Forbidden Desert Board Game

My wife got tired of losing at board games so we decided to bump up our cooperative games collection. We took a chance on this and boy are we glad we did! We never played the precursor Forbidden Island before this, but you don't really need to. It has all the elements and mechanics from a cooperative game you would expect: characters with abilities, fighting the spread of something (in this case, sand) whilst also trying to complete a quest (collect all items required to power your escape vehicle). They work very well in this game, especially with the randomised 'board'. Unlike Forbidden Island where the tiles are placed face up, they're placed face down in this game so you have to discover the board as you go along. And this has the added dimension of characters having water levels to maintain so they don't die of thirst. This along with trying to fight a sandstorm, collect items to power your ship (which is a pretty cute little thing) and having a board you have to discover (so you don't know where everything is) make for a very challenging game. Some of the rules are not made clear, eg: the use of the Sun Shield is a point of contention. We play it such that you can use it when the sun starts to beat down, in the same way you would use an umbrella when it starts to rain not in case it will rain! On the whole though, it's an absolutely brilliant game that's very difficult to beat. It's one where you really can benefit from selecting the right characters and using their abilities. It's a pretty difficult game to beat which makes it so much more satisfying when you do. Amazingly, it's a very easy game to pick up and play with the rules being very simple. A must have for any board game collection and a fantastic variance on cooperative play.

Such a fun and immersive game! Originally played Forbidden Island game by Gamewright with a couple of friends and loved it, intended on purchasing it ourselves but saw this game, Forbidden Desert, and thought the 1st one was so good that we would try this and both myself and girlfriend love this! It's a game you can play with just 2 people and thoroughly enjoy it or play it with up to 5 peoples and still have a good time. This game is a bit more challenging than the first one due to having a few more additional features that can challenge the individual playing as well as the group. Unlike some board games, this game you play as a team with individual characters, such as a climber or explorer, working together to build a flying machine to escape the desert before you get buried and lost forever (or at least until the end of the game!) in the sand. To do so you all take turns in playing by picking action cards and moving your counter accordingly. The aim is locating the parts to the machine which the locations change as you play due to sandstorms that sweep in, moving the eye of the storm around the 'board'. When the eye of the storm moves, the tiles are moved as per the card's instruction and 'sand' is added to those moved tiles covering any parts or players found on it. When it comes around to your turn, you take actions such as player specific actions (defined on the player's card), excavate lost cities, clear sand, rescue other players or locations, collect parts, move around the board and take a drink. However whilst playing you must ensure your thirst meter doesn't get too low otherwise you will die of thirst. This is affected every time the 'Sun rises' card is picked and you aren't in shelter or have the appropriate 'protection'. Another factor you are playing against it the sand storm. The storm gradually gets worse throughout play as the 'Storm picks up' card is picked throughout play, causing the storm meter to rise. Each time this rises game play gets a bit more difficult with another action card being picked per player. Once the storm meter hits the top, your team has been buried and you have lost the game so you must get out of there before you get stuck! Once you have all parts of the machine you must all make your way to the take off location to fly out of there safe and sound. Once you've done so, you can safely say you've won the game and made it out alive! Thoroughly enjoy the game, and it's predecessor and would recommend to anyone looking for a game for a quiet afternoon/evening, to take camping or to bring out after a dinner with guests. Another game we enjoy and would recommend from Gamewright is Sushi Go. Yet to try other ones of their games but please let me know of any recommendations that won't break the bank!

This was a Christmas present for my nine year old son. I had played it before and though he would like it, but I was surprised to see how easily his younger brother, my seven year old son, picked it up. The game play is actually very simple with players competing against the storm that moves around the board burying locations deeper under the sand. All players win or lose as a team, with the team losing if the storm becomes too ferocious, the board gets buried in sand or any of the team dies of thirst. Each player has different abilities to help them discover pieces of the flying machine you need to escape. Combining this with the desert constantly shifting and items in random locations, each game feels different to keep it fresh each time. What has impressed me most is how well balanced the game is. The difficulty level of the game can be varied nicely, by simply changing the strength that the storm starts at. All the different characters feel nicely balanced too, with distinct strengths, none of which are too insignificant or too powerful. Most importantly, they are sufficiently different to encourage the players to adopt unique roles within the team. The game is driven by collaboration, with the storm taking a go for every player's. If players don't work together, the team will fail quickly due to dying of thirst. If they don't utilise their unique individual strengths for the benefit of everyone, the storm will usually overwhelm them before they escape. If you've not tried a collaborative game before, this is a great one to start with. I can thoroughly recommend it for younger players too. The fundamentals of the rules are easy to grasp. The instructions are well-written and most eventualities are covered. But there will never be an argument as everyone is on the same side. And when someone loses a game, there is no-one who has won to wind them up. Perfect for competitive siblings!

