Battleship (game)

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.