Gamewright | Forbidden Island | Board Game | Ages 10+ | 2-4 Players | 30 Minutes Playing Time

I bought this game to play with my 2 children (aged 6 and 8) and I have to say I have not been disappointed. The rules seemed a little complex on first reading, but the included booklet is extremely well written and easy to follow. Once each player has had a few turns the rules become second nature and the concept shines. Even my 6 year old was following along with gusto. The game has a natural variety since the island is constructed differently each time you play and the player roles are random. The best part is the ending. The designers of the game have really nailed the sense of increasing danger and desperate struggle to escape as the island seems to disappear under the waves faster and faster. My kids loved it! The little treasures are also a big hit. The tiles and cards seem well made and the artwork is detailed and evocative. This one will be seeing a lot of action!

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 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!]

Good game , lots of fun, easy to learn and play.

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.

Bought this to play with family over the holidays. Lots of fun learning it and playing. It took us an hour to learn and play through the first time and we're all 18+. The game incorporates strategy and luck to win against the aliens and leave the jungle. -Each player has a role that allows them to do something special (example: not lose health when stung by an adult alien) -Each person's turn allows 4 actions including moving to a new part of the jungle, revealing a part of the jungle, using equipment cards you get when landing on specific tiles, moving tiles so the active crystals are aligned near a portal that allows you to leave the jungle, and removing aliens from the tile you're on. -After you take actions, the jungle fights back through threat cards. The number of threat cards you all have to draw each turn starts to increase over time, if you draw the 'increase threat level' card often enough. Aliens may also mature from eggs to hatchlings to adults or show up in unexpected places and derail your plans. Meanwhile, parts of the jungle may be over sinkholes that cause an entire tile to sink and be out of play for the rest of the game. -If you've played Forbidden Island, this is similar but a lot more challenging because you have to move tiles around so that the active crystal tiles surround the portal you use to escape and you have the added difficulty of maturing aliens that can eventually drain your health -If you've played Pandemic but aren't ready to play that game yet after COVID, For idden Jungle is VERY similar with a different theme. Game tiles are good quality and great artwork, alien + people are solid plastic, so it's a game we can play for years to come. As you play this game and get better at your strategy, you can increase the starting threat level so it's a harder game. Great job with this Gamewright!

We love these games and this one was very decently priced compared to in store options.

Plenty of people have done an admirable job of explaining the games in their reviews, so this is instead an attempt at a comparison between a number of games, the pros and cons of each and which may suit different people best. The games in question are: Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan, Castle Panic, Smallworld, and Forbidden Island. We have had Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne (with a number of expansion packs) for quite a few years now, and only recently added the other games above. We usually either play just as two adults, or with our two older children (age 9 and 8), and so our conclusions are based on how these games work in those settings. So here's what we've found: Settlers of Catan We got this around the same time as Carcassonne and initially just didn't latch onto it. Partly it's that it's supposed to be 3 players or more, and we often play as just two of us. Once we found online some instructions for playing as 2 players it came out more often, and as time's gone by it's become fairly 50-50 whether we play Settlers or Carcassonne on a quiet night in. The choice will usually depend on how much we want to think. With Settlers, you're always planning and calculating; with Carcassonne, you're taking it a card at a time. Who should get it: Settlers is well-known as one of the great modern games. I'm not as sold on it as some people, and it takes quite a while to learn and feel comfortable with, but once you get the hang of it, it is an entertaining and enjoyable addition to a games collection. There are several 2-player rule variations out there if you need them and they work well (we found one that worked for us and we've stuck to it). But this isn't a game for kids; I would suspect not until they're 16 or so. Amongst other things, I think they'll find it too dull. Carcassonne This has been a favorite for years now, and everyone we've played it with has gone off to get it themselves. We usually play without farms because it then becomes less directly competitive and more sociable. Kids can play it, adults can play it, it's relaxed, it's fun and it's simple to learn. Here's one nice thing about it: you don't have to be constantly thinking and planning ahead. You don't know what card you're going to draw next time, so you just play one card at a time. You're encouraged to discuss where to put a card, and since you don't know what piece you're getting next, your comments to another player are usually pretty unbiased. Who should get it: In my experience, pretty much anyone, except those who want ultra-competitive games. The first few expansion packs are also well worth getting, but don't bother with anything from Mayor onward. Castle Panic The kids love this one, again it's simple to learn and it has the added bonus of allowing them to get out their aggressive instincts and go postal on monsters! They don't like the `master slayer' option, but prefer just straight cooperative play. After the first few plays, I've found the basic game is too easy, and so we're experimenting with making it more challenging, such as starting with no walls, or drawing 3 monster cards at a time instead of 2. I think Castle Panic will become a game that we get out pretty regularly to play. Who should get it: People with kids, who want to play cooperative games. Could be fun as a party game too! Smallworld While the kids have enjoyed playing this, I think their interest is starting to wane already. I suspect it will work better as a game with a group of adults, or when the kids are older. It has a lot going for it, especially the creative cards and board, but as others have noted - what's with the box for the tokens? Very poorly designed and adds unnecessary annoyance. Most of the time when playing we've found it's not too directly competitive, it's easier to attack lost tribes or declining races, so generally it doesn't get too personal! Who should get it: I think this would make a fun addition to a games collection, but I don't think it would be a go-to game, especially with kids. The rules are more complicated to learn and explain than the other games, and this makes it hard to just sit down with new players and get on with a game. Having said that, we've enjoyed playing it , and I think it'll get pulled out every now and then over the years. Forbidden Island Although the kids would prefer Castle Panic, when we've played Forbidden Island (at my insistence!) they've thoroughly enjoyed it. As the island starts to collapse in a heap toward the end of the game, the tension levels rise and people are on the edge of their seats! The game always ends with voices rising in pitch and tension as cards get turned over - it's fun! It's a pure cooperative game, and that works well for us as a family - no one feels bad, we're all in it together. We're still using the `Normal' level of play, maybe we'll notch up a level soon! Who should get it: If you like cooperative games, I think this is excellent to have. I love how easy it is to set different difficulty levels, and it's definitely the game that's had the most excited tension - Castle Panic has this at times, but not sustained (at least as the basic game). It doesn't have the whole monster thing going for it that Castle Panic does, and I think that's why the kids haven't latched onto it so quickly (kill trolls or wander round an island getting treasure - which is your average kid going to choose?) but I suspect that long-term it'll have more staying power.

This was played by a group of three 30+ y-os and this engaged us for hours. We played all levels of difficulty and found the most difficult one to be the most engaging. Rules are fairly straightforward with instructions also on character cards. After one or two rounds, you remember all the rules. Graphics are also beautiful, and we loved that this was a collaborative game (vs a competitive one) and we had lots of fun discussing our strategy and working together. In all, I’d highly recommend getting this game.

Great game! Excellent game mechanics will keep it fresh for a while. Arrived earlier than expected, pieces and cards are good quality. My wife and I enjoy it thoroughly. Tension build up as the island starts to sink and we still have to get treasures to escape. Great to cooperate.... Our first cooperative game, didn't think it would be fun. The game layout and play is excellent..... Loads of videos online showing and explaining the game. One of my top 4 games that i believe one should own. Others I'm getting... Lost cities card game. Settlers of Catan. Istanbul. Already ordered lost cities on Amazon, so will compare when i get it. But forbidden island was second on my list, got it first and very happy with it. Tin box did have a very minor dent though, nothing else was wrong with it. The dent was just popped back in place. The box itself is beautiful and complements the pieces and cards.