Overview

In Lifeboats, players must rescue their officers and sailors from a sinking ship by transporting them via leaking lifeboats to nearby islands. Players vote on which boats spring leaks and which boats move forward. Through negotiation, alliances, and betrayal, players try to save their own crew while sinking opponents. Victory points are earned based on crew members successfully delivered to islands.

Components

• 1 Gameboard (with starting fields, sea rows, and 3 islands)
• 1 Start Player token
• 6 sets of 3 Captain’s Hat cards (18 total)
• 6 sets of 7 Colour Cards (42 total)
• 15 Leak tokens
• Crew pawns: Officers (2 per player) and Sailors (5-7 per player depending on player count)
• Lifeboats (1 per player plus 1 black neutral boat)

Setup

1. Each player selects a colour and receives: 1 lifeboat, 2 officers, 5 sailors (4 sailors in 5-6 player games), 7 colour cards, and 3 Captain’s Hat cards.
2. Place all boats on starting fields near the sinking ship. The black neutral boat occupies a remaining start field.
3. Players distribute their crew members into any available lifeboat seats.

Turn Structure

Each turn consists of three phases:

Phase 1: Leak Assignment

• Players vote on which lifeboat receives a leak.
• Each player plays 1 colour card face-down, then all reveal simultaneously.
• The boat matching the majority colour receives a leak.
• Ties: Start Player breaks the tie.
• If all seats in the leaking boat are occupied, vote again to determine which crew member is ejected (officers can only be removed if no sailors remain).
• If total leaks exceed the number of pawns in a boat, the boat sinks and is removed from the game along with all crew aboard.

Phase 2: Boat Movement

• Players vote to move one lifeboat one row closer to the islands.
• Same voting mechanism: colour cards revealed simultaneously; majority wins.
• Ties: Start Player breaks the tie.
• Boats reaching islands deposit their crew on the corresponding island landing stages.

Phase 3: Crew Transfer

• Starting with the Start Player clockwise, each player removes one pawn from any boat.
• After all players have removed a pawn, players place their pawns into different boats in reverse order (last player to remove places first).
• Crew members with no available seats are lost at sea.

Actions

Players have these options each turn:

• Vote with colour card: Play any of your 7 colour cards during voting phases.
• Play Captain’s Hat: Instead of a colour card, play a Captain’s Hat to unilaterally decide the vote outcome. Each player has only 3 hats for the entire game (non-renewable).
  • Multiple hats in one vote cancel each other out.
  • If all hats cancel, the Start Player decides.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

When all possible boats have reached islands or sunk, the game ends. Score points for each crew member delivered to an island:

Island	Sailor Points	Officer Points
Left Island	6	8
Middle Island	4	6
Right Island	5	7

Winner: Highest total points. Ties broken by whichever tied player’s boat arrived at an island first.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Captain’s Hats are limited: Only 3 per player for the entire game. Use them strategically.
• Multiple hats cancel: If 2+ hats are played in the same vote, they all cancel and the Start Player decides instead.
• Ejection voting: When a leak is placed and all seats are occupied, a second vote determines who gets thrown overboard.
• Officers vs Sailors: Officers are removed from a boat only when no sailors remain in that boat.
• Black boat: The neutral black boat participates in voting and movement but belongs to no player.
• Sinking: A boat sinks when its leak count exceeds its remaining crew count.

Player Reference

Turn Summary:

1. Vote for which boat gets a leak
2. Vote for which boat moves forward
3. Transfer crew (remove then replace)

Island Scoring: | | Sailor | Officer | |-|——–|———| | Left | 6 | 8 | | Middle | 4 | 6 | | Right | 5 | 7 |

Captain’s Hat: Overrides any vote (3 per game, non-renewable)