Lifeboats

About this board game

Lifeboats is a negotiation game for 3–6 players that takes about 90 minutes to play. After a boating accident, a rag-tag group of sailors must guide six lifeboats toward one of several islands just over the horizon.

There is a catch: only one boat can make forward progress during each turn. Players must persuade everyone to vote for their preferred boat, turning every decision into a contest of influence, alliances, and competing priorities. The boat that receives support is the only one that advances.

The situation becomes even more unstable as sailors repeatedly leave one lifeboat and swim to another. Changing boat memberships can reshape the balance of power, alter voting decisions, and leave a once-promising vessel in trouble.

• Negotiation: Convince the table to support the boat you favor.
• Shifting loyalties: Sailors can jump from one boat to another.
• Rising danger: One boat springs a leak every turn.
• Harsh votes: If a leaking boat is at maximum occupancy, players vote on who is thrown to the sharks.

With progress limited to a single boat per turn, every vote matters. A crowded boat may offer safety from being left behind, yet its occupants can become targets when the next leak appears. Meanwhile, moving between boats can help a sailor escape danger—or create a new problem for everyone else.

Also known as Rette Sich Wer Kann and often called The Lifeboat Game, Lifeboats puts negotiation at the center of an ocean catastrophe. Its blend of voting, shifting positions, leaks, and shark-threatened passengers creates a tense struggle for survival.