How to Play Battleships

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Battleships is a two-player guessing and deduction game played on squared paper. Each player hides a fleet of ships on a private grid, then the players take turns firing shots by calling coordinates. Neither player can see the other's grid, so every shot is an educated guess refined by the hits and misses already called.

The game is a favourite for long car journeys, waiting rooms, and quiet evenings because it needs nothing more than two pencils and two sheets of squared paper. The mix of hidden information, mounting tension as a fleet is whittled down, and the satisfaction of landing a killing shot keeps it compelling for children and adults alike.

A little history

The origins of Battleships as a pen-and-paper game are unclear, though it is traditionally believed to have been played during the First World War, with printed commercial versions appearing in the 1930s. The pad-based format was widely documented by the mid-twentieth century as a schoolroom and travel pastime across Europe and North America. Its core mechanic of calling alphanumeric coordinates onto a hidden grid has remained essentially unchanged through every subsequent version.

Setting up

1. Each player takes two sheets of squared paper and draws two identical 10x10 grids on each sheet. Label the columns A-J along the top and the rows 1-10 down the side. One grid is labelled 'My Fleet', the other 'My Shots'.
2. On the 'My Fleet' grid, each player secretly marks their five ships. Ships occupy consecutive squares in a straight horizontal or vertical line. The standard fleet is: Carrier (5 squares), Battleship (4 squares), Cruiser (3 squares), Submarine (3 squares), Destroyer (2 squares).
3. Ships must not overlap one another. Whether ships may touch edge-to-edge is agreed before play begins (see Fine Points).
4. Once both players have placed their fleets, they confirm they are ready. Neither player may see or adjust the other's grid at any point after this confirmation.

How to play

1. Decide who goes first by any agreed method. Players alternate turns throughout the game.
2. On your turn, call out a single coordinate, for example 'B7'. Your opponent checks their 'My Fleet' grid and responds with one of two answers: 'Miss' if that square is empty, or 'Hit' if it contains part of a ship.
3. Mark the result on your 'My Shots' grid: a dot or 'M' for a miss, a cross or 'H' for a hit. Your opponent marks the hit on their 'My Fleet' grid.
4. When every square of one of your opponent's ships has been hit, they must declare which ship has been sunk and confirm it: for example, 'You've sunk my Destroyer.' Mark that ship as sunk on your 'My Shots' grid.
5. Play continues, alternating turns, until one player's entire fleet has been sunk.
6. You may call any square on the grid on your turn, including squares adjacent to known misses. There is no restriction on where you may fire.
7. A player may not pass their turn or decline to fire. Each turn is exactly one shot.

Winning and scoring

The winner is the first player to sink all five of their opponent's ships. A ship is sunk only when every one of its squares has been hit. The losing player should confirm the sinking of their final ship openly. There is no points-based scoring in the standard game, though in a series players sometimes count the number of shots taken, with the lower total across a set of rounds deciding the overall winner.

The fine points

The most common dispute is whether ships may be placed touching each other edge-to-edge. Some players allow it; others insist on a one-square gap between every ship. Neither rule is universally standard, so agree before setup. If no agreement is reached, the safer convention is to allow touching, since that is the more permissive and more widely used interpretation.

A second common dispute concerns the obligation to announce a sinking. The standard rule is that a player must immediately declare when a ship is sunk, naming the vessel. Deliberately withholding that information to mislead your opponent is against the rules. On the question of grid size and fleet composition, the sizes listed above are the most widely used convention, but any two players may agree a different fleet before setup provided both use identical fleets.

How to win more often

• Open by firing in a diagonal or checkerboard pattern across the grid. Because the smallest ship occupies two squares, a checkerboard spread guarantees you will hit every possible ship position without wasting shots on squares that cannot contain a single-square target.
• Once you score a hit, fire at the four adjacent squares to determine the ship's orientation. As soon as you establish whether the ship runs horizontally or vertically, follow that line in both directions until the ship is sunk before moving on.
• Track which ships remain afloat and use their sizes to narrow your search. If only the Destroyer is left, any isolated single hit that has no adjacent hits within range must be on the Destroyer.
• Avoid clustering your own ships in a corner. Players who have worked out your fleet's general area will land multiple sinkings in quick succession. Spread ships across different regions of the grid.
• Keep a clear, tidy record on your 'My Shots' grid. In longer games it is easy to misread your own notes and re-call a square, wasting a turn.

Variations

Salvo

In Salvo, each player fires one shot per surviving ship on their turn rather than a single shot. A player with all five ships intact fires five coordinates simultaneously; as ships are sunk their salvo count drops by one. The opponent then responds to all shots at once with the number of hits scored, but does not reveal which coordinates were hits until the round is over. This demands much sharper deduction and makes the endgame tense, as a player with few ships left fires very few shots per turn.

Superweapons

Each player is given one or two special shots agreed before play. Common examples include a 'bomb' that reveals a 3x3 area for hits and misses in a single turn, or a 'sonar sweep' that tells you only whether a named 2x2 area contains any ship square without revealing which squares are hit. The superweapon may only be used once per game per player. This variation works well with younger players as it shortens the game and adds a memorable moment.

Larger Grid

Some players use a 15x15 or even 20x20 grid with a larger fleet to extend the game and increase the deductive challenge. The fleet is scaled up accordingly; a common 15x15 fleet adds a second Cruiser and a second Destroyer to the standard five ships. This version suits players who find the standard game resolves too quickly and want a longer, more strategic experience.

Teams

With four or more players, two teams of equal size play against each other. Each team shares a single 'My Fleet' grid and collaborates quietly on each shot, agreeing a coordinate before calling it. The teams alternate turns as normal. This works well in a classroom or group setting and introduces a discussion and consensus element without changing the core rules.

Battleships: frequently asked questions