STRATEGY

BATTLESHIP: PARITY HUNTING AND SHIP PLACEMENT

Hide 5 ships on a 10×10 grid, call coordinates to find your opponent's ships. First to sink all 5 enemy ships wins.

DIFFICULTYBEGINNER

PLAYERS2

PLAY TIME15–30 min

AGE7+

BATTLESHIP DEDUCTION 2 PLAYERS

STEP 1

SETUP

1Each player sets up their two grid boards (10×10 each) so opponent can't see.
2Place 5 ships on YOUR grid, hidden from opponent: Carrier (5), Battleship (4), Cruiser (3), Submarine (3), Destroyer (2).
3Ships are placed horizontally or vertically (no diagonals) and cannot overlap.
4Decide who goes first (younger player, or coin flip).

STEP 2

HOW TO PLAY

EACH TURN

Call out a coordinate (letter + number, e.g., 'B5'). Opponent reports 'HIT', 'MISS', or 'HIT — you sunk my [ship name]'. Mark the result on your tracking grid. Continue until someone sinks all 5 enemy ships.

PARITY HUNTING (the real strategy)

Since the smallest ship (Destroyer) is 2 squares long, at least one of every two adjacent squares must be empty. Target ONLY same-coloured checkerboard squares — you cover the whole board in half the shots and still hit every ship.

HUNT-AND-TARGET LOOP

Once you score a HIT, target the 4 adjacent cardinal squares (no diagonals — ships are straight). Once you score a SECOND hit on the same ship, the orientation is locked — continue along that axis until the ship is sunk.

SHIP PLACEMENT TACTICS

Don't bunch ships in corners (predictable). Scatter ships with at least one empty square between them — touching ships sink in sequence. Put the Destroyer in the middle of the board (harder to find with edge sweeps).

★ WIN CONDITION

First player to sink all 5 of the opponent's ships wins. A ship is sunk when all its squares are hit.

STEP 3

QUICK TIPS

▸Always parity-hunt. Random shooting takes ~60 shots; parity takes ~35.
▸After a HIT, shoot the 4 adjacent cardinal squares — never diagonals.
▸Don't cluster ships. Scatter with at least 1 empty square between them.
▸Place the smallest ship (Destroyer, 2 squares) in unexpected locations.
▸Salvo variant: each turn fire as many shots as ships you have alive — more strategic.
▸Captain Sonar (2016) is the team-based real-time modern Battleship reinvention.

DEEP DIVE

STRATEGY NOTES

Battleship is the game everyone played as a kid and few have played as an adult, which is a shame because there's a genuine probability puzzle hiding underneath the kids'-game packaging.

The single biggest discovery for intermediate players is parity. Battleship ships are all 2+ squares long, which means at least one of every two squares on the board must be empty. If you only target squares matching one parity (think of a checkerboard pattern and only shoot the dark squares), you're guaranteed to hit every ship in half the shots.

Ship placement is the other half of the game and is consistently underrated. Most casual players cluster ships in corners thinking opponents won't shoot there — which is exactly where opponents will shoot once they realise parity sweeps cover the board evenly. The veteran placement is to scatter ships across the board with at least one square between any two ships.

◀ BACK TO GUIDES