Battleship (game)

Battleship is a fun guessing game.

Two people play it together. You hide your ships on a grid. You must keep them secret. Your friend cannot see them.

Each player takes a turn. You call out a spot to shoot. Your friend tells you if you hit a ship.

If you hit a ship, you mark it. You want to sink all the ships. The first person to sink the fleet wins.

People have played this for a long time. You can use paper or a plastic board. It is a very famous game.

Battleship is a fun strategy game for two players.

Players use grids to play. Each player has a fleet of ships. You must hide your ships on your grid. Your opponent cannot see where they are. This makes the game a guessing game. You want to find and sink the other person's ships.

On each turn, you call out a spot to shoot. Your opponent tells you if you hit something. If you hit a ship, you mark it. You can use red pegs in some versions. You can also use a pencil on paper.

In many versions, there are five types of ships. These include the Carrier and the Battleship. There are also Cruisers, Submarines, and Destroyers. Some newer sets add a Patrol Boat. The game has a long history. People played a version with paper and pencils during World War I. In 1967, Milton Bradley released a plastic board game. You can even play it on computers or phones today. In 2025, it joined the National Toy Hall of Fame.

Battleship is a famous strategy and guessing game for two players.

The goal is to find and destroy your opponent's entire fleet of warships. It is a game of discovery because players must guess where ships are hidden. Each player uses two grids to keep track of the game. One grid is for placing your own secret ships. The other grid is for recording the shots you take at your opponent. This helps you see a pattern of hits and misses.

To play, you must first arrange your ships on your primary grid. Ships take up several squares in a straight line. They can be placed horizontally or vertically, but never diagonally. In a 1990 Milton Bradley set, there were five types of ships. These included a five-square Carrier and a four-square Battleship. There were also Cruisers, Submarines, and Destroyers. Players take turns calling out a target square. The opponent says if the shot was a "hit" or a "miss." If it is a hit, you mark it on your tracking grid. You use red pegs for hits and white pegs for misses in pegboard versions.

The history of the game goes back a long time. People played versions using just paper and pencils during World War I. Some say Russian officers played it before that war. A Russian poet named Ryurik Ivnev even wrote about it in his diary in 1907. The first commercial version was called Salvo. It was published in 1931 by the Starex company in the United States. Many other paper versions appeared in the 1930s and 1940s. These had names like Combat and Wings.

Many different versions of the game have been made over the years. In 1967, Milton Bradley released a plastic board game with miniature ships. This was a big change from the old paper pads. In 1977, they released Electronic Battleship, which used microprocessors to make sounds. This version was designed by Dennis Wyman and Bing McCoy. There is even a 2008 version called Battleship Islands that uses hexagonal tiles. This version has islands and tiny figurines called "captured man."

Today, you can find Battleship in many places. It is a popular video game on systems like the Nintendo DS and PlayStation. Some versions even have special rules, like missiles that hit in an X pattern. There was even a 2012 movie called Battleship inspired by the game. The game is so well-loved that it reached a big milestone recently. In 2025, it was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame. This shows how much people still enjoy this classic game of strategy.

Battleship is a strategic guessing game designed for two players.

The primary objective is to discover and destroy an opponent's entire fleet of warships. It is classified as a discovery game because players must find hidden locations. To manage the game, players use two separate grids. One grid is used to secretly arrange their own ships. The second grid serves as a tracking map for shots taken at the enemy. This allows players to visualize patterns of hits and misses.

Each player begins by secretly placing their fleet on their primary grid. The ships occupy consecutive squares in either a horizontal or vertical direction. Ships cannot overlap or be placed in a diagonal pattern. In the 1990 Milton Bradley rules, the fleet consisted of five specific classes. A Carrier occupies five squares, while a Battleship takes up four. A Cruiser occupies three squares, followed by a Submarine with three squares. Finally, a Destroyer occupies two squares. In 2002, Hasbro updated these rules. They renamed the Cruiser to a Destroyer and added a two-square Patrol Boat.

Once the ships are set, the game proceeds through a series of alternating rounds. During a turn, a player announces a target square on the opponent's grid. The opponent must then state if the square resulted in a "hit" or a "miss." If it is a hit, the player marks the location on their own grid. In plastic pegboard versions, players use red pegs for hits and white pegs for misses. In paper versions, players use pencils to track these results. When every square of a ship is hit, the owner must announce that the ship has been sunk. The game ends once one player has sunk every ship in the opposing fleet.

The history of the game spans over a century. It is known worldwide as a paper-and-pencil game dating back to World War I. Some accounts suggest Russian officers played versions of the game before that war. The Russian poet Ryurik Ivnev recorded playing the game in his diary in 1907. The first commercial version was titled Salvo. It was published in the United States by the Starex company in 1931. Other early editions included Combat: The Battleship Game and Warfare. These early versions were mostly pre-printed pads of paper rather than hard boards.

Technological changes have transformed how the game is played. In 1964, a Hasbro employee named Ronald A. Brehio created a wooden pegboard version. Although executives initially rejected his pitch, Milton Bradley later released a plastic version in 1967. This version featured miniature plastic ships and pegboards. In 1977, Dennis Wyman and Bing McCoy designed Electronic Battleship. This was a pioneering microprocessor-based toy that could generate various sounds. Later, in 1989, the company released Electronic Talking Battleship. In 2008, a new version called Battleship Islands was released using hexagonal tiles.

Modern adaptations have expanded the game into many digital formats. Battleship was one of the earliest games to become a computer game. A version for the Z80 Compucolor was released in 1979. Many variations exist on modern consoles like the PlayStation 2, Wii, and Xbox 360. These versions often include special rules and mechanics. For example, the NES version features a cruiser with a five-shot missile. This missile strikes five squares in an X pattern during a single turn. Some versions also include submarine-tracking sonar or aerial reconnaissance to help find ships.

Beyond traditional play, the game has influenced other media and unique experiences. A military science fiction film titled Battleship was released in 2012. This movie was inspired by the Milton Bradley board game and featured an alien invasion theme. There was even a game version released that included alien ship pieces. In a unique display, presenters Richard Hammond and James May played the game using cranes and vehicles. They used 20 REVAi vehicles as missiles to sink ships made of cars and campervans. In 2025, the game's enduring popularity was recognized when it entered the National Toy Hall of Fame.