Comments on: Forbidden Island

By: Rebecca Little

Rebecca Little

Working together and having fun is what this game is about! We play this with our 7 and 9 year old girls. What I most love about it is the cooperative nature of the game and the communication between players. It is about working together using each other’s player strengths and strategizing on how to collect the 4 treasures before getting everyone back to the landing platform before you lose a member or a treasure to the sinking island. If we lose, we lose together and our youngest (most competitive) player isn’t upset about losing, because you lose as a team and not individually. This has helped strengthen her resolve when losing other games, too!

Another great aspect is that as you get better at the game, you can make it more difficult by starting at a higher “flood” level. Also, the game is never the same twice due to the ever changing player characters and how you lay out the “game board,” which is comprised of tiles.
We play this game a couple times a month. It is well worth the money and the game pieces are quality.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca

This game is PHENOMENAL we give it to everyone as a birthday present. We play with ages 5 and up, you can play on teams or individually. It is a cooperation game and so you all work together to win. It is a lot of fun for my 3 girls to play themselves, or the whole family plays. Even Grandpa joined in one time. It is a wonderful game to teach cooperation and teamwork and strategy in a noncompetitive environment.

By: Alison Simmons

Alison Simmons

We have had this game for years and my kids have gone through phases of playing it constantly and not touching it for long stretches. What I appreciate most is that all the players work together to beat the game rather than work against each other to win for themselves. I’m not against friendly competition, but this is a nice change of pace! The game is never the same because the cards are laid out differently, “characters” are chosen randomly which means different skills are available during the game. The players must learn to weigh their options, strategize their plan, and learn to adapt to constant changes on the board. Even the intensity level can be changed based on the age/ability of the kids playing. You can even mix the ages and no one is “cheating” because you are all helping one another succeed. A truly unique game that is worth spending your money on.

By: Michelle

Michelle

I play games with my 6-year-old, and Carcassonne and Forbidden Island are GREAT games! For Forbidden Island, it’s cooperatively all of you against the island and everyone plays the part of flooding the island. We start with the water level one imaginary mark below the usual ‘novice’ level when the kids play with us. So fun!

By: Michelle

Michelle

Family games should be fun for everyone! We have five kids, and that is one of the rules of our Friday Family Fun Night. We play a lot of co-op games with our kids — Hoot Owl Hoot and Outfoxed are really fun! We also taught them Forbidden Island and Forbidden Desert and Castle Panic. Co-op games are great for teaching kids slowly, as open hands and working together are good.

By: Mark

Mark

Forbidden Island is great because unlike most games it teaches cooperation instead of competition – all the players must work together, using their different player skills, in order to get all the treasures before the island sinks. Either everyone wins or everyone loses. It is my new favorite game to play with my 9-year-old daughter!

By: Brian

Brian

I enjoy playing this with my 4 through 9 year olds – you work together to collect cards to find treasure, but you also have to keep the island from sinking until you can get off.