This has not been an intentional "gamewright games" series, with Exploding kittens, Sushi go party and now forbidden island. The truth is the baby hasn't been sleeping well the last 2 weeks and i've been picking games that are less taxing to shoot and make videos about. But i guess that says something about gamewright, they make pretty good low complexity games and i've ended up with quite a few in my collection. Forbidden island is solid, if a little to easy to solve in terms of optimal play for veterans. Horrified is a small step up in terms of complexity, but a much better game for groups new to co-ops for my mind. That said, you can't really go wrong with this as an introduction to co-op gaming.
Ugh “the baby hasn’t been sleeping well..” I felt this. I know this was a while ago. But I appreciate what you do! Hope things are smoothing out for you!
Forbidden Island was a great game I played with my son very regularly when he was 8 to 12 years old, he loved it, wonderful to be on the same team and to watch him analyse options. We still pull it out now, even though he is 15, just for a little challenge and something different to whatever we have been playing a lot of.
The Captain is Dead is my all time favorite co-op game, and The Crew is the game I've played the most with my family who don't play a lot of board games, but Forbidden Island is the first game I think of when I introduce new people to the hobby. I don't find the puzzle difficult anymore, but it is just right to sit down with two or three people who haven't played a game more complicated than Monopoly and say, "let's try something a little different."
I used this one every first session of the primary school board game club I ran. Channel those hyper competitive members into a game where they are beating the game and working together, worked a charm every time. Great video as always 😁
We’ve got Forbidden Desert in our collection vs Forbidden Island so thank you for telling me what we’re missing out on. Love the content, appreciate the 3 minute synopsis!
This was a great re-gateway game for me. I played Avalon Hill games and AD&D back from the late 1970s onward. However, Forbidden Island was a wakeup call to me that there was a fun, new games movement out there. Pretty simple but I'll still pull it out and play it now and again. Nicely thematic, original for its time, and nicely balanced and tense. And yes, it opened a door to Pandemic as well.
we went through both Forbidden Island and Forbidden Dessert. We enjoyed them both, but became easy as we figured out the puzzle. We played the heck out of Horrified and also let that one go, although we enjoyed the ability to change things up with the different monsters. We managed to get hold of a copy of Thunderbirds and even have Pandemic Iberia and enjoy them both, as they provide a bigger dynamic challenge.
We recently got this and have enjoyed it so far. Agree though, it's a big step down in complexity from other co-ops in the Pandemic mold, so it likely won't have longterm legs for us. If we had kids, that may be another story, but as it is, we'll probably look to gift it to a family soon.
Forbidden Desert is apparently a bit more streamlined version of this game, which is why I bought it Either way, very fun, pretty tough to beat, especially with a casual group
You explained/illustated the rules really well on this one. Even though I played this, there was one rule I had mised. Now wiil have to break it out for another play through.
I like how this game packs itself away as you play. By time you reach the end point, most the tiles are already sunk and as such, they are placed back in box alongside associated cards. Weird thing to like I realise but packing away games after playing with them can be a chore.
Trying different layouts for the island can make things more interesting and up the difficulty level - especially if you have two or more separate islands that the explorers need to hop between. I still love the game but, for me, it has been replaced by Tim Fowers’ Burgle Bros 2: The Casino Capers as my go-to tile flipping introductory co-op experience (Casing The Joint variant a must)
I think this is a great gateway game. You'd be surprised how difficult Pandemic is to learn/teach for casual gamers, which magnifies alpha gaming tendencies among those who are enthusiast/hobby ones. Even though it has that same alpha gaming problem many other coops do, I'm not sure it is "solvable" since, like Pandemic, it has a very strong random element to it. Don't own a copy but many casual gaming friends do so I've gotten to play it a lot. Also, I've been known to play the app sometimes FWIW-sometimes you want tension, don't want to burn your brain, and are okay to let the Gods of Randomness decide your fate. Like Takenoko, it's a pretty decent app implementation only hurt by the utter pointlessness of making an app for a game with such little upkeep and simple decision making.
