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Thematic illustration for Forbidden Island
Co-opFamily

Forbidden Island

Recover four treasures and escape together before the island sinks.

Players2–4 best with 4
Play time30–30 min
Complexity2/5 · Easy
Learn & set up10 min

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At the table

Recover four treasures from an island that sinks beneath the team. Movement, shoring up flooded tiles and collecting matching cards all compete for limited actions.

Play style
Cooperative
Suggested age
10+
Time to teach
About 6 min
Time to set up
About 4 min
Player elimination
No

How it plays

Action pointsHand management

Rules at a glance

Your goal

Recover all four treasures, bring everyone to Fools’ Landing and discard a Helicopter Lift card to escape before the island defeats the team.

The flow of play

  1. Take up to three actions to move, shore up, give a treasure card or capture a treasure

  2. Draw two treasure cards, resolve Waters Rise cards and respect the five-card hand limit

  3. Draw flood cards at the current water level and check for sinking tiles or other loss conditions

A quick introduction to the base game. Use your edition’s rulebook for full setup, card effects and exceptions.

Official rules ↗

A feel for the game

team playbeginner friendlyco op
Suggested age
10+
Interaction
Medium
Reading
Low
Conflict
None
Luck or skill
Mixed
Table space
Medium
Downtime
Low

Playing times and difficulty are catalog estimates and may vary by group and edition. Consult the official rulebook for complete rules.

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