Forbidden Desert Board Game

This was a Christmas present for my nine year old son. I had played it before and though he would like it, but I was surprised to see how easily his younger brother, my seven year old son, picked it up. The game play is actually very simple with players competing against the storm that moves around the board burying locations deeper under the sand. All players win or lose as a team, with the team losing if the storm becomes too ferocious, the board gets buried in sand or any of the team dies of thirst. Each player has different abilities to help them discover pieces of the flying machine you need to escape. Combining this with the desert constantly shifting and items in random locations, each game feels different to keep it fresh each time. What has impressed me most is how well balanced the game is. The difficulty level of the game can be varied nicely, by simply changing the strength that the storm starts at. All the different characters feel nicely balanced too, with distinct strengths, none of which are too insignificant or too powerful. Most importantly, they are sufficiently different to encourage the players to adopt unique roles within the team. The game is driven by collaboration, with the storm taking a go for every player's. If players don't work together, the team will fail quickly due to dying of thirst. If they don't utilise their unique individual strengths for the benefit of everyone, the storm will usually overwhelm them before they escape. If you've not tried a collaborative game before, this is a great one to start with. I can thoroughly recommend it for younger players too. The fundamentals of the rules are easy to grasp. The instructions are well-written and most eventualities are covered. But there will never be an argument as everyone is on the same side. And when someone loses a game, there is no-one who has won to wind them up. Perfect for competitive siblings!

Co-operative games are becoming a favourite in our household. We have Pandemic - Game in English (in my opinion one of the greatest of all board games) which I play with adults, not with our children who are aged 5 and 7. The first co-op game the children played was Castle Panic Board Game , which is a great game, and it was almost played every day: TV was forgotten, troll slaying was in! Then we got Castle Panic: The Wizards Tower , a brilliant expansion for Castle Panic, but one that in a strange way left Castle Panic in the cupboard unplayed. The main reason for this was that the new Wizard cards required reading, and the 5 year old, as a result, lost interest. It was difficult to revert to the original version as it was so basic by contrast. Plus, Castle Panic can easily go on for over an hour, and during the game the children will say "I want to do something else" and off they go. Enter Forbidden Island. Reading all the other reviews I'm sure you'll get an idea of what the game is about. A game takes about 30 mins, so it's easy to sneak a game in before bed time. The game doesn't rely on reading, with cards having pictures that says it all, so even the 5 year old can shout out "Sandbags!" or "Airlift!" or feel dismay when drawing a Water Rise card. The adventurer roles also capture the imagination of the younger players (with perhaps the exception of the Navigator, whose ability to move other players is a bit more subtle), whether it be a diver, a pilot, or Explorer. The treasure figurines also look good, and help to the atmosphere that you're risking your lives to get something truly valuable. For me, the genius of the game comes from setting up the tiles to form the island, so that the layout is never the same. What's more, you can alter the shape of the island (check out the variant rules on the Forum website) which alters the difficulty of play. In Pandemic (by the same author) which has notable similarities, you win when you cure all 4 diseases. What is different with Forbidden Island is once you gain all 4 treaures, all players still have to get to the helipad, known as Fool's Landing, and use the Airlift card to claim victory. This adds a sense of complete closure to the game, and also added tension as there are still oppurtunities to loose before everyone is lifted to safety. And full marks for presentation. The game comes in a tin box with well presented instructions, and is easy to take around. I wouldn't take Pandemic on a camping trip, for instance, as there are quite a few little pieces to loose. Forbidden Island, on the other hand, is easier to fit in a suitcase and is more durable. In a few years time, I'm sure the children will get back to Castle Panic and be able to play the whole game in a single setting, and when they reach 10, I will introduce Pandemic to them. As for now, Forbidden Island is all the rage. The suggested age of 10+ is a bit high. My 7 year old daughter has easily grasped the concept and tactics, and is able to make her own suggestions, and I think could play this game with children of a simlar age. The 5 year does need adult supervision. Overall, excellent! A very good introduction to co-op games for any age. For adults though, I thouroughly recommend Pandemic.

Compared to the majority of the games in our collection, this is a nice simple game; easy to setup, simple rules and quick to play. Neatly presented in quite a small tin, it is good for holidays & doesn’t require much table space. Having said it is a simple game, it is not always easy to win. Thanks to the random tile order, the critical ‘Fools Landing’ tile can turn up in a most inconvenient place and, as we select our player adventurers randomly, some have more useful talents than others. The randomness of the island and artefact cards also ensure that, despite the simple mechanics, no two games are the same. However, with the standard diamond island configuration it is usually a bit too easy to win once one has worked out a winning strategy. It plays at a good pace & the co-op element is strong and despite it being a simple game, we play it quite often for a bit of light relief. I found some alternative island configurations on the internet and all of them are far more challenging than the diamond so the game never gets stale. Rulebook: 10/10 Complexity: 2/10 Component quality: 10/10 Replayability: 8/10 Gameplay pace: 10/10

I'm just getting into board gaming and wanted a simple to learn game that would be easy to show people how to play and also play solo. This is a co-op game not player v player. The rules are easy to pick up and the game can be played in about 30-40 minutes. I have enjoyed the first few games, got well and truly beaten first couple of goes then won the third. For me there is some replay value in that the difficulty can be ramped up and there are different characters with differeing abilities to play with. Seems a good game to get out every now and then and as stated non gamers could play this quite easily. One issue I had was that some of the tiles had marks on the edge ( possibly where they were cut) one being quite pronounced and on the dried up oasis tile, meaning that it could be identified before being turned over. As the game relies on you not knowing what is under the tiles and especially not knowing which of the 3 oasis tiles is the dry one,this is not good! Once you know the mark is there you can't "not see it" One other tile had a pronounced spot on it. I returned the first set to Amazon ( great service) and ordered a replacement. This was better although there were smaller marks on 2 tiles but not the important ones so this is fine. seems like there may be a quality issue when the cards get punched out. I have seen reviews saying similar on the web but also that the makers always seem to send out replacement tiles quickly ( although this may be mainly in the USA as I believe they are based there). you can always return to the retailer in the uk. Overall a fun game and seems a good introduction to board games and for those looking to branch out from the family favourites such as monopoly and the like.

