We’ve had our eye on the iPad port of Forbidden Desert since it was first announced back in November, and somehow the scheduled release of the game just barely slipped past our weekly Out Now post. However, we aren’t ones to get all bent out of shape over a little tardiness, so we wanted to let you know that Forbidden Desert ($6.99) for the iPad is now officially available. In this game you’ll be working on an expedition team in the desert discovering and uncovering different parts of an ancient flying machine. Being the desert, you’ll have to content with a lack of water and things like sand storms that can really interrupt your flow of discoveries. It’s a cooperative game, so you’ll actually be working with your teammates in an effort to recover the flying machine.

Forbidden Desert is designed for cooperative play for between 2-5 players, though there is a single-player mode which has you playing as multiple adventurers. This is the follow-up to 2011’s Forbidden Island ($4.99), which was another physical cooperative board game that was turned into an iPad game with great results. Both of these games were originally designed as physical card games by Matt Leacock and both iPad versions were developed by Button Mash Games. If you dug the physical version of Forbidden Desert, were a fan of Forbidden Island, or just like the idea of a new cooperative board game, check out this latest release for the iPad and see what folks in our forums have to say about it as well.