Forbidden Island
Step into the gaming world with Forbidden Island, one of the top $4.99 games in the App Store! Crafted with creativity and innovation by Button Mash Games Inc., this captivating Strategy game is bound to grab your attention. With its content rating of 9+, it caters to a wide audience. Ever since its release on 9th November 2011, it has been constantly updated, with the latest version rolled out on 30th November 2020.
Whether you have a liking for Strategy, Board, games, Forbidden Island is sure to keep you hooked!
User Ratings
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Dive into Forbidden Island
"Forbidden Island is honestly one of the best apps I have ever played on iOS." — BoardGameGeek.com
"Beautiful graphics reproduce the look and feel of the original game." — Wired.com: GeekDad
"Two thumbs up! I highly recommend it!" — The Dice Tower
** Awards **
BoardGameGeek iOS Board Game Awards 2011:
iOS Board Game of the Year – Nominee
Best Children’s Game App – Winner
Best Family Game App – Nominee
Best Interface and Graphic Design 2011 – Nominee
Best Local Multiplayer or Pass and Play Multiplayer – Nominee
The Dice Tower: Best Digital Boardgame 2011 – Nominee
Forbidden Island is a cooperative game of strategy and courage as you and up to three other adventurers attempt to capture the four ancient treasures hidden on a sinking island. It’s a thrilling adventure based on the best-selling Gamewright board game.
Forbidden Island was the secluded retreat of an ancient mystical empire known as the Archeans. Legend has it that the Archeans possessed the ability to control the Earth’s elements – fire, wind, water, and earth – through four sacred treasures: The Crystal of Fire, The Statue of the Wind, The Ocean’s Chalice, and The Earth Stone. Because of their potential to cause catastrophic damage if they fell into enemy hands, the Archeans kept the treasures secretly hidden on Forbidden Island and designed it to sink if intruders ever attempted to claim them. In the centuries since the mysterious collapse of their empire, Forbidden Island remained undiscovered … until now.
Will your team be the first to breach its borders, capture the treasures, and make it out alive?
Awarded as Mensa Select in 2010 and nominated for the prestigious Spiel des Jahres award in 2011, Forbidden Island is a fantastic game that’s fun and engaging for all who play.
Features:
∙ Co-operative gameplay – everyone wins/loses together
∙ Pass-and-play multiplayer for 2-4 players
∙ Single player gameplay (by controlling multiple Adventurers yourself)
∙ Game Center Achievements
∙ Side-by-side or Around-the-Table board layouts
∙ Beautiful artwork
∙ Interactive tutorial and in-depth rulebook
∙ Context aware in-game hints
∙ Includes two different island shapes, providing different gameplay challenges
∙ A single in-app purchase for 10 more island shapes
Tested and compatible with iOS 11.
What’s Fresh in the Latest Update?
Discover what’s new in the recent update of Forbidden Island on 30th November 2020:
Fixing a bug that caused a crash with the different island layouts.
Hear from the Players – Forbidden Island Reviews
Find out what gamers are saying about Forbidden Island:
Im going to have to get the physical version too. This is great!
We shared our screen in a virtual meeting and used the game as a lesson in working together, co-operation, and resource management for the youth leadership project that we facilitate. We had 8 to 17 year olds divided into 4 teams. They had a great time and actually won the first time they played. We highly recommend for long distance team building. And game night with distant friends and family. Personally, we don’t care much for playing it alone, but it can be done, you just act as all of the players.
We bought it, we think we would like it, but it crashes every time. Never worked once despite deleting and reinstalling several times. Deleted the app and left a review. They emailed us right away offering to help. We eventually installed the app to try and take them up on their offer to troubleshoot and it worked. The game seems fun too.
We have the physical copy of this game so buying the digital game seemed like the right thing to do. It is great to play solo and it plays just as the original physical version. Some people prefer pandemic over forbidden island but we like forbidden island better. Its simpler, easier on the eyes, and still has a good amount of strategy.
This is a very well done game. If you enjoy playing the Forbidden Island Board game, you will enjoy this version as well. We only have one minor suggestion for improvement. It would be great if we could play this with friends over the Internet. We understand that this would Involve more than a small amount of code, so we would recommend that you release internet playability as a separate, enhanced version. We would definitely be willing to buy the game again at a higher price to be able to play it with our friends over the Internet. With many of us being socially isolated due to the current coronavirus epidemic, we imagine that a Internet version would sell like hotcakes.
The absolute best representation of a board game we’ve ever seen.
