Lifeboat, the Card Game

Tons of fun. My kids play this game from age 6+.

The game is fun. But in the listing it says it has the expansions in it, but it is just the base game.

My favorite strategy of all time. The more people the better and every game is different. The only downfall is trying to explain the rules to people who haven't played before. Other than that it's amazing!

Lifeboat is an outstanding group game that encourages social interaction and strategy. The central premise of the game is that the collection of players are stranded on a lifeboat waiting to be saved - the goal being to survive with the most points possible. At the beginning of the game, each player is assigned an opponent that they 'love' and 'hate'. This dictates your strategy as you want to keep your 'loved' one alive, and make your 'hated' one dead. The basic game mechanic revolves around distributing and consuming supplies in conjunction with social jockeying on the boat. The one criticism I have against this game is that not everyone starts on level footing. Many times I've felt that with a certain character and love/hate cards that it is near impossible to win. While the gameplay itself is still fun, I don't like the random handicap at the beginning. With a boisterous group of friends who won't hold a grudge against you in real life for your actions in this game, this is perfect evening entertainment.

One of the best games I have played and I have quite a collection of games. Trying not to stab your buddy in the back or eating your dead counterpart in the game is always a great thing to have to think about. Game takes about 45 minutes to an hour and a half depending on how may players you have. I recommend all the expansions except for #3 (the weather) which seems to not be as favorable as the other two. All my friends love this game and have gone on to but it themselves. My10 and 14 year old can't get enough of it.

At our holiday family gathering of teens and adults we gave it a solid hour of our time and gave up. Bright people experienced at gaming. We eventually laughed at how bad and convoluted the directions were. Hard pass.

Still too many rules questions. First off, when rowing: are the cards placed face down or face up for the navigation phase? Secondly some of the cards referred to a character called Madam Wong--- there is no character card for this person! If I picked out those just by reading the rules and not even playing, I'm sure there are more. By the fourth time around, this should all be clear. Otherwise, it looks like it might be a fun game.

Fairly entertaining game of survival through alliances and betrayal, but it can drag on...and on. It's also somewhat biased to the stronger characters. If you're strong enough, just take whatever you want from someone else - like the best weapons to become nearly unstoppable...even if every other person teams against you. So the game can become turn after turn of getting bullied for most players.