playing field. Could someone with a lot of fire tokens be viewed as a serious threat? Plus there’s also the element of using your tokens to purchase something for either the good of your tribe or for yourself.

This twist would present even further intricacies if the castaways are allowed to share and use their tokens with others. Any advantage that encourages social interactions is sure to create exciting situations. Fire Tokens bring a board game-level of gameplay to Survivor. Whether that will end up being a good thing is still to be determined, but with this talented group of castaways, Fire Tokens could bring just enough intrigue to make this season one of the best.