Board games
Battleship
HasbroClifford Von Wickler1931
- players
- 2
- minutes
- 20
- years
- 8+
In the box
2 target grids · 2 fleets of 5 ships · Hit and miss pegs
Official rules (PDF, publisher's site)
Box details
- Designer
- Clifford Von Wickler
- Artwork
- Taavi Oolberg
- Publisher
- Hasbro
- Mechanics
- DeductionPaper and PencilHidden Units
Where to buy it
Near you and online
In a shop
Within 50 km.
Online
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The basics
Sink the whole opposing fleet by guessing where it is hiding. Each player secretly places five ships on their ten-by-ten grid, then in turn calls out a coordinate: the opponent answers "miss", "hit" or "sunk", and you get only one shot per turn, even after a hit. The first to sink all five opposing ships wins the round.
Checked against the official rules · October 2026
The rules, step by step
Setup
10 × 10 grids, 5 secret ships, 2 to 5 squares
- Each player draws two ten-by-ten grids: their own, and one for their shots.
- Secretly place five ships on it, horizontally or vertically, never diagonally, without overlapping or going off the grid. Hasbro's rules let ships touch; a common pen-and-paper convention forbids it.
- Aircraft carrier 5 squares, battleship 4, cruiser and submarine 3 each, destroyer 2: seventeen squares occupied out of a hundred. Hasbro's current set calls them carrier, battleship, destroyer, submarine and patrol boat.
How to play
1 shot per turn, Miss, hit, sunk
- Decide who goes first, then each player in turn calls out a coordinate, a letter and a number: one shot per turn, even after a hit.
- The opponent answers "miss" or "hit", naming the ship that was hit, then "sunk" once every square of it has been hit.
- Mark your shots on the second grid so as never to fire at the same square twice.
Scoring
No points
- No points: the counter keeps track of the rounds won.
- Some tables count the shots needed, the lowest total winning over several rounds.
End of the game
5 ships sunk
- The round stops as soon as one player has sunk all five opposing ships: that player wins it.
House rules and pitfalls
Whether ships may touch or not: that is the most argued-over convention, and Hasbro's rules allow it.
- Whether ships may touch or not: that is the most argued-over convention, and Hasbro's rules allow it. Settle it before placing.
- Hasbro's salvo variant: each player gets one shot per turn for every ship of theirs not yet sunk — five at the start, one fewer for each ship lost. The opponent announces the result of each shot.
- For a tougher game, you can keep quiet about which ship was hit.
- Firing along diagonals covers the grid faster than sweeping it row by row, since no ship is shorter than two squares.
Going further
Frequently asked questions · In the same family
Frequently asked questions
Can ships touch?
Under Hasbro's rules, yes: nothing forbids it, and their example layout shows ships side by side. A common pen-and-paper convention forbids it, which noticeably reduces the number of possible placements — and so the part played by luck. Decide before you start.
Do you shoot again after a hit?
Not under Hasbro's rules: each player fires once per turn, hit or miss. Only the salvo variant gives several shots, one per ship still afloat.