Quick Rules
Sea Battle is the classic pencil-and-paper game of hide and seek at sea. You and the computer each hide a fleet of five ships on a grid, then take turns calling out squares to find and sink the other side's ships.
- Two grids. Each side has a sea of 100 squares, ten across (A to J) and ten down (1 to 10).
- Five ships. A carrier (5 squares), a cruiser (4), a destroyer (3), a submarine (3) and a patrol boat (2). Each lies across or down, never diagonally, and ships never overlap.
- Call a square. On your turn you fire at one square of the computer's waters, such as E5.
- Hear the answer. "Miss", "hit", or, when the last square of a ship is hit, "you sank my cruiser".
- Win. The first side to sink all five of the other side's ships wins.
How to Play on This Page
First, hide your fleet. Press Place Them for Me and the game hides all five ships for you, or tap a ship and then the square where it should start. Turn switches a ship between across and down. When you are happy, press Start Battle.
To fire, tap a square in the computer's waters. A crosshair shows where you are aiming, and nothing happens until you press Fire (or tap the same square again), so a slip of the finger never wastes a shot. A miss is a small dot, a hit is a bold X, and a sunk ship is outlined and named. The list under the board shows which of the computer's ships are still afloat.
On a phone you see one board at a time. Use the big Your Shots and Your Fleet tabs; the game also switches to your fleet by itself while the computer fires, and back again for your turn. Hint suggests a square and says why, and Why? beside each computer shot explains its thinking.
Tips for Winning
- Search in a checkerboard pattern. Every ship is at least two squares long, so firing at every other square is enough to find them all.
- Aim for the middle early on. More ship positions pass through the middle squares than the edges and corners.
- After a hit, work around it. Try the four squares beside it; once you have two hits in a row, carry on along that line.
- Remember what is left. When only big ships remain, gaps too small to hold them can be skipped.
- Hide your fleet unpredictably. Avoid neat rows and the same favorite spots every game.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Sea Battle free to play here?
Yes. Play as many games as you like for free, with no account, no download and no ads over the boards.
How do I place my ships?
The quickest way is the big Place Them for Me button, which hides all five ships in legal spots for you. To place a ship yourself, tap it in the list, then tap the square where it should start. It points to the right, or down if you press Turn first. To move a ship, tap it on the board and then tap its new starting square. When all five are placed, press Start Battle.
How do I fire a shot?
Tap a square in the computer's waters to aim at it. A crosshair appears, and nothing is fired yet. Press Fire, or tap the same square again, to take the shot. If you change your mind, tap a different square. Once you are comfortable you can switch on One tap to fire in Settings.
What do the marks on the board mean?
A small dot is a miss. A bold X is a hit. When a ship is sunk, the whole ship is outlined in heavy dark red, cross-hatched and labelled with its name. The most recent shot each side made has a thick yellow frame. The marks differ in shape as well as color, so you can tell them apart without relying on color.
Does the computer cheat?
No. The computer never looks at where your ships are. It knows only what you would know in its place: the squares it has fired at, whether each shot hit or missed, and which of your ships it has sunk. Easy fires at random, Normal fires around its hits, and Hard counts every way your remaining ships could still fit and aims where most of them overlap. We test this: if your unhit ships are moved somewhere else, its choice stays exactly the same. Tap Why? beside any computer shot to read its reasoning.
What is a salvo game?
In a salvo game you fire one shot for each of your ships still afloat, all at once, and only then hear which ones hit. You start with five shots a turn and lose one each time a ship of yours goes down. Turn it on under House rules in Settings.
Can ships touch each other?
In the usual rules, yes: ships may sit side by side as long as they do not overlap. Many families play that ships may not touch at all, not even at a corner. You can choose that house rule in Settings, and it then applies to both fleets.
Does the game save my progress?
Yes. Your game is saved in your browser after every shot, and while you place your ships, so you can close the page and continue later on the same device.
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