Battleship

Battleship is the 1931 (originally a pencil-and-paper game) hidden-ship guessing game that Milton Bradley turned into the iconic plastic grid game in 1967. Two players secretly place 5 ships on their own grid; take turns calling out coordinates (“B-4”) to attack opponent grids; the first to sink all opponent ships wins. The game has been a household staple for over 50 years and has spawned movies, TV shows, video games, and academic studies on optimal targeting algorithms.

How to play

• Setup: each player has a 10×10 grid labeled A-J (rows) and 1-10 (columns).
• Ships to place: Carrier (5 cells), Battleship (4), Cruiser (3), Submarine (3), Destroyer (2). Total 17 cells per side.
• Ships can be horizontal or vertical but not diagonal. They can’t overlap or extend off the grid.
• Players take turns calling out a grid coordinate (e.g., “C-7”).
• The opponent responds “Hit” (if a ship occupies that cell) or “Miss”.
• When all cells of a ship are hit, the opponent announces “You sunk my Battleship/Carrier/etc.”
• First to sink all 5 of opponent’s ships wins.

Beginner strategy

• Don’t place ships at edges. Edge ships are easier to find by methodical searching.
• Don’t cluster ships. If one is found, nearby ships become easier to find through “neighbor” guessing.
• Once you get a hit, search adjacent cells. Ships are linear, so a hit means the rest of the ship is in one of 4 adjacent cells.
• Spread early attacks. Attacking every other cell (a checkerboard pattern) efficiently covers the grid.
• Track misses. Knowing where a ship ISN’T narrows the search space.

Intermediate strategy: hunt and target

Battleship strategy has two phases — Hunt mode (no current contact) and Target mode (you’ve hit something).

• Hunt mode. Use a checkerboard pattern. Since the smallest ship is 2 cells, checkerboard guarantees finding any ship within ~50 guesses.
• Target mode (post-hit). Try cells in cardinal directions from the hit. Once a second hit lands, you know the ship’s orientation. Continue along that line until you sink it.
• Don’t waste turns missing the same way. Failed cardinal attempts narrow the ship’s direction.
• Resume hunt after sinking. Once a ship is sunk, return to your hunt pattern.
• Track ship lengths sunk. When the 5-cell Carrier is gone, you know the remaining ships are smaller. Re-target accordingly.

Advanced strategy: probability targeting

• Calculate ship-position probabilities. For each unattacked cell, count the number of valid ship placements that would include that cell. Attack the highest-probability cell first.
• Account for known ship sizes. If only 3-cell and 5-cell ships remain, probability calculations focus on those sizes only.
• Symmetry breaking. Use the parity of grid cells to bias your hunt.
• Concealment placement. Place your own ships in patterns that look like random placement. Algorithmically optimal placement often “looks” wrong.
• Hunt smarter: probabilistic targeting can find ships in ~30 guesses on average vs ~50 with checkerboard.

Ship placement strategy

• Avoid edges and corners. Corner placements are statistically more findable.
• Don’t align all ships. Mix horizontal and vertical orientations.
• Don’t bunch ships. Spread out — adjacent ships make detection cascading.
• Asymmetric placements. Avoid placing ships in symmetric patterns; some humans subconsciously expect symmetry.
• Mix sizes. Place small ships in the most “obvious” spots (random clusters); leave the Carrier in less expected locations.

Battleship history

• ~1900s — Salvo: early pencil-paper precursor played in WWI trenches.
• 1931 — Battleship pad game: Milton Bradley publishes Battleship as a pad-of-paper game.
• 1967 — Plastic version: Milton Bradley releases the iconic plastic grid game with pegs.
• 1977 — Computer Battleship: first electronic version (Mattel) with single-player AI.
• 2012 — Battleship film: Hasbro adapts Battleship into a major motion picture. Universally panned but spawns merchandise.
• Modern era: Battleship remains in print, in countless digital adaptations, and a staple of family game collections.

Common mistakes

• Random attacks. Without pattern, you waste turns.
• Missing adjacent cells. After a hit, attacking distant cells instead of cardinal-adjacent ones is wrong.
• Placing ships predictably. Corner ships, edge alignments — easier for skilled opponents to find.
• Forgetting which ships are sunk. Remaining cells should be searched against remaining ship sizes.

Variants

• Salvo. Each player attacks multiple cells per turn (3-5).
• Big Bang. Larger grid, more ships.
• Electronic Battleship. Sound effects, computer opponent, simultaneous play.
• Battleship Galaxies / Star Wars Battleship: themed variants.
• Sea Battle apps: turn-based mobile multiplayer Battleship descendants.

FAQ

• Q: How many ships? A: 5 — Carrier (5), Battleship (4), Cruiser (3), Submarine (3), Destroyer (2). Total 17 cells.
• Q: Can ships be placed diagonally? A: No. Ships are placed horizontally or vertically only.
• Q: Best opening shot? A: A checkerboard pattern guarantees finding the smallest ship within ~50 guesses. Probabilistic targeting averages ~30.
• Q: Why no “you sunk my battleship” until all cells hit? A: The rules say the opponent must announce when a ship is fully sunk. Players track hits to know when each ship’s cells are all gone.

For other hidden-info games, try Minesweeper, Mastermind, Hangman, or Chess.