Sea Battle
The pencil-and-paper battleships game. Hide five ships on a 10×10 grid, then take turns to fire one shot at a square of the other grid. Each answer is a miss, a hit, or a hit that sinks a ship. The first to sink the whole fleet wins. The house player never sees your fleet: it has to hunt for it as you hunt for its ships.
Two players. A game takes 5 to 10 minutes. More board games: Checkers, Reversi, Four in a Row, Backgammon, Dominoes and Ludo are in Yuzool's Board Games too.
How to play Sea Battle
- The fleet: five ships each: a carrier of 5 squares, a battleship of 4, a cruiser of 3, a submarine of 3 and a destroyer of 2.
- Placing: put each ship on your 10×10 grid across or down. Ships may not overlap, but they may touch.
- A turn: fire one shot at a square of the other player's grid.
- The answer: miss, hit, or hit and sunk. When a ship is sunk it is named and shown.
- Winning: the first player to sink all five ships wins.
Place your fleet first: drag a ship to move it and tap it to turn it, or Shuffle. Then tap a square on the enemy waters to fire. The full rules, with worked examples, are in Battleships strategy.
Winning
| Ship | Squares |
|---|---|
| Carrier | 5 |
| Battleship | 4 |
| Cruiser | 3 |
| Submarine | 3 |
| Destroyer | 2 |
A fleet covers 17 squares. Hit all 17 on the other grid before yours are hit and you have won.
Tips
- Hunt on a checkerboard. Shooting every other square finds every ship, since the smallest is two squares long.
- Finish what you hit. After a hit, try the squares beside it until the ship is sunk.
- Start in the middle. More ships fit across a central square than a corner.
- Place without a pattern. Mix directions, and do not put the fleet in the same places every game.
Questions
Is Sea Battle free to play here?
Yes. Sea Battle against the Easy and Medium house players, pass and play for two, the coach and autosave are free, with no ads and no sign-up. Board Games Pro, a one-time $1.99 upgrade for all seven games, adds the Hard players, rule options, full statistics and history, and extra board and piece looks.
Does the computer know where my ships are?
No. A house player is given only what a person in its seat could see: its own fleet and the results of its own shots. It never sees your fleet. The Hard player works out where ships can still be from its hits and misses, and shoots there.
Which rules are these?
The classic game: a 10×10 grid, five ships of 5, 4, 3, 3 and 2 squares, ships may touch, one shot a turn, and a sunk ship is announced. Pro adds three rule options: "A hit shoots again", "Ships may not touch", and "Salvo", where you fire one shot for each ship you still have afloat.
Can two people play on one device?
Yes. In pass and play the screen is covered between turns and asks you to hand the device over, so neither player sees the other's fleet. The game is saved in this browser on this device. A shot cannot be taken back once it is fired.