Battleship

Battleship is a game of deduction under uncertainty. Both fleets are hidden on an 8×8 grid, and each shot returns one of three results: miss, hit, or sunk.

Your fleet consists of five ships — lengths 5, 4, 3, 3 and 2 — placed randomly at the start of each game. The CPU fires with a hunt-and-target strategy: random shots until it hits, then it works through the neighbouring squares until the ship is sunk.

The game is symmetric, so the same logic applies to you: fire on a grid pattern to find ships efficiently, then concentrate on adjacent squares once you get a hit.

How to play Battleship

• Click a square in enemy waters to fire.
• A red × is a hit; a dot is a miss.
• Sink all five enemy ships before the CPU sinks yours.
• New Game places both fleets randomly.

Tips & strategy

Battleship is probability management. Random shots are fine until you get a hit; after that, every shot should be adjacent.

• Fire on a checkerboard pattern early. Ships are at least two squares long, so a parity grid finds them faster than random clicks.
• When you hit, do not switch targets. Work through the four adjacent squares until you determine the ship's orientation.
• A ship cannot be sunk with one hit; if two adjacent squares both hit, extend the line in both directions.
• Keep track of which ships are still afloat. If only the length-2 ship remains, stop firing at isolated squares.
• The CPU uses the same hunt-and-target logic, so expect it to find your ships quickly after a hit.
• Spread your fleet placement mentally; clustered ships are easier to finish once found.

Controls

Questions