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Lifeboats

Lifeboats

1993·Ronald Wettering

3 - 6 players
90 min
Light weight: Learn it in minutes

From BoardGameGeek

Also known as 'Rette Sich Wer Kann' ('Each Man for Himself') and often times referred to as 'The Lifeboat Game,' this pure negotiation game puts a different spin on the typical ocean catastrophe. There's been a boating accident, and a rag-tag group of six lifeboats is trying to make its way to one of several islands just over the horizon. However only one boat will make any forward progress in a given turn, so players try to convince everyone to vote for his particular favorite. To further complicate matters, the sailors can't seem to decide which boat they want to be in, so they're constantly jumping out of boats to swim to another one. As if all that wasn't enough, one of the boats springs a leak each turn. If the boat is at maximum occupancy when the leak occurs, then players vote to decide who to toss to the sharks!

Lifeboats

Which Lifeboats video should I watch?

Lifeboats has 3 videos from 1 creator: 1 playthrough and 2 other videos. They date from March 2025.

If you like it, try Lifeboats: Plank of Carneades, also by Ronald Wettering, or Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, Grind House and Kingmaker, which share several of its mechanics.

All videos

Lifeboats - 6p Teaching, Play-through, & Roundtable Discussion by Heavy CardboardPlaythrough3:25:01

Lifeboats - 6p Teaching, Play-through, & Roundtable Discussion by Heavy Cardboard

Heavy Cardboard

Heavy Cardboard

Lifeboats - 6p - The Play & Discussion1:40:07

Lifeboats - 6p - The Play & Discussion

Heavy Cardboard

Heavy Cardboard

Lifeboats - 6p - The Rules9:34

Lifeboats - 6p - The Rules

Heavy Cardboard

Heavy Cardboard

Creators who cover this

All channels
Heavy Cardboard
Heavy Cardboard
3 videos of this game

Games like this

All games

Lifeboats: Plank of Carneades

2024·Ronald Wettering

Videos
7
Creators
7
Mostly reviews and how-to-play

3 - 7 players·45 min

Vampire: The Eternal Struggle

1994·Richard Garfield, Robert Goudie, L. Scott Johnson

Videos
60
Creators
17
Mostly unboxings and reviews

2 - 5 players·120 min·Heavy weight

Grind House

2020·Jon Cohn, Siddarth RG

Videos
23
Creators
19
Mainly reviews

2 - 6 players·20 - 30 min·Light weight

Kingmaker

2023·Andrew McNeil

Videos
21
Creators
11
Mostly how-to-play

1 - 6 players·120 - 300 min·Heavy weight

About Lifeboats

From BoardGameGeek:

Also known as 'Rette Sich Wer Kann' ('Each Man for Himself') and often times referred to as 'The Lifeboat Game,' this pure negotiation game puts a different spin on the typical ocean catastrophe. There's been a boating accident, and a rag-tag group of six lifeboats is trying to make its way to one of several islands just over the horizon. However only one boat will make any forward progress in a given turn, so players try to convince everyone to vote for his particular favorite. To further complicate matters, the sailors can't seem to decide which boat they want to be in, so they're constantly jumping out of boats to swim to another one. As if all that wasn't enough, one of the boats springs a leak each turn. If the boat is at maximum occupancy when the leak occurs, then players vote to decide who to toss to the sharks!

Designer

Ronald Wettering

Artists

Matthias Catrein, Wolfgang Steinmeyer

Publisher

Argentum Verlag

Categories

NauticalParty Game

Mechanics

Player EliminationSimultaneous Action SelectionVoting & JudgingNegotiation
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