Review on Survive The Desert With Gamewright'S Forbidden Desert: A Cooperative Strategy Board Game by Marty Orthodontics

I like this game. It's much harder than Forbidden Island, as the rules are defined. In order to make Forbidden Desert playable, you have to modify the rules. Otherwise, you pretty much always lose. What fun is a game that you *always* lose? Some of our changed rules include (mix and match these rules for interesting play variations):1) Picking up the "part" (as 1 action) on the first "part" tile of its kind that you excavate. This leads to a short game of about 20 minutes.2) Picking up the "part" (as 1 action) right on the second "part" tile of its kind that you excavate. This leads to a slightly longer game of 30 minutes. Part pickup as defined by the rules usually takes longer than 45 minutes, and sometimes becomes impossible due to running out of new sand to add to tiles. See rule modification #5 below.3) The ability of any player to revisit an unblocked well at any time and take two waters for 1 action. This is realistic, because what kind of well only allows you to take water just once?4) Instead of #3 above, use a well to shield you from "Sun Beats Down".5) Keep playing if you run out of sand to add to the tiles. Just don't put any more sand down. This is realistic, because a sand storm really just blows existing sand around, not adding more from nowhere. Another option is to shift sand from other tiles in some pre-defined way.6) Or, always start using the sand storm meter for 5 players (if playing with 2-4 players). This will allow a longer time between increasing the sand storm levels.7) Use the Solar Shield in immediate response to a Sun Beats Down for all players anywhere on the board, and then it stays in effect for all players until the end of that turn.If anyone else has any other ideas on any other improved rules for Forbidden Desert, please let us know!