In Fire & Stone the players lead their tribe through the Stone Age. They scout new lands, harvest nuts and mushrooms and finally build villages. The aim of the game is to have the most successful tribe by exploring new lands, building huts and gathering resources. With the invention of new tools and techniques like ship building or pottery the expansion of the player's tribe can even be accelerated.

Each space the scouts can enter contains upside-down discover tokens. When a scout moves on one of those tokens for the first time, they are turned over and trigger an effect. From now on these tokens can be used as a player action with a different effect. By the end of the game, the player who made the most victory points with villages and accomplishing tasks, wins.