This game is exactly like the board game, with excellent graphics and sound effects. It is a tough game to win though as we usually play alone and use the four player version. Unless we are missing something, we win about 20% of the time which we think is a bit low. But we keep coming back. We are a retired mathematics teacher, and tend to be very logical, and we don’t like being beat so this is our challenge!
This is a great game for adults & kids. Easy to learn, balanced/smooth transition, has achievements & expansions, neat theme, & doesn’t crash. Matt Leacock is a Cooperative game genius. We can’t wait until Forbidden Desert comes out in the coming week or so!!!
We’re loving this app version of the board game! It clarified a few rules we had misinterpreted on actions. Games play quick and we win as much as we lose even at the higher levels. We purchased the additional board setups which adds more variety. We received Forbidden Desert as a Christmas gift and we hope it’s as much fun.
Please make an app for forbidden desert!
This iOS app actually improves on the physical game with engaging sound effects and automated gameplay mechanics. Very enjoyable and challenging!
This is a good translation of the tabletop version to an app!
This is an amazing adaption of the actual board game! The app is seemless in every way. We bought this real life game to play with our 10 year old nephews and it was clumbsy. We happened acrossed the app and have been loving it for months now! If you have a small interest in the board game, buy this app and it will show you how creative this game is! Great purchase! And fantastic coding!
Has kind of a boring plain background behind the island tiles. Other than that, very strong implementation of the board game.
Like the title says. Excellent game for 1-4 players. Very true to the tabletop version.
Our family enjoys playing this great game together. Our 8-year old makes his own choices; 6- and 4-year old get some help from Daddy (who explains his choices so everyone learns).
A great adaptation of a great board game. Now with multiple map configurations. If you like the board game you’ll love this one.
Perfect port of the game that is addictive, challenging, and fun. Our guess is that many reviewers simply don’t read the rules. Yes, the game can be hard… But that is part of the game. The cooperative aspect of the game makes it a great choice for friends and families. It’s fun to see when the light goes on for someone and they see a subtlety in the game that isn’t apparent at first play. One day you’ll find that you have played for hours and you still can play more. Great game!
We love playing this game with our kids. The art is beautiful and the gameplay is a flawless port from the board game. Contrary to the experiences of others here, we usually win on Novice difficulty, so now we play Normal. We’ve never suspected the game wasn’t randomizing well. In fact, now we prefer the iPad version over the board game because it saves us from shuffling cards! We suspect those who think the cards are not randomized don’t understand the rules. When a Water Rises card is drawn, the discarded Flood cards are shuffled and placed on the TOP of the Flood deck. They are not shuffled into the whole deck. That comes straight from the desktop rules and means you will see those cards first.
This game is a great one, and it is very much like the board game. It has many great features, including different classes, different difficulties, and, for a one dollar in-app purchase, different maps to play. It has a lot of replay value as the tiles are always in a different order. It is a difficult game, so don’t always expect to win. We love this game, it it is well worth the five dollars. Some things you would like to know about this game is that it is co-op, and not pvp. Also, there is no one player mode, and no bots. Also, there is no online mode so you can play with other people around the world. It could be better, but all in all, it is a good adaption of the board game, and you’ll be playing it for days.
We love the game. Play could be improved by expanding options from pass and play or table to using blue tooth or online players like Carasonne or Ticket to Ride.
Amazing! Great fin to play and highly addicting! Now we want to see a Forbidden Desert app:)!
Super fun to play as a solo player at Legendary running three adventurers – give it a spin!
This is an excellent port. Don’t listen to reviewers whining about the difficulty. The game doesn’t cheat, anyone who has played a Matt Leacock game know they aren’t easy but that makes winning them so much more rewarding. Definitely worth the price.
Along with "Ticket to Ride," this is the best iPad board game app we’ve found. A blast to play!
We thank you for your interesting strategy game . The theme of the game is really beautiful and smart choice .
0 for 16 so far on novice mode, I’d hate to see how hard the other modes are. Too many water rises cards, almost every other draw. How about you make this mode beatable for newbies and make the harder modes for the better players?
Beautiful graphics, very true to the board game. Great layout and easy to understand. Lots of options to mix it up and challenge the players. Highly recommend! We even prefer this to the Carcassone and Ticket to Ride app.
This port does an excellent job if recreating the original game. The animations are smooth. The art has the same high quality as the physical copy. What we love about this port is that it is equally as difficult as the original. We’ve played 6 or so games so far and have only won once. We’re glad we bought this.
We love this game, just like the physical board game. Losing is common in the physical game, but we’ve never seen the Waters Rise cards come up so often. This version is TOUGH!