By solvable, i mean you fall into an optimal play path quickly. 1 set collecting per player, focus on trade and hitting the relics as soon as practicable. Shore up key points and remember whats in the flood deck so you can manage that.
Interesting, in the version of the game I purchased earlier this year, you don't start with any tiles flooded and can only hold a maximum of 5 cards in your hand. May be much of a muchness overall though, given the former would make it easier and the latter harder.
Is this a strictly co-op game? I was told can be played as competitive but when I tried competitive the island sinks to its maximum depth and we loose. Can this be played in teams or is it strictly co-op?
There's a whole bunch of these aren't there, which is a bit overkill (a desert one, and one more complex one where you build a launch pad for a spaceship?). This killed co-op games for me for years, quarterbacking is so prevalent. Spirit Island brought these games back for me eventually, but still as a default have a strong distrust of anything co-op.
I personally think quarterbacking is a social problem more than a game design one. I could QB every co-op i play but choose not to and they are still fun as a result. Mostly because i don't care if we win a co-op as long as everyone is having fun with the puzzle. Also, they make fine solo games multihanded
The Crew is also a very good co-op game. It’s difficult to quarterback as there’s very limited communication and your hands are kept private. Of the Forbidden games I’ve only played 2. Preferred Desert to Island as the shifting sand mechanic made it a bit more interesting. But neither are in my collection as they’re all a bit too much like Pandemic which I’m not a huge fan of.
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This has not been an intentional "gamewright games" series, with Exploding kittens, Sushi go party and now forbidden island. The truth is the baby hasn't been sleeping well the last 2 weeks and i've been picking games that are less taxing to shoot and make videos about. But i guess that says something about gamewright, they make pretty good low complexity games and i've ended up with quite a few in my collection. Forbidden island is solid, if a little to easy to solve in terms of optimal play for veterans. Horrified is a small step up in terms of complexity, but a much better game for groups new to co-ops for my mind. That said, you can't really go wrong with this as an introduction to co-op gaming.
Ugh “the baby hasn’t been sleeping well..” I felt this. I know this was a while ago. But I appreciate what you do! Hope things are smoothing out for you!
Forbidden Island was a great game I played with my son very regularly when he was 8 to 12 years old, he loved it, wonderful to be on the same team and to watch him analyse options. We still pull it out now, even though he is 15, just for a little challenge and something different to whatever we have been playing a lot of.
The Captain is Dead is my all time favorite co-op game, and The Crew is the game I've played the most with my family who don't play a lot of board games, but Forbidden Island is the first game I think of when I introduce new people to the hobby. I don't find the puzzle difficult anymore, but it is just right to sit down with two or three people who haven't played a game more complicated than Monopoly and say, "let's try something a little different."
It helps that Forbidden Island has 3 sequels now. And they're all very fun and unique while keeping the general feel of the game the same.
Thanks for the feature!
See the pinned comment, i accidentally made a gamewright series of vids lol
I used this one every first session of the primary school board game club I ran. Channel those hyper competitive members into a game where they are beating the game and working together, worked a charm every time. Great video as always 😁
We’ve got Forbidden Desert in our collection vs Forbidden Island so thank you for telling me what we’re missing out on. Love the content, appreciate the 3 minute synopsis!
This was a great re-gateway game for me. I played Avalon Hill games and AD&D back from the late 1970s onward. However, Forbidden Island was a wakeup call to me that there was a fun, new games movement out there. Pretty simple but I'll still pull it out and play it now and again. Nicely thematic, original for its time, and nicely balanced and tense. And yes, it opened a door to Pandemic as well.
we went through both Forbidden Island and Forbidden Dessert. We enjoyed them both, but became easy as we figured out the puzzle. We played the heck out of Horrified and also let that one go, although we enjoyed the ability to change things up with the different monsters.
We managed to get hold of a copy of Thunderbirds and even have Pandemic Iberia and enjoy them both, as they provide a bigger dynamic challenge.
