Battleship
Search the enemy ocean and sink its hidden fleet before your own ships are found.
Enable JavaScript to play. Rules and practice advice are available below.
No account or download needed. Records, where provided, stay in this browser; clearing site data removes them. Games remain playable without storage. Local friend modes share one screen.
How to play Battleship
- Both 6×6 oceans receive three straight ships of lengths 3, 2 and 2. Your fleet is visible; the enemy fleet stays hidden. On narrow screens the enemy ocean appears below your fleet.
- Tap an unfired enemy cell to shoot. A cross means hit and a dot means miss. The computer fires once after each of your shots unless you have already won.
- Hit all seven occupied enemy cells to win. Repeated shots do not spend a turn. Ships do not overlap, but neighbouring ships may touch. New game creates fresh automatic placements.
Battleship practice guide
A hit creates a local search problem
Before finding a ship, spread shots across untested areas. After a hit, inspect adjacent cells that could continue a straight ship. A miss at one end rules out that extension, while a second hit can reveal the ship’s direction. Keep the visible shot history in mind instead of firing again at a marked cell.
Two hits form a horizontal line
You hit two side-by-side cells. Try extending that line at an untested end before guessing a distant square. If the extension misses, the ship may already be complete or extend from its other end. Touching ships are allowed here, so adjacent hits are evidence of a possible line rather than proof they belong to one ship.
A focused practice session
- Search widely until your first hit.
- After a hit, compare the four neighbouring directions.
- Use marked misses to avoid repeating an already ruled-out extension.
What to keep in mind
Fleets are automatically placed and contain exactly seven occupied cells. The computer chooses unfired cells without a sophisticated targeting strategy. This version is solo versus computer, not an online room game.