Great iPad version of the board game. Never played cardboard version myself, but watched it on @Tabletop. Like the two "hand-off" and "rotate" modes for multiple people. Don’t know why others are complaining about randomness; sound like sore losers to us. This is supposed to be hard to win. We do normally win on Novice, so we play most at Normal. Only once have we had two WatersRise cards in a row, and they were first from the deck so no double-whammy. Only complaint we have is that it seems to forget our accomplishments, or not credit them when offline.
Please add the Russian language!
A lot of fun. Worth every penny.
We love this game! The software itself is well written and doesn’t crash, the game is great fun for 1-4 players. This is a quick-to-learn cooperative game, and a single game can be won within 20 minutes. But most will be lost within 5-10 – and you’ll lose more often than win. Therein lies the flaw: if there is one card that will lose the game, 9 times out of 10 that is the card that will be drawn. It frequently feels like the decks aren’t randomized. This might be an effect of the decks being so small, a game mechanic that cannot be avoided. It’s a great game. Don’t miss out on it!
We own both versions, the tabletop and the iPad. The computer cheats.
This is a fun strategy game, and a good way to practice when you don’t normally get to play with friends. However, like many reviewers the randomization of the treasure deck strikes us as being a little off. We definitely shouldn’t be drawing 2 "Waters Rise" cards in a row so many times if the deck is properly shuffled.
This app is a beautiful, well planned adaptation of a great board game with one fatal flaw… As others have mentioned, the deck is not randomized enough. We’ve played the board game version hundreds of times, and have never had the Waters Rise card come up twice in a row, let alone three times. Every game we play on this versions this happens. It is almost impossible to win at this version. This makes us not want to play it as much. Additionally, things that keep this from being a 5 star app are: -lack of any AI- to play this alone you must play all the players -lack of online play/no Game Center support. We buy ios ports of board games primarily to play with friends and family who live far away. Most IOS board game apps support at the very least some kind of live online play, and the best one support both live and asynchronous online play. Hopefully. The developers will add these things. We know that many of our friends would buy the app if they could play online.
We think this is a wonderful game. It is an accurate digital representation of the tile card board game. The added sound effects are nice touch. However, the problem is the shuffling algorithm used with this game. There is a very high probability that the next 3-5 flood cards in the stack after a shuffle are those very same cards. In essence, the game isn’t shuffling the cards but laying the discarded flood cards back on top. No joke, we’ve seen the same order reappear in sequence upon reshuffle. This can certainly guarantee a lose scenario most games. Disappointing really, but it also shows that you cannot program true random shuffling. Keep in mind that this very same problem exists in the digital version of Pandemic.
The tabletop version of Forbidden Island is beautifully translated into this iPad version. However, we agree with the other reviewers who say the cards do not appear to be randomized. We have rarely pulled two water rises cards in a row in dozens of tabletop games, but we have in every single game we’ve played on the iPad. Every single game. 100% losses on iPad, yet a much higher rate of winning in real life. The game plays well and looks so beautiful but at some point we’ll probably get tired of losing and stop playing.
We have to agree with so many other reviewers. This would be a great game, but the water rises so quickly, it is not playable – even at the easiest, or novice, level. The developers need to address this. Seems like they are content from all the sales and don’t see the point.
Fun but flooding occurs too often and the game is unwinnable even on easy.
We cant believe we spent money on that. Total boring waste.
It’s interesting how there are least five Waters Rise cards in the deck. We get two in a row then three more before the reshuffle. It’s pretty much impossible to win playing this app even on novice.
The single worst game app out there. We want our money back!
Deck not randomized enough. We have yet to win on novice level. 100 percent of the time, we draw the one card that makes us lose the game.
Update, 2/6/14, few weeks after original review: our 8 year old daughter stops playing about half into the game because she loses interest. And, for us too, FI doesn’t hold our interest for long and becomes bland fairly quickly. We still enjoy GHOST STORIES and WHOOWASIT much better. Original Review: As others mentioned, cards seem to not be randomized realistically. Flood Rising cards come about VERY frequently, which makes the game very difficult to beat. Our family has yet to beat the game on "easy" with four players in the game. For a cooperative board game, we REALLY like GHOST STORIES and WHOOWASIT. Even if Forbidden Island had better card randomization, we would still prefer the gameplay in GHOST STORIES and WHOOWASIT. Compared to Ghost Stories and Whoowasit, we found Forbidden Island to be a bit boring.
The app description is inaccurate. It say a 1-4 players and is actually 2-4. There is no AI player. We are requesting our money back.