Battleship

1 Game Overview

Battleship is a classic two-player guessing game of naval combat. Each player hides five ships on a secret 10x10 grid and takes turns calling out coordinates to find and sink the enemy fleet. The player who sinks all enemy ships first wins.

2 What's in the Box

• 2 plastic game boards with peg grids (each player has 2 sections: ocean and target)
• 5 ships per player: Carrier (5 holes), Battleship (4), Destroyer (3), Submarine (3), Patrol Boat (2)
• White pegs (misses), red pegs (hits)

3 Setup

1. Each player sits with their board upright as a screen, hiding their setup from the opponent.
2. Each player places their 5 ships horizontally or vertically (not diagonally) on their ocean grid. Ships cannot touch each other.
3. Younger player calls first shot.

4 How to Play

1. On your turn, call out a coordinate: a letter (A-J) and a number (1-10). Example: "B-7"
2. Your opponent checks their ocean grid. "Hit" if a ship occupies that square; "Miss" if not.
3. Mark your target grid: white peg for miss, red peg for hit.
4. Your opponent marks their ocean grid with the appropriate peg.
5. When all squares of a ship have been hit, the opponent announces "You sank my [ship name]!"

5 Winning

The first player to sink all five of their opponent's ships wins.

6 Strategy Tips

• Hunt in a cross pattern. Ships occupy multiple squares. Once you get a hit, target adjacent squares to find the rest of the ship.
• Don't place ships near edges. It's predictable. Hide them in the middle or at odd angles from edges.
• Keep ships apart. Bunching ships together means one hit can give away multiple positions.
• Diagonal hunting. Skip every other square in a checkerboard pattern to find even 2-square patrol boats efficiently.