BATTLESHIP INSTRUCTIONS

The game is played on two grids, one for each player. The grids are typically square, and coordinates identify the individual intersections in the grid. On one grid the player arranges his own ships and records the shots by the opponent. On the other grid, the player records his own shots.

Before play begins, each player arranges a number of ships secretly on the grid for that player. Each ship occupies a number of contiguous intersections on the grid, arranged either horizontally or vertically. The type of the ship determines the number of intersections for each ship. The ships cannot overlap (i.e., at most one ship can occupy any given intersection in the grid). The types and numbers of ships allowed are the same for each player. A typical arrangement would be:

1 aircraft carrier (5 intersections)

1 battleship (4 intersections)

1 destroyer (3 intersections)

2 cruisers (2 intersections each)

1 submarine (1 intersection)

After the ships have been positioned, the game proceeds in a series of rounds. In each round, each player has a turn. During a turn, the player announces a list of five target intersections in the opponents' grid that are to be shot toward. If a ship occupies one of the intersections, then it takes a hit. When all of the intersections of a ship have been hit, the ship is sunk. After each targeted coordinate has been given, the opponent announces which of his ships, if any, have been hit. If at the end of a round all of one player's ships have been sunk, the game ends and the other player wins.

Variations:

Many variations in the basic rules are possible, including the sizes of the grids, the numbers and sizes of this ships, the numbers of shots allowed, and when hits are announced. Most of the variants simplify the game, which is useful for younger players.

In one variant, the opponent announces a hit after each target intersection is given. This reduces the challenge of guessing the locations of the ships.

In another variant, the number of shots allowed is reduced by each individual hit, rather than by ships sunk. This reduces the benefit for locating ships precisely. The number of target intersections that a player may shoot in a given turn is determined by the condition of the players' own ships at the beginning of the round. The player is allowed to target one intersection for each intersection in his own ships that are not sunk. Thus with the ships described above, the players would have 17 shots in the first round. As each ship is sunk, the player losing that ship loses the corresponding number of shots. Thus with the ships described above, if the battleship is sunk, the player loses 4 shots.

A logical variation of battleship in which guessing is not required is more common in puzzle magazines. There will be some form of clues, either as row or column tallies or neighboring ship segment tallies in such a way that no guesses are needed to solve the puzzle

Record hits with an x

Record misses with an open circle