We recently got this and have enjoyed it so far. Agree though, it's a big step down in complexity from other co-ops in the Pandemic mold, so it likely won't have longterm legs for us. If we had kids, that may be another story, but as it is, we'll probably look to gift it to a family soon.
A friend just loaned us this game last week. Looking forward to learning and playing!
I just got it yesterday. I quite enjoy it.
For something more complex with a similar theme and feel I reccomend Atlantis rising.
Forbidden Desert is apparently a bit more streamlined version of this game, which is why I bought it
Either way, very fun, pretty tough to beat, especially with a casual group
You explained/illustated the rules really well on this one. Even though I played this, there was one rule I had mised. Now wiil have to break it out for another play through.
In a world full of How to Play videos, I choose YOU!!
Awesome run-down, concise but complete and so very watchable. Great overview of a fun entry-level co-operative game!
I like how this game packs itself away as you play. By time you reach the end point, most the tiles are already sunk and as such, they are placed back in box alongside associated cards.
Weird thing to like I realise but packing away games after playing with them can be a chore.
That's actually a really cool observation.
Trying different layouts for the island can make things more interesting and up the difficulty level - especially if you have two or more separate islands that the explorers need to hop between. I still love the game but, for me, it has been replaced by Tim Fowers’ Burgle Bros 2: The Casino Capers as my go-to tile flipping introductory co-op experience (Casing The Joint variant a must)
I think this is a great gateway game. You'd be surprised how difficult Pandemic is to learn/teach for casual gamers, which magnifies alpha gaming tendencies among those who are enthusiast/hobby ones. Even though it has that same alpha gaming problem many other coops do, I'm not sure it is "solvable" since, like Pandemic, it has a very strong random element to it.
Don't own a copy but many casual gaming friends do so I've gotten to play it a lot.
Also, I've been known to play the app sometimes FWIW-sometimes you want tension, don't want to burn your brain, and are okay to let the Gods of Randomness decide your fate. Like Takenoko, it's a pretty decent app implementation only hurt by the utter pointlessness of making an app for a game with such little upkeep and simple decision making.
By solvable, i mean you fall into an optimal play path quickly. 1 set collecting per player, focus on trade and hitting the relics as soon as practicable. Shore up key points and remember whats in the flood deck so you can manage that.
Interesting, in the version of the game I purchased earlier this year, you don't start with any tiles flooded and can only hold a maximum of 5 cards in your hand. May be much of a muchness overall though, given the former would make it easier and the latter harder.
Interesting, i guess my copy is pretty old
Is this a strictly co-op game? I was told can be played as competitive but when I tried competitive the island sinks to its maximum depth and we loose. Can this be played in teams or is it strictly co-op?
Strictly co-op. Unless someone has been making house rules for it.
Needs more deep ones XD
Matt is saving that for the expansion? :D
I’m confused
Hi Confused, i'm Jay!
There's a whole bunch of these aren't there, which is a bit overkill (a desert one, and one more complex one where you build a launch pad for a spaceship?). This killed co-op games for me for years, quarterbacking is so prevalent. Spirit Island brought these games back for me eventually, but still as a default have a strong distrust of anything co-op.
I personally think quarterbacking is a social problem more than a game design one. I could QB every co-op i play but choose not to and they are still fun as a result. Mostly because i don't care if we win a co-op as long as everyone is having fun with the puzzle. Also, they make fine solo games multihanded
The Crew is also a very good co-op game. It’s difficult to quarterback as there’s very limited communication and your hands are kept private.
Of the Forbidden games I’ve only played 2. Preferred Desert to Island as the shifting sand mechanic made it a bit more interesting. But neither are in my collection as they’re all a bit too much like Pandemic which I’m not a huge fan of.
@@ratguy69 Yes agree, there are great ways to limit the quarterbacking. It is a social problem for sure, but there are ways the game can help out.
Matt... L'Coque?
You can only draw up to 5 cards man not 6 as you stated says in the rule book but thanks anyway