#TUT Forbidden Island, Lean and Mean
Yes! It’s time for your favourite re-hashtag, Throw Up Thursday! When we shamelessly repost old stuff like any social media professional.
Today I logged my 50th session of Forbidden Island, the classic coop by Matt Leacock. The leaner version of his most famous game, Pandemic. I didn’t play solo this time, but there was a time that I did. Mostly in 2017, and I will copy some notes from back then below.
Bought this game for my daughter, but she prefers to play Iberia with me so it's going to collect dust on her shelf. We can't have that.
If you need some excitement in your life, play this game on the "legendary" difficulty setting. There are three cards in the deck that make the water levels rise. On this setting you'll die when you draw the sixth of these cards, so you won't be able to cycle through the deck twice. But you need to collect a lot of cards to make sets and find treasures. There's no room for mistakes, every action will have to bring you closer to that goal. Playing on this level also means the island will sink real quick (as you already start out flooding more tiles than on the normal difficulty setting).
I think it’s best to take a full party of four roles, because of the hand limit of five cards. This way you can keep the maximum amount of cards in hand and can use all potential synergy between roles. Still, you’re going to need a lot of luck as well. We'll see how it works out.
5 July 2017
Two sessions with Engineer / Messenger / Explorer / Pilot. I lost them both, and both were very close. The next character would finish and win the game but then I'd just draw that one card that would lose me the game.
7 July 2017
Yes, it's a pattern. I had collected all treasures, and had a Helicopter Lift ready to escape the island. Next turn the Engineer would be joining the rest of the team at Fool's Landing, so what could stop us? Of course, Waters Rise.
Edit: This may have been a win. The first card I drew from the treasure deck, was a second Helicopter Lift. I think I could have played both helicopter lifts at that time and win the game before drawing the waters rise as my second card...
Oh well. I'll get me some coffee, and then it's back to the island.
(...) Played two more games and just had another very narrow escape. But I'm going to stop now, no need to push my luck any further. I forgot to take a picture, so I have played a historical reenactment for you. Here it is: Escape from Forbidden Island (based on a true story):
21 May 2018, still at it
(…) Today was the second time I won on this level!
Of course the game is also very enjoyable on a lower difficulty, and with fewer roles in play. A little less nail biting, but with a better chance to win so you can just choose according to your mood. And I should really try one of the alternative island layouts one of these days. Fun for years to come.
👍🏼 artwork
👍🏼 tension
👍🏼 legendary difficulty mode is very challenging
👍🏼 quick to set up, then 20-30 minutes play time solo
👍🏼 👎🏼 from very unlucky draws to narrow escapes, you need to be able to cope with the luck factor
All in all, great game. Plus very nice artwork, here are some flowers for you:
