Forbidden Island Review

Intro

Matt Leacock's Forbidden Island throws you and up to three friends into a race against time on a mystical sinking island. This cooperative adventure has you working together to collect four sacred treasures before the whole place disappears beneath the waves. Since its 2010 release, it's become a gateway favorite that plays in about 30 minutes with 2-4 players, earning solid ratings around 6.75/10 and multiple awards including the 2010 Golden Geek Best Children's Game. The rules are straightforward enough for 10-year-olds to grasp quickly, but the strategic decisions keep adults engaged too.

How It Plays

You start by building the island from beautifully illustrated tiles arranged in a cross pattern. Each player picks an adventurer role with a unique special ability—the Engineer can shore up multiple tiles at once, while the Pilot can fly anywhere on the island. On your turn, you get three actions to spend on moving, shoring up flooded tiles, giving treasure cards to teammates, or capturing treasures.

Here's where things get tense: after every turn, you draw Flood cards that sink more of the island. Some tiles just get flooded (flipped to their blue side), but if a flooded tile gets hit again, it's gone forever. The real panic moments come from Waters Rise cards mixed into the treasure deck—these increase the flood rate and reshuffle the discard pile, meaning recently flooded areas are likely to get hit again soon.

Victory requires collecting all four treasures (by trading matching sets of cards at specific locations) and everyone escaping via helicopter from the landing pad. Lose if the water level maxes out, if both tiles needed for any unclaimed treasure sink, or if any player gets stranded with no legal moves.

Highlights

The production quality absolutely shines for a game that retails under twenty bucks. Those screen-printed island tiles are gorgeous—each one features unique artwork that actually makes you care when they disappear forever. The sturdy tin box keeps everything organized, and the plastic treasures have a satisfying weight that makes collecting them feel meaningful.

What really works is how the game builds tension naturally. Early turns feel relaxed as you explore and trade cards, but that escalating flood mechanic gradually tightens the screws. When key tiles start vanishing and your escape routes dwindle, every decision becomes crucial. The timer isn't arbitrary—it emerges organically from the island literally disappearing beneath your feet.

The variable difficulty system deserves praise too. Novice level lets families learn without frustration, while Elite difficulty will challenge experienced gamers. Different adventurer combinations and random island setups provide solid replay value, especially considering the quick play time.

For new cooperative game players, Forbidden Island hits the sweet spot. The shared victory condition creates genuine teamwork without the quarterbacking issues that plague some co-ops. Everyone can see the board state clearly, but the hand management element gives each player private information that keeps things interesting.

Criticisms

The biggest knock against Forbidden Island is that it can feel somewhat limited in scope after repeated plays. While the different difficulty levels and adventurer powers add variety, the core puzzle doesn't have the depth of heavier cooperative games. Experienced gamers often graduate to its bigger siblings, Forbidden Desert or Forbidden Sky, fairly quickly.

Some groups find the randomness level frustrating. When flood cards cluster badly or treasure cards refuse to show up, even perfect play won't save you. This randomness serves the game's accessibility goals—it prevents pure optimization and keeps tension high—but it can leave strategic players feeling like their decisions don't matter enough.

The game also suffers from potential alpha player syndrome where one experienced player might dominate decision-making. While the hand management helps mitigate this compared to fully open information co-ops, vocal players can still overshadow quieter teammates, especially when teaching new players.

Conclusion

Forbidden Island excels as a cooperative gateway game that delivers genuine excitement without overwhelming complexity. Families with kids, casual game groups, and anyone wanting to dip their toes into cooperative gaming will find plenty to love here. The production values punch well above the price point, and those nail-biting moments when everything's falling apart create memorable experiences.

Don't expect it to anchor your collection forever—most dedicated gamers eventually want something meatier. But as an introduction to cooperative gaming or a quick filler with beautiful components, Forbidden Island remains a solid choice over a decade after release. Just don't get too attached to those gorgeous tiles—they're meant to sink.