Round & Revel / Tabletop dexterity
Paper Current
Slide a paper boat into harbour. Leave a helpful wake for the next captain.
Original printable party game. Rules and examples checked; estimated timing has not had a live group playtest.
What you need
- One smooth table with a clear 80 cm by 30 cm playing area
- Eight folded paper squares, about 3 cm wide, each marked with a number
- A sheet of A4 or Letter paper for the harbour, removable paper guides and a ruler
- 12 course cards and a score sheet; no small hard projectiles
How to play
The idea
Work together to dock eight paper boats. Everyone makes one gentle tabletop slide at a time. A boat can nudge a previous boat, so the harbour changes as you play. You score the final positions of all eight, not the moment a boat first lands.
Build the harbour
Use a paper sheet in portrait orientation at the far end of the lane. Draw a large rectangle 18 cm wide and 24 cm tall, centred on the sheet. Inside it, draw a smaller rectangle 10 cm wide and 12 cm tall, centred in the large one. Label the smaller area INNER / 2 and the surrounding part OUTER / 1. Mark the launch line 10 cm from the near end of the 80 cm lane. Place the near edge of the large rectangle 30 cm beyond that line, so its far edge is 64 cm from the near end of the lane. Keep at least 10 cm of clear table behind the sheet. A ruler, rather than print scaling, is the authority for these dimensions.
Prepare the boats
Fold eight equal scraps into flat squares about 3 cm wide. Use paper only, with no metal clips, sharp folds or added weights. Label them 1–8. Test one gentle slide before the game to choose a safe force. The sheet must lie flat; tape its outer corners with removable tape only if the table owner permits. Do not use a delicate surface, send boats off an elevated edge, blow on pieces or aim toward people. Stop to clear cups and fragile objects before playing.
Set up a course
Shuffle the 12 course cards and draw three. Play one card per round using the same harbour. Each card says where the launch zone lies along the launch line and which scoring bonus is available. A launch zone is always 10 cm wide, centred either on the harbour’s centre line, 10 cm to its left, or 10 cm to its right. A “left” or “right” direction is from the seated player’s view toward the harbour. Mark the chosen zone with two paper strips; these strips are guides, not obstacles.
Take eight launches
In seating order, place the next numbered boat wholly behind the line and between the launch-zone markers. Slide it with one finger in one continuous push, releasing before any part crosses the line. It must stay on the table; throwing and flicking into the air are not allowed. Other hands stay out of the lane until everything stops. A launched boat remains where it stops and may be nudged by later boats. There are exactly eight launches per round, whether boats score or not. Continue the seating rotation across rounds rather than restarting it.
Misses and repairs
A boat that falls off the table or leaves the marked 80-by-30 cm playing area is removed and scores zero. If it later nudges another boat before being removed, leave that other boat in its final position. A boat released illegally, touched after release or launched out of sequence is removed after motion stops and scores zero; other final positions remain. If an outside interruption moves boats, restore them by group agreement before the next launch. If restoration is uncertain, replay the whole current round with the same starting player.
Score the resting harbour
After all eight launches, score each boat using its whole footprint. Wholly inside INNER, with no part touching its boundary line: 2 points. Otherwise wholly inside the large OUTER rectangle, with no part touching its outside boundary: 1 point. Everything else scores 0. A boat touching the inner line can still earn 1 if fully within the outer rectangle. Overlapping boats are checked separately from above; lift a top boat only after agreeing its footprint. Then award the card’s 0-or-2-point bonus. Maximum is 18 points per round.
Finish together
Write the round score, clear the harbour and reveal the next course. After three rounds, add the shared total out of 54. There are no individual winners: agree on a target before playing, such as 24, and see whether the table reaches it. Targets are house goals, not tested difficulty levels. With eight players everyone launches once per round; with two everyone launches four times. Across three rounds, participation differs by at most one launch because the rotation never restarts.
Example landing
Boat 1 lies fully in INNER and scores 2. Boat 2 touches the inner boundary but stays wholly inside OUTER, so it scores 1. Boat 3 touches the outer line, so it scores 0. On the “Two Safe Arrivals” card, boats 1 and 2 already satisfy the bonus because at least two boats have scored; the table adds 2 after all eight launches, provided at least two still score in their final positions.
Access and replay
Play seated, use a longer release zone or have a helper carry out a player’s chosen gentle slide. Choose any adjustments before the first round and keep them fixed. A player may use a flat card to push instead of a finger if that is easier, but still uses one continuous push and releases before the line. Table texture changes difficulty considerably, so compare totals only on the same setup. Course cards can be replayed freely.
Make the harbour
Draw an outer rectangle 18 cm wide by 24 cm tall, with a centred inner rectangle 10 cm wide by 12 cm tall. Label the inner area 2 and the outer area 1. Measure the launch line 30 cm from the near edge of the outer rectangle. Use a ruler even when printing, because browser scaling can change dimensions.
Printable play cards
Print single-sided and cut on the borders. Read the setup before sorting the cards; some games use separate card types or fewer copies for smaller groups.
Centre launch / Two Safe Arrivals
Launch zone: centre, as described in setup. Bonus: +2 points if at least two boats each score 1 or 2; otherwise +0.
Left launch / One at the Heart
Launch zone: left, as described in setup. Bonus: +2 points if at least one boat scores 2; otherwise +0.
Right launch / Four in Harbour
Launch zone: right, as described in setup. Bonus: +2 points if at least four boats each score 1 or 2; otherwise +0.
Centre launch / Gentle Edges
Launch zone: centre, as described in setup. Bonus: +2 points if at least three boats score exactly 1; otherwise +0.
Left launch / Paired Centre
Launch zone: left, as described in setup. Bonus: +2 points if at least two boats score 2; otherwise +0.
Right launch / Mixed Moorings
Launch zone: right, as described in setup. Bonus: +2 points if at least one boat scores 2 and at least two other boats score exactly 1; otherwise +0.
Centre launch / Early Boat
Launch zone: centre, as described in setup. Bonus: +2 points if boat 1 scores 1 or 2; otherwise +0.
Left launch / Late Arrival
Launch zone: left, as described in setup. Bonus: +2 points if boat 8 scores 1 or 2; otherwise +0.
Right launch / Neighbours Home
Launch zone: right, as described in setup. Bonus: +2 points if boats 4 and 5 both score 1 or 2; otherwise +0.
Centre launch / Balanced Visit
Launch zone: centre, as described in setup. Bonus: +2 points if at least two boats score 2 and at least two other boats score exactly 1; otherwise +0.
Left launch / Five Afloat
Launch zone: left, as described in setup. Bonus: +2 points if at least five boats each score 1 or 2; otherwise +0.
Right launch / Last Pair
Launch zone: right, as described in setup. Bonus: +2 points if boats 7 and 8 both score 1 or 2; otherwise +0.
Round & Revel. Edition 1 / October 2026. No purchases, accounts or specialist equipment beyond the listed materials are required.