Battleship

Before the first shot, each player should count 17 occupied spaces and confirm that all five ship lengths are correct. Once the first coordinate has been called, no ship may be moved, rotated, exchanged, removed, or added.

Each player calls five different coordinates on every turn regardless of how many ships remain. This produces a faster game and allows a player with a damaged fleet to retain full attacking power.

A player who scores a hit immediately fires again. The turn ends after a miss or after the opponent’s entire fleet is sunk.

Each space of a ship can be hit only once. A ship is sunk when every space it occupies has been hit.

Ships may not occupy horizontally, vertically, or diagonally adjacent spaces. The extra separation makes deduction easier because spaces surrounding a sunk ship can be eliminated.

Once per game, instead of firing, a player selects a predetermined search area, such as a 2-by-2 group of spaces. The opponent reports only whether at least one ship space lies in that area.

For a multi-game match, use one of these agreed scoring systems: Best-of series: Award one game win to the victor. The first player to win two games in a best-of-three series, or three games in a best-of-five series, wins the match.; Victory points: Award one point for each game won. The player w...

For a shorter game, use a smaller grid or fewer ships. A balanced beginner game can use an 8-by-8 grid with ships of lengths 4, 3, 3, and 2.