In Roads and Boats, each player builds up a civilization over a long period of time, like in many other games. Unlike most games, however, Roads and Boats is not about warfare, population growth, city or statebuilding. The emphasis instead is on logistics, or rather, on transport.

Each player starts the game with three donkeys, a pile of wooden boards, a number of stones and two geese. With these few resources, you try to build such diverse things as woodcutters, roads, boats, mines, a stock exchange... but beware! There is no concept of teritory in this game; you cannot own land, nor buildings, so the things you build can be used by any other player.

The game can be played by one to four players and lasts approximately four hours.