Game 70: Forbidden Sky

Forbidden Sky was a Christmas gift to me from Ocean.  We played it yesterday for the first time.  It's both similar to and significantly different from Forbidden Island, which I posted about previously.  I had heard from gaming friends that this was a good one, so it found a place on my Christmas list.  I was impressed with how it played, and I am eager to play more.  I also love that each time I play it I'll think of Ocean who gifted it to me.

In the picture below we are reading directions and setting up.

As with Forbidden Island, this is a cooperative game.  Also, as with Forbidden Island, each character has a role, and each role involves special abilities which will, hopefully, help the team beat the game.

Each player has health and rope (we are in space, and cosmic storms can blow us off our platforms).  If any player runs out of health or rope, they die, and the whole team loses.

Also, as with Forbidden Island, there are cards that are drawn at the end of each turn that bring the team closer and closer to disaster.  In this game, lightning can strike (causing players to lose health), storms can occur (potentially blowing players off the platform, in which case they loose part of their rope), winds can change direction, and the number of cards we must draw at the end of the turn can increase.  We use the storm meter below to keep track of how many cards (i.e. potentially bad events) must be drawn at the end of each player's turn.

 We played at the novice level (first time, y'all), so we needed to build three lightning rods, three small capacitors, one large capacitor, and the launch pad.  We then needed to get all our team members to the launch pad and connect a circuit in order to complete our mission and take off.  Below are some pictures of how the board grew as the game played out.

Once everything has been built and the players are at the launch pad, a player may make the last connection, thus completing the circuit and powering the rocket for take-off.  The capacitors and wires are magnetic, so a genuine circuit is created once the last wire is placed.  The rocket actually lights up and makes noise!  See the short video clip below.  As you'll hear, we were pretty excited to win on our first time out!

Baby Maleah was super cooperative in letting the adults game and even slept through all the excitement at the end.  I'm sure it will seem like no time at all before she is playing with us!