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7 super fun boat games

boat games

7 FUN GAMES TO PLAY ON A BOAT

When it’s chilly on deck, there’s nothing more fun than hunkering down in a cozy cabin with a good boat game. Here are our 7 all-time favorite indoor boat games.

1. BOWDITCH BALDERDASH

games to play on a boat

Age: 12+, 4-6 players, Time: 20-60 minutes

What it is:

A word game where players invent bogus nautical definitions.

What you need:

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How it works: 

  1. Each turn, one player is the chooser. The chooser browses the nautical glossary and selects an obscure word (e.g. “blather”) , then announces it.
  2. The chooser writes the definition on a scrap of paper (e.g. “Blather – Very wet mud of such nature that a weight will rapidly sink into it.”). All other players write down their own bogus definitions for the word on scraps of paper and hand them to the chooser.
  3. The chooser reads out all of the bogus definitions along with the true definition. The other players guess which definition is the correct one.
  4. Points: A player gets a point if they guess the correct definition, and a point for every player who guessed their bogus definition. The chooser only gets a point if nobody guesses the correct definition.
  5. The position of chooser rotates one seat clockwise every turn. Once everyone has been chooser a round is complete.

2. SETTLERS OF CATAN: SEAFARERS, EXPLORERS & PIRATES

 

Age: 12+, 3-4 players, Time: 90-120 minutes

What it is:

The nautical extension packs for Settlers of Catan – one of the best boat games for strategists!

What you need:

How it works:

The wildly popular, Settlers of Catan has sold more than 18 million copies worldwide since its initial release in 1995.There are two nautical extensions to choose from. In the Seafarers expansion you build ships and shipping routes along the sea and connect islands where you may build settlements. In the Explorers & Pirates extension you set out for uncharted areas where you must maneuver around dangerous pirate lairs.

3. SALTY SPEED SCRABBLE

boat games

Age: 12+, 2-6 players, Time 10-60 minutes

What it is:

Speed scrabble with a nautical twist: each player must have a nautical word in their Scrabble grid. This fast paced game is one of the best games to play on a boat because it takes up so little space.

What you need:

How it works:

  1. Players sit in a circle with all of the Scrabble tiles face-down in the center of the circle.
  2. Each player chooses seven tiles. The game starts on the word “go” and everyone turns over their pieces.
  3. Each player builds their own individual Scrabble grid and spells as many words as quickly as they can (all words must be interconnected).
  4. Once a player has used up all of their tiles, they shout “two more”. Everyone grabs another two tiles from the pile. This is repeated until all of the tiles are used up.
  5. The first person to use up all of their tiles is the winner. The nautical twist: a player can only win if they have at least one nautical word (e.g. “boat” or “mast”) in their Scrabble grid. 

 

 

4. NAUTICAL TRIVIA

boat games
 

Age: 12+, 2-6 players, Time 40-80 minutes

What it is:

Boat games don’t get much better than trivial pursuit. Test your nautical knowledge on topics like navigation, seamanship, visual signals, and nautical terminology. 

What you need: 

How it works:

  • Divide the group into two teams.
  • The person with the most sea miles picks the first card and reads the question to the other team.
  • If the team answers correctly they get a point, if not they get no points.
  • The team with the most points at the end of the deck wins.

5. BATTLESHIP GAME

 

Age: 7+ , 2 players, Time: 20-40 minutes

What it is:

High stakes on the high seas! A two-player battleship themed game where you try to guess the location of your opponent’s warships and sink them. There is a paper and pencil version of this game that dates back to World War I but if you grew up in the ’90s then you’ll probably be familiar with the plastic board game marketed by Hasbro.

What you need:

How it works:

In the Hasbro version of this classic boat game, players use portable battle stations to seek and destroy each other’s battle ships. To play the original paper and pencil version:

best boat games

  • Each player starts with two 10 x 10 grids
  • Each player secretly draws 5 ships on one of their grids, representing the location of their ships on the battlefield.
    • An aircraft carrier – 5 squares long
    • A battleship – 4 squares long
    • A submarine – 3 squares long
    • A destroyer – 3 squares long
    • A patrol boat – 2 squares long
  • The second grid (which is blank at the beginning of the game) represents the opponent’s battlefield.
  • One player will call out a square by referencing its row and column (e.g. B7), thereby firing a missile at the square. The opposing player must call “hit” if any part of one of their ships is positioned on this square. They mark the “hit” by placing an “x” on the B7 square in their own battlefield. The attacker will also place an “X” on their blank grid to record the hit.
  • The attacking player continues to fire missiles (guess) until they miss. When a player “misses”, the turn passes to the other player.
  • The first person to destroy all of the opponent’s ship by hitting each square they occupy, is the winner of the game.

6. CRIBBAGE – A PIRATE’S PURSUIT

Games to play on a boat

Photo credit: ontahoetime.com

Age: 7+ , 2-4 players, Time: 30-60 minutes

What it is:

Cribbage is an English card game that dates back to the 17th century and has long been a popular game on boats. Cribbage boards have been found in the wrecks of pirate ships and today cribbage is the “official” game of the American submarine service.  

What you need:

How it works:

Check out this quick 7 minute video on how to play cribbage:

 

7. HELMSMAN’S HEADS UP

boat games

Age: 6+ , 4-8 players, Time: 30-60 minutes

What it is:

Guess the word on the card on your forehead from your friends’ clues before the timer runs out! This is a great game for a boat party.

What you need:

How it works:

The Heads Up app works displaying a word when you hold your phone or tablet to your forehead. Your have to guess what the word says based on the clues that the other players give you. The app comes preloaded with 40+ themed decks on topics like celebrities, movies, and animals but you can build your own custom decks. Simply add a bunch of nautical words (e.g. “starfish”, “pirate”, “baggywinkle”) and let the fun begin. One of the cool features of the app is that it can record hilarious videos of the game while you’re playing.

You can of course play a low-tech version of this game by writing the terms down on paper cards and having players draw from a pile and hold them to their head.

 

Are there other boat games you like to play? Let us know in the comments below.