Leaky Boat

Rowing your sailboat in the great Caribbean with an ancient map in hand- what can go wrong, right?
Spending your humble days in the boat and trying to score some treasures from the islands is all you ever wanted. Some peaceful, calming moments as you bag the treasures and get really rich. But alas, your rotten luck!
In the blink of an eye, razor-sharp reefs tear a giant hole in the hull of your boat- YOU ARE SINKING! While the treasure chests are weighing you down, with the boat literally a minute away from fully sinking, your inner greediness prompts you to make the final call:
“Five more treasures, then I shall stop!”
So who wins this round of Man versus Nature?
Leaky Boat is an action-packed solo-player game designed by Shaun Graham and published by PaperTaleGames. It is the very first game that our team has tried that has the constraint of time, and we daresay this- the game is cardio, in a good way! The adrenaline rush that I felt while playing it, and being constantly staying alert to the fraction of a second, truly dished out a one-of-a-kind experience that made me question two things:
1. Are we looking at a super-strong contender for our game nights?
2. Is Leaky Boat truly experienced in one-player game mode?
Read the full blog to find out!

All you need to play Leaky Boat
So, what do you need to play this highly intense game?
You’ll need a few components that go beyond the basic PnP games we’ve tried so far (e.g. Escape of the Dead). For a start, you will need to print the one page that will go on to become the gaming board for Leaky Boat. Like most cases, we went on to laminate our game using a kickass go-to laminator of ours to ensure its longevity. Next, you need 7 D6 dice, and 2 markers or small game pieces– one for your boat, the other for your marker. For the convenience of gameplay, make sure these two game pieces are of different colors.
Last but not least, you need something to measure time! Be it a super-handy sand clock to enhance the gaming experience, or a digital timer in case you don’t have one, you have to find a way to count a minute fair-and-square.
With the game components sorted out, we dived into the world of playthrough games on YouTube. And thanks to one of our favorite PnP content creators Ambie of Board Game Blitz, we got a gem of a video. It takes you through 4 rounds of playing Leaky Boat, and we guarantee you’ll learn the game just by watching! Check out the video at the end of this blog.
Tips and tricks for wannabe Sailors aboard the Leaky Boat
Work on your reflex and motor skills!
How quickly you respond to the rolled dice, and how quickly you roll them will undoubtedly play a crucial role in winning or losing the game. For the entire course of the game, you will be racing against time (60 seconds!); so be sharp in between your ears! Your reflex game has to be strong, and your hands swift. Imagine you are literally in the boat if that helps!
Another advice would be to not jump into the game right away. Have a practice round without the timer/sand clock and learn how to navigate on the ocean; be it through the dice or the rudder.
Take it easy!
Victory won’t come to ya easily, sailor! Leaky Boat is not designed to be won right away. Get the hang of navigating through the ocean, and try the game on an unofficial Easy mode. Meaning, you can set the timer for a bit longer than one minute. If you feel your motor skills need some work, then you can try the game using a timer for 90 seconds for a start. With more rounds of playing the game, you can slowly decrease the time to the standard of 60 seconds.
If you do not want to alter the dimension of time in Leaky Boat, you can also choose to make it easy by settling for a smaller target. The game requires you to win treasures from 5 unique islands, which you can tweak to 3 for a start. But once you get to the flow, switch to the original rules. It’s much more intense that way, and you’ll love it!
The game also has a mechanism to count points if you don’t make it to 5 treasures, but we prefer the old-school way. It’s either 5 treasures or none! For death and glory!

Play with a group!
Don’t let the ‘solo-player’ tag fool you- Leaky Boat is an excellent game for groups. The game is far too entertaining to play alone, and we feel it can effortlessly be a part of your upcoming game night! Here’s why:
-It’s easy to learn
-It’s extremely entertaining!
-Tasks can be shared; e.g. one person handling the timer and announcing the time remaining for the round, while another player rolls the dice
-Dares can be thrown into the mix. E.g. your friend can choose the 5 islands (out of the 9 in the game) where you have to go and fetch the treasures.
-A Leaky Boat Tournament can be held to see who emerges as the Sailor of the night.
Do you need any more reasons? Get this game listed for your upcoming game night already!
Do I smell Customization?
If you’ve read our blogs before, you know how much we adore the lost art of customization! It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but we believe that customization truly elevates the game experience to a whole new level. After successfully customizing the PnP game Lantern, we assessed Leaky Boat to see if it could be customized.
If you have a 3D printer, then you should totally try to print a small boat. Having a mini-boat navigating through the gaming board will definitely enhance the gameplay. We have a handy mini 3D printer at our disposal, that we are aiming to use to make the boat!

Just like we built one for Lantern, this game also deserves a solid gaming board with a large indentation or space for dice. Conventional dice trays are not encouraged for Leaky Boat, since you need to repeatedly pick and roll multiple dice in a short span of time. So either aim for a customized game board with a large space for rolling dice or opt for a large dice tray.
Speaking of customization, we tried an alternate ending to the game that we enjoyed a lot. The game usually ends when you conquer all 5 treasures. We went one step further by having to match all 7 dice after conquering 5 treasures. Having to match 7 dice at the end can be tough, but the satisfaction coming out of a hard-fought victory is priceless!
Alongside that, we also tried the same customization that Ambie did on the playthrough video. The game starts with two dice in hand, so we allocated the rest of the 5 on the islands that we wanted to conquer in the game. With each island conquered, we collected the dice and added it to the game. It not only helped us track progress but also helped us plan our route for the game.
Where to get it from
Being such an entertaining game that will definitely be a part of our game nights, we are frankly quite surprised at how underrated the game is. With barely any gameplay videos on the game or reviews at BoardGameGeek, don’t let it fool you! From playing the game in solo mode to playing it in group, we can vouch that the game is surely worth trying. To add more to your case, it’s free! A big shout out to Shaun Graham for making such an entertaining game.
We are grateful for the stress and the calories that we burned while playing Leaky Boat!
Overview | Leaky Boat
Publisher: PaperTaleGames
Number of players: 1 or more (group recommended)
Difficulty level: Easy
Rounds of gameplay needed to learn: 1 round
Game duration: 10 to 15 minutes
Price: Free
Download from: Boardgamegeek.com
Theme: Race against time to collect treasures
Number of pages and color: 1 (color print)
Assembling difficulty level: Easy
Lamination: Recommended for longevity
Additional elements required: 7 dice, 2 playing pieces and a timer/sand clock
Time to learn: Within 30 minutes
Travel-friendly: 8/10
Shelving friendly: 9/10
Rating from PnP Time: 8.5/10

Tasliman is a board game developer based in Bangladesh, with the dream of exploring the world of games and introducing it to anyone new to it. He is the founder of Kraftz, a brand that develops board games commercially, as well as with reputed entities like BRAC and The Gates Foundation.