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If you’ve played Captain Flip a few times, you probably already know the feeling. Quick turns, a bit of luck, a bit of “why did I flip that tile”… and then you immediately want another round.
Isla Bomba is an expansion that keeps all of that. It doesn’t try to fix the game or turn it into something else. It really just adds more on top of what’s already there. You still play with 2 to 5 players, it still takes around 20 minutes, and it’s still easy to explain.
What you get instead are new boards and new treasure maps, plus a few extra bits like coins and even a blank map you can mess around with. We tried that once, and let’s just say it turned into a very questionable rule that benefited exactly one person… who may or may not have written it.
The theme leans into a journey toward Isla Bomba. Along the way you pass through things like a submarine, a prison, and an observatory before reaching the island itself. Each of these locations changes the game a little. Not in a huge way, but enough that you notice it, and sometimes even right from the start because a few boards tweak the setup.
👥 2-5 players, ages 8+
⌛ Playing time: 20 minutes
📝 Designers: Remo Conzadori & Paolo Mori
🎨 Artwork: Jonathan Aucomte
🏢 Publisher: PlayPunk (Review copy provided by Asmodee Belgium)
Gameplay Overview
At its core, the game hasn’t changed. You draw a tile, decide if you flip it, place it, and resolve the effect. That loop is still fast and easy to follow, which is probably the main reason Captain Flip works so well in the first place.
What the expansion adds are new effects tied to the boards. After placing your tile and resolving its effect, you might trigger something based on where it lands. That could mean gaining coins, interacting with other players, or changing how tiles behave. These effects always happen after your character, so the structure stays familiar even if there’s more happening.
Some boards also change how the game begins. One might give players hidden tiles to work with, while another introduces an extra treasure map to choose from. These are small changes, but they do make the start of each game feel a bit different.
You’ll also see symbols like bombs and sextants appearing more often. They connect back to existing characters, so it’s not entirely new, but there’s just a bit more to keep in mind while you’re playing.
And then there are the new treasure maps. They all still give you coins in one way or another, but how you get them changes. For example, one rewards you if you didn’t gain any coins that turn, another won’t let you flip tiles as long as you have it, and one interacts with other players by taking coins from whoever is ahead.
The ending is unchanged. Once someone completes four columns, you finish the round, apply any endgame effects, and count coins.
Artwork, Components, and Visual Design
Visually, it stays very close to the base game. Same bright, playful pirate style by Jonathan Aucomte, which works well for a game like this.
The new boards are probably the biggest change on the table. Each one has its own look, from cooler tones in the submarine to warmer, more intense colours on Isla Bomba. It’s not just for show either, as the visuals usually match what the board is doing, which helps during play.
The tiles are unchanged, which is a good thing. They’re still easy to read and quick to understand, even when things get a bit crowded. The treasure maps are larger and stand out clearly, which helps once multiple are in play. And yes, the blank one is still there if your group likes experimenting.
Component quality is consistent with the base game. Nothing fancy, but everything works well. The extra coins are actually useful, since you tend to gain more during the game with this expansion.
Our Experience
What we noticed immediately is that Isla Bomba feels like a continuation of the base game rather than something new. The flow of drawing, flipping, and placing tiles is still there, but there are simply more things happening around it from turn to turn.
The biggest change during play was the variety between boards. Some pushed us to focus on patterns and positioning, while others created situations where we had to react to what just happened or plan a bit ahead. A few boards also brought more interaction into the mix, especially through coins or treasure maps. Because of that, games didn’t all feel the same, even though the core stayed identical.
The new treasure maps stood out more than we expected once we started playing. Not because they work differently, but because you really notice their effects from turn to turn. In some games, a map gave a steady flow of coins, while in others it pushed us toward a certain way of playing. There were also moments where a map moved to another player at exactly the wrong time, which could be frustrating, but also part of what made those situations memorable.
Our Thoughts
Isla Bomba works because it builds on what makes Captain Flip enjoyable without trying to change it completely. It keeps the game quick, accessible, and a bit unpredictable, but adds more variety and more reasons to come back to it.
What we liked most is how it changes the context of your decisions. You’re still drawing tiles and making quick choices, but those choices now depend more on the board and the situation around you. It doesn’t make the game deeper in a heavy way, but it does make each game feel a bit more different from the last.
Not every board felt equally strong, though. The ones that focus on patterns and clear goals worked best for us, because they keep that simple puzzle feeling of the base game. Others, especially those with more interaction, can be fun but also a bit more unpredictable depending on how things play out.
So, where does that leave us? For us, Isla Bomba is a very good expansion if you already enjoy Captain Flip and want more variety. It’s not essential, especially for your first plays, but once the base game starts to feel familiar, this adds new situations and more ways for games to play out differently.
It doesn’t change what Captain Flip is, and that’s probably the best thing about it. It just gives you more of it, with a few extra things to deal with along the way. We’ll probably keep using it, but not every time. Sometimes you just want the clean, simple version. Other times… you sail straight into Isla Bomba and see what happens.
📝 We received a copy of the game from Asmodee Belgium.