Such a fun and immersive game! Originally played Forbidden Island game by Gamewright with a couple of friends and loved it, intended on purchasing it ourselves but saw this game, Forbidden Desert, and thought the 1st one was so good that we would try this and both myself and girlfriend love this! It's a game you can play with just 2 people and thoroughly enjoy it or play it with up to 5 peoples and still have a good time. This game is a bit more challenging than the first one due to having a few more additional features that can challenge the individual playing as well as the group. Unlike some board games, this game you play as a team with individual characters, such as a climber or explorer, working together to build a flying machine to escape the desert before you get buried and lost forever (or at least until the end of the game!) in the sand. To do so you all take turns in playing by picking action cards and moving your counter accordingly. The aim is locating the parts to the machine which the locations change as you play due to sandstorms that sweep in, moving the eye of the storm around the 'board'. When the eye of the storm moves, the tiles are moved as per the card's instruction and 'sand' is added to those moved tiles covering any parts or players found on it. When it comes around to your turn, you take actions such as player specific actions (defined on the player's card), excavate lost cities, clear sand, rescue other players or locations, collect parts, move around the board and take a drink. However whilst playing you must ensure your thirst meter doesn't get too low otherwise you will die of thirst. This is affected every time the 'Sun rises' card is picked and you aren't in shelter or have the appropriate 'protection'. Another factor you are playing against it the sand storm. The storm gradually gets worse throughout play as the 'Storm picks up' card is picked throughout play, causing the storm meter to rise. Each time this rises game play gets a bit more difficult with another action card being picked per player. Once the storm meter hits the top, your team has been buried and you have lost the game so you must get out of there before you get stuck! Once you have all parts of the machine you must all make your way to the take off location to fly out of there safe and sound. Once you've done so, you can safely say you've won the game and made it out alive! Thoroughly enjoy the game, and it's predecessor and would recommend to anyone looking for a game for a quiet afternoon/evening, to take camping or to bring out after a dinner with guests. Another game we enjoy and would recommend from Gamewright is Sushi Go. Yet to try other ones of their games but please let me know of any recommendations that won't break the bank!

I got this game recently and I have to say, I love it! It's so much fun. Half a board game and half a card game, two to four players have to work together to quickly grab treasure from an island that's fast sinking. It'll take a lot of planning but fortunately there are a number of tricks at your disposal, including the fact that every player is a unique type of adventurer with their own abilities. The game is slightly different each time you play. The game is so well constructed, with durable cards, cool little plastic "treasures" and great artwork. It comes in a tin which looks great and makes it easy to take out and about with you. The instructions are clear and illustrated although there are just a few things that could be better explained... I'll put those at the end of my review! I've played it with 2, 3 and 4 adults and can confirm it's just as fun whichever number of players you choose. Some of the other reviews on here imply that the game is just for children, but I disagree, I think it's suitable for anyone 10+ including adults! Well recommended. [There are a couple of rules that could have been better explained, so I'm going to list them here. These won't make sense until you've actually played the game, but you might want to make a note of them before you order your copy (which you must!). I got these from the game's creator on a forum. - The Navigator can move a Diver two adjacent tiles, this might mean moving through a single missing tile with his two moves, but they must land back on a non-missing tile to finish. He can also move the Explorer diagonally. However, he cannot make use of the Pilot's ability when moving the Pilot. - The Diver can change direction when passing through multiple flooded or missing tiles, as long he moves in standard up, left, right or down directions. No matter how many flooded or missing tiles he passes through to get to his destination, it only counts as one action. - The Helicopter Lift Card can be used to transport one or more people from ANY one tile on the board to any other one tile. The cardholder himself doesn't have to be on that tile at the time. Hope this helps!]

This has become a favorite game in our family. We started our little board game nights with Forbidden Island, which is a fantastic gateway game. Now we have progressed onto Forbidden Jungle with has kept all of our favorite aspects of co-operative play and introduced some new elements into the mix. Matt Leacock really knows how to create a good co-operative game which keeps you engaged with a dramatic countdown mechanism. Buy it, you won't regret it.

Having recently gotten sucked back in to boardgames, I have been ordering, borrowing and making them left right and center but this was actually purchased without knowing too much about it as it was going for a good price. My friends and I opened it up today after receiving it (quickly I might add) and had a great shock as none of us had ever played a co-operative board game before. If you are in the same position, or even if you have, I would go ahead and get this as it makes for a surprisingly interesting time. Game Play Essentially, you are on an island and must escape before it sinks but after getting hold of four treasures that can be found on the island. Because you are all in it together the mechanics are easy to work out and the strategy employed is entirely new. Game play is quick enough not to drag on but short enough to add tension and suspense - our games cam in between 25 and 35 minutes or so with the first play maybe slightly longer. Game Construction The pieces and art are very well made and really add to the theme and overall play. The treasures themselves are little works of art and the tiles are very sturdy so I expect them to stand up to repeated play which is great for the price. Additionally, the game comes in a tin instead of a box and all the pieces have their own little home which, as a person who is forever sorting out playing pieces, I am eternally grateful for. Overall If you are looking for a game that will surprise you and draw you in, I would definitely give this a go on it's own or as a warm up before a longer game on game night.