I'm just getting into board gaming and wanted a simple to learn game that would be easy to show people how to play and also play solo. This is a co-op game not player v player. The rules are easy to pick up and the game can be played in about 30-40 minutes. I have enjoyed the first few games, got well and truly beaten first couple of goes then won the third. For me there is some replay value in that the difficulty can be ramped up and there are different characters with differeing abilities to play with. Seems a good game to get out every now and then and as stated non gamers could play this quite easily. One issue I had was that some of the tiles had marks on the edge ( possibly where they were cut) one being quite pronounced and on the dried up oasis tile, meaning that it could be identified before being turned over. As the game relies on you not knowing what is under the tiles and especially not knowing which of the 3 oasis tiles is the dry one,this is not good! Once you know the mark is there you can't "not see it" One other tile had a pronounced spot on it. I returned the first set to Amazon ( great service) and ordered a replacement. This was better although there were smaller marks on 2 tiles but not the important ones so this is fine. seems like there may be a quality issue when the cards get punched out. I have seen reviews saying similar on the web but also that the makers always seem to send out replacement tiles quickly ( although this may be mainly in the USA as I believe they are based there). you can always return to the retailer in the uk. Overall a fun game and seems a good introduction to board games and for those looking to branch out from the family favourites such as monopoly and the like.

If you have only ever played Monopoly or Cluedo you really should try a more modern game like this. Released as a sequel to the equally great Forbidden Island game, this time you have to build a machine to escape from the desert. Forbidden Desert also has the advantage of allowing up to 5 players (Forbidden Island is limited to 2 - 4) If you have never played a modern co-operative game you are in for a treat, everyone has to work together to win (or lose) together. And it means you have to share ideas, help each other out and properly work together - ideal if you don't like the competitive nature of many board games. If you already have Forbidden Island (as we have) then this is a great follow up, play is sufficiently different that you can enjoy both games for their merits (and themes) Basically the theme is one of Desert survival and escape (which you probably could have guessed) and the artwork complements it well (though it's not quite as pretty as Forbidden Island in my view) and the components robust. All kept in a stylish metal box. The price seems very fair too, even at full rrp. What more could you ask? - a great family game or gift, plays well with anyone from about 7 upwards. If you like the idea of co-operative play but want something a little more challenging, then Pandemic is well worth a look too UPDATE - well we have had this a few months and are still getting to grips with it, in a good way. Where Forbidden Island got a bit samey quite quickly this hasn't done that yet. We did have to exchange our first set when we noticed some of the pieces were misprinted slightly (and you could tell what was about to be turned over). We have also discovered that the rules take a little while to sink in (but maybe we were being a bit thick) thankfully BoardGameGeek forum is always helpful.

This is an excellent sequel to Forbidden Island. The items you need to recover and the ship you escape in are good quality. The engine is metal and the other parts are plastic. The game is easier than Forbidden Island but is still challenging. The storm meter includes 4 different scales for 2-5 players and each scale has markers indicating the starting position for varying difficulties (4 difficulties on each scale). If you find the game too easy on the hardest difficulty for the number of players you have then you could always try using the scale for fewer players. This will reduce the number of storm cards you can turn over before losing the game. The character cards only show the character colours on one side so players do not know what card they are picking at the start of the game. This is different to Forbidden Island where the player colour was on both sides so frequent players knew exactly what character they were picking. Adding the sand to the tiles and moving the tiles is a bit fiddly but doesn't detract from the game. Each game is different due to the varying position of the item location clue tiles. The first game I played we turned lost before even turning over a single clue. The second game had all the clues next to each other and was really easy. This game is a great introduction to cooperative play.

Really excellent game. I originally bought this because my partner isn’t a massive fan of competitive games, so a cooperative game would be great and let us play together and both enjoy it. The game can be reasonably difficult to beat but this makes it more enjoyable when you do. There are a few rules, but it only takes one play-through to get comfortable with them and to be able to explain them to new players. Most of the rules can be explained as-and-when they’re required, and because you’re all on the same team there’s no pressure to explain absolutely everything upfront to make it fair. Put simply, the aim of the game is to excavate the desert to find parts to a flying machine so that you can escape before one of you dies of thirst, or the sandstorm buries you in the desert. Each player’s turn is nice and simple: you use actions (up to 4, but I can’t really think of a time you’d use fewer) and then draw storm cards. The inclusion of characters/roles makes the game more tactical and enjoyable without overcomplicating it. I would recommend this game to both casual and hardcore gamers.

I'm a massive fan of this game's forebear Forbidden Island, which I left a great review for, but I think this game is even better! Forbidden Desert can be a tough game at times, but it's full of great options for players to work cooperatively and has a great theme. In case you're unfamiliar with these games, all the players work together to beat the 'board', which will be different each time, and throw different challenges at you along the way. You really feel as if you are unearthing hidden treasure as you and your team scavenge for Flying Machine parts in the sand. I would recommend this game for kids, teenagers and adults because it's relatively simple to learn but still enough of a challenge to keep the whole family interested. I wholeheartedly recommend it. For those familiar with Matt Leacock's games, I'd say this fits nicely in between Forbidden Island and Pandemic. It blends the simplicity (and speed!) of Forbidden Island, with the challenge of Pandemic, which is great. The quality is top notch, and for the price, it's a whole lot cheaper than most board games out there so you're getting great value for money. In short... buy it!