Forbidden Island (game)

File:Box art.jpg

Box Art

Forbidden Island is a cooperative board game developed by Matt Leacock and published by Gamewright Games in 2010. Two to four players take the roles of different adventurers, moving around a mysterious island, looking for hidden treasures as the island sinks around them. All players win if they find all the hidden treasures and they all make it back to the helicopter and fly away, and they all lose if they cannot.

Game Contents

The game consists of:

• 24 tiles, each tile representing a different section of the island. The tiles are double-sided, with one side being colored blue, to represent that the tile is flooded, and the other side being normally colored, to represent that the tile is shored-up/not flooded. Some key tiles are:
  • Copper Gate: Starting position of the Explorer
  • Iron Gate: Starting position of the Diver
  • Bronze Gate: Starting position of the Engineer
  • Silver Gate: Starting position of the Messenger
  • Gold Gate: Starting position of the Navigator
  • Fool's Landing: Required Tile to leave the island, and starting position of the Pilot
  • Temple of the Sun: Location of "Earth Stone" Treasure
  • Temple of the Moon: Location of "Earth Stone" Treasure
  • Tidal Palace: Location of "Chalice of Oceans" Treasure
  • Coral Palace: Location of "Chalice of Oceans" Treasure
  • Whispering Gardens: Location of "Statue of the Wind" Treasure
  • Howling Gardens: Location of "Statue of the Wind" Treasure
  • Cave of Embers: Location of "Crystal Flame" Treasure
  • Cave of Shadows: Location of "Crystal Flame" Treasure
• Flood Deck: A blue deck of 24 cards, each one representing a section of the island.
• Treasure Deck: An orange deck of 28 cards, containing:
  • 5 "Earth Stone" Treasure Cards
  • 5 "Chalice of Oceans" Treasure Cards
  • 5 "Statue of the Wind" Treasure Cards
  • 5 "Crystal Flame" Treasure Cards
  • 3 "Waters Rise" Cards
  • 3 "Helicopter Lift" Cards
  • 2 "Sandbags" Cards
• 6 Role Cards: Explorer, Diver, Engineer, Messenger, Navigator, Pilot
• 4 Treasure Statues: Earth Stone, Chalice of Oceans, Statue of the Wind, and Crystal Flame
• Flood Meter: Used to determine the level of flooding
• Flood Meter Marker
• 6 Wooden token, each one colored to represent their respective role

Setup

File:Forbidden Island Board.jpg

A typical Board set up

Each player receives one role card, which explains what actions they can take, as well as their role's special ability. The island tiles are shuffled, then placed in the following method with their normal side upwards: a 2 x 2 tile square, followed by a 4 x 4 surrounding it, and then 2 tiles placed on each side of the square. Each player's role token is then placed on the board on its respective tile. The level of difficulty(Novice, Normal, Extreme, Legendary) is selected, and the meter marker is placed in that position on the Flood Meter. Both the Treasure and Flood Decks are shuffled. Each player is given two Treasure Cards, which they place in front of them. Lastly, six cards are drawn from the flood deck, and placed in a discard pile. The tiles corresponding to the cards drawn are then flipped to the Flooded Side.

Gameplay

The player who last visited an island goes first, and turns move clockwise. The current player can take up to 3 normal actions. The same type of action can be done more than once during that turn. Actions include:

• Moving: A player can move to an adjacent tile, but not diagonally.
• Shoring Up: A player can shore-up a tile by flipping the tile from its flooded side to its non-flooded side. A player can shore up a tile it is on or an adjacent tile, but not diagonally.
• Giving a Treasure Card: A player may give a Treasure Card to another player who is sharing the same tile as them. A player cannot give another player a Helicopter Lift or Sandbag Card.
• Collecting a Treasure: A player may collect a Treasure if he has four of the same Treasure cards, and is on a tile corresponding to the Treasure marked on the cards. The player discards the four Treasure cards, and collects the Treasure from the board.

A player also has two free actions, which can be done anytime, even outside of their turn. They may do so by discarding the corresponding Treasure card.

