How to play Toot Boat: the co-op river game for 2 to 6

Toot Boat is the one game on inkmate where nobody wins alone. Two to six people crew a single doodle boat drifting down a river, and the only control any of you has is a toot button. Every toot nudges the boat a little. Get it wrong and you bounce off the rocks; get it right together and you slide past the rocks to the finish line.

It is a short game, usually five to ten minutes for a trip, and it works best when you are laughing at each other. If you like games where the fun is in the shared panic, this is it.

The idea in one minute

The boat floats down a winding river and the current carries it forward on its own. Your job is to keep it off the banks and away from the hazards. You do that by tooting: each player sits at their own spot around the boat, and a toot pushes the boat away from where you sit. So a toot from the left side of the boat shoves it right, and a toot from the back pushes it forward. Hold your button a little longer for a stronger toot, but each toot uses up part of your own toot meter, which refills slowly, so you cannot spam it.

Because everyone is steering at once, nobody can steer well alone. One person tooting hard drags the boat sideways while another is trying to straighten it. The game is really about talking, timing and trusting each other not to toot at the wrong moment.

What is in the river

• Rocks that cost you a heart if you bump them.
• Logs, some of which drift side to side so you have to time your passage.
• Whirlpools that pull the boat off course.
• Reeds that slow you down.
• Stars floating on the water, which you can collect for a better score.

There are ten levels, from the gentle Lazy Lagoon to the Grand Toot Finale. Early levels teach you how a toot behaves; later ones, such as Log Roll Rapids and Twisty Rapids, ask you to coordinate properly. A trip ends when you have cleared the levels you set out to play or decided to call it a day.

Winning, hearts and stars

There is no losing side. Reaching the finish line clears the level, and you earn one to three stars. The boat starts each level with three hearts and every serious bump costs one. Finish at or under the level’s par time with at least two hearts left for three stars; a decent time or all three hearts kept earns two. If you run out of hearts the boat is wrecked and you simply try the level again. Your best results are kept per level in the room, so there is always a number to beat next time.

Ways to play on inkmate

Toot Boat is built for people on separate devices, so it is played in a private room rather than against a bot. Start a room from the inkmate home page, share the short room code, and everyone joins from their own phone. A room holds up to six people, and a boat needs at least two. Pick a starting level, choose who is aboard and cast off.

It works very well on a video call or voice chat, because most of the fun is shouting instructions. If you are looking for more ideas like this, see our list of free games to play on a video call. And if you are curious about why shared-goal games feel so different from competitive ones, read why co-op games are good for friendships.

Tips for a smoother trip

1. Pick a captain for the call. One person says "left, right, hold" and everyone else toots on cue. It feels silly and it works.
2. Toot less than you think. A toot keeps pushing the boat for a moment, so tapping rapidly sends it into the bank on the other side.
3. Let the current work. The river already carries you forward, so you mostly need to correct, not drive.
4. Slow down near logs and whirlpools. Wait for a drifting log to swing clear, then go.
5. Learn the seats. Because a toot pushes away from where you sit, say out loud where each person is so everyone knows what their button does.
6. Do not chase every floating star at the cost of hearts on early tries. Clear the level first, then go back for three stars.

tip: First time? Start on Lazy Lagoon with everyone tooting once on purpose, just to see how the boat moves. It takes about thirty seconds and saves a lot of wrecks.

Who it is for

Toot Boat suits mixed groups: kids and grandparents, couples who do not want to compete, friends who are tired of arguing over a ludo bump. There are no rules to read and nothing to memorise. If you do want something with a bit of competition afterwards, try ludo or carrom, both of which also run in private rooms.

Ready to give it a go? Head to the inkmate home page, make a room, and send the code to your crew.