Forbidden Island Review — A Small Island Makes Cooperation Easy to See
B3’s verdict
Forbidden Island is a useful first cooperative game when the group wants a clear common danger. B3 would choose it for players who enjoy discussing priorities and helping one another complete a shared mission. The changing island gives that discussion a visible focus.
The team collects treasures and tries to escape while island locations flood and disappear. Character abilities and a limited number of actions determine what the group can accomplish before the water closes off its options.
What makes the decisions interesting
The interesting decision is which problem can wait. Recovering a treasure matters, but preserving access or helping another player may be more urgent. A small board can still create a meaningful argument about the order of actions.
The limitation is that open cooperation can become one experienced person’s puzzle. I would ask the active player what they want to achieve before suggesting a move. A shared win is less satisfying if only the host made the choices.
Three actions before the island changes
On a turn, an adventurer spends actions moving, shoring up flooded tiles, sharing treasure cards under the rules, or claiming a treasure with the required set. Then cards add resources and flooding. Flooded tiles can disappear if hit again, so the route that connected the group a moment ago can become a hole.
Each role changes what its owner can do efficiently. Teach the ordinary action first, then show how the role bends it. The team should distribute work by capability and position rather than send every pawn toward whichever tile looks most alarming.
Saving a tile must serve the escape
Imagine a flooded tile connecting two parts of the island while a treasure site is also threatened. Shoring up the bridge preserves movement; protecting the treasure site preserves a victory requirement. If a teammate can handle one of them, coordinating now may save several later actions. This is an illustrative situation rather than a fixed puzzle setup.
Not every tile must survive. The important question is which losses would prevent collecting the remaining treasures or assembling the escape. Spending every turn repairing the map can postpone defeat without moving the group toward victory.
Cards connect people as well as objectives
Treasure cards are spread across hands, so completing a set may require meeting and transferring cards. Movement that looks unproductive can be preparation for that exchange. Keep hand limits in mind, and avoid drawing a useful card only to discard it because nobody planned where it should go.
Special cards provide ways to respond to emergencies, including the final helicopter escape. Explain that winning requires more than collecting the four treasure figures: the group must still meet the escape conditions. A team celebrating early can discover that its route or needed card has been neglected.
A teach that gives newcomers ownership
Demonstrate one complete turn and one flooded tile being removed, then ask each player which problem they want to address. Shared information makes advice easy, but a newcomer still needs the chance to choose. Let the active player make the final decision about their actions.
Choose the starting difficulty deliberately and use the correct layout instructions. A short cooperative game can still be tense. It is especially useful for learning how action efficiency, roles, and shared priorities interact. Forbidden Desert and other Forbidden titles are separate games; this tin supplies the original island experience without needing another box.
The cost of choosing this experience
Start with the introductory setup and difficulty in the rules. Teach movement, collecting, shoring up, and the final escape together, so nobody mistakes finding the last treasure for already having won. Give the first game room to demonstrate why routes matter.
B3 recommends the original Forbidden Island base game for a compact cooperative adventure. Forbidden Desert and Forbidden Sky are separate games. Choose this one for an understandable shared crisis and a modest first commitment; pass if the table wants extensive story passages or individual competitive victory.
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