I had been aware of Forbidden Island since shortly after I got Pandemic. But it seemed clear it was the lesser game. It had few bits, no real board, and less mechanics. Why would I bother with it? Then I traded Pandemic for Defenders of the Realm, and was awoken to the fact that in board games, sometimes less is more. Defenders of the Realm was a bloated, lumbering, boring game.
With my new "less is more" mentality, I gave Forbidden Island another try. My FLGS had a copy in their demo library, and we immediately loved it. We found it had all the tense decision making of Pandemic, in a more streamlined package.
