Battleship
Classic tactics. Sink the enemy fleet.
- Players
- 2
- Length
- ~15 min
- Genre
- Strategy
Battleship is a duel of deduction and luck that most people first met in the back of a school notebook. Two players lay out a fleet on their own grid and take turns shelling the opponent, racing to sink all ten ships first.
The fleet is one four-cell battleship, two cruisers, three destroyers and four submarines. Ships may not touch, not even at the corners, so a smart layout is already half the match.
A hit earns another shot, which means a good streak can decide the duel in a single turn. Each shot is on a one-minute clock.
How to play
- 1Create a room and send your opponent the link — they join straight through it.
- 2Lay out your fleet: drag ships from the dock or hit Auto for a random arrangement.
- 3Rotate a ship with R, Space, or a right click on the board.
- 4Mind the spacing: every ship needs at least one empty cell around it.
- 5Confirm you are ready, then pick a cell to fire on the opponent grid.
- 6A hit grants an extra turn; a miss passes the turn to your opponent.
- 7Sink all ten enemy ships to win.
Highlights
- One-on-one duel over a direct link
- Drag-and-drop placement plus an auto-arrange button
- Live validation of placement rules
- Extra turn on every hit
- Cells around a sunken ship marked automatically
- Per-turn timer and a full battle log
Tactics and tips
- Keep ships off the edges. The rim feels safe, but an experienced opponent sweeps the perimeter first.
- Spread the big ships out. A battleship next to a cruiser turns one hit into a chain of discoveries.
- Search on a diagonal with a two-cell step — that lattice is guaranteed to touch any ship of two decks or more.
- On a hit, finish along the axis. Probe the two horizontal neighbours first, then the vertical ones.
- Remember the halo: once a ship sinks, the surrounding cells are known to be empty and are not worth a shot.
Common mistakes
- Placing the whole fleet in one half of the board — after the first hits the rest follows almost without misses.
- Firing row by row. Half those shots land where a ship could never have fitted.
- Forgetting a hit grants another shot, and stopping before the ship is finished.
Frequently asked questions
How many ships are in the fleet?
Ten: one four-cell battleship, two three-cell cruisers, three two-cell destroyers and four single-cell submarines.
Can ships be placed next to each other?
No. Every ship needs at least one free cell around it, and touching at the corners is not allowed either.
What happens when I hit a ship?
A hit gives you another shot. The turn only passes to your opponent when you miss.
How do I invite a friend?
Copy the room link or read out the six-character code — either one lets them join.