• Helicopter Lift: A player may move one or more players from one tile to another. If a player would drown, a player must use this card in order to save them. Also, if all four Treasures have been collected, and all the players are at Fool's Landing, a player needs to discard this card in order to win the game.
• Sandbag: A player may shore-up a flooded tile anywhere on the board.

After the player has completed his turn, the player then receives two cards from the Treasure Deck. If there are no more cards in the Treasure Deck, shuffle the discard pile of Treasure Cards to use as the Treasure Deck. If the player receives a "Waters Rise" card, the player places it in the Treasure Discard Pile. All cards in the Flood Discard Pile are then shuffled, and then placed face down on top of the Flood Deck. Then, the Flood Meter Marker moves up one tick mark on the Flood Meter. If the player has more than 5 Treasure cards, he must discard down to 5 Treasure cards. If one or more of the cards they choose to discard are Helicopter Lift and Sandbag Cards, they may use them as they discard them.

File:Forbidden island in play.jpg

The game board showing multiple tiles "flooded"

Once the player has received their Treasure Cards, the player looks at the water meter, and draws the corresponding amount of cards from the Flood Deck. The tiles corresponding to the Flood cards drawn are then flipped to their Flooded side. If there are not enough cards in the Flood Deck, the Flood Discard Pile is shuffled, then becomes the new Flood Deck. If a tile is already flooded, and its corresponding card is drawn, that tile is considered to have sunk. The tile and its corresponding card are then removed from the game. The location where the tile was located is now open water. If a player is on a tile that is now sunk, the player must move to an adjacent tile(not diagonal). If a player cannot move to an adjacent tile, either normally, special action, or special ability, the player drowns.

The turn then goes to the next player. Gameplay continues until one of the following happens:

• Fool's Landing is sunk(Loss)
• A player drowns(Loss)
• The Temple of the Sun and the Temple of the Moon both sink before the Earth Stone Treasure is collected(Loss)
• The Tidal Palace and Coral Palace both sink before the Chalice of Oceans Treasure is collected(Loss)
• The Whispering Gardens and Howling Gardens both sink before the Statue of the Winds Treasure is collected(Loss)
• The Cave of Embers and Cave of Shadows both sink before the Crystal Flame Treasure is collected(Loss)
• The Waterlevel reaches the skull and crossbones (loss)
• All Four Treasures are collected, all players are at Fool's Landing, and a player discards a Helicopter Lift(Win)

Player Roles

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The 6 Role cards

"Forbidden Island" is for two-to-four players. There are 6 different roles. Each Role corresponds to a different color, and each role has a different ability.

• Explorer(Green): The explorer, unlike other players, can move and shore-up diagonally. Additionally, if on a sunken tile, the Explorer may move to an adjacent diagonal tile.
• Diver(Black): The diver is capable of swimming through flooded and sunken tiles, as long as the diver moves in a straight line(not diagonal). All tiles that the diver swims through do not count as a tile the player lands on. Only the last tile the player lands on is counted towards an action. Additionally, if on a sunken tile, and no adjacent tiles are nearby, the diver may swim to the nearest tile available.
• Engineer(Red): The engineer can shore-up up to two tiles for one action. This does not mean that shoring-up one tile counts as a half action.
• Messenger(white/Gray): While other players must be on the same tile to give another player a Treasure Card, the Messenger can give another player a Treasure Card regardless of their location on the board.
• Navigator(Yellow): The navigator can direct another player to move two tiles for one action. The navigator can move the explorer and diver using their respective abilities(e.g. The navigator could move the explorer two tiles diagonally.)
• Pilot(Blue): Once per turn, the Pilot may fly to any tile on the board for one action. Additionally, if on a sunken tile, the Pilot may move to any tile on the board.

External links

• Forbidden Island product page at Gamewright Games
• Forbidden Island page at BoardGameGeek
• Forbidden Island YouTube video on the TableTop web series.
• [1] Forbidden Island Rulebook