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Battleship is a classic game which some people consider a hit while many other think of it as a miss. Many critics of Battleship argue that the game is pointless, since its really just a pen and pencil game. They argue that the grid system which is the basis of the game's makeup could be stretched out on a notepad in about thirty seconds and the game could be played from there. This is true, yet I think that those people who make these complaints are forgetting one thing; the power of imagination.
Battleship isn't about guessing squares one by one. Its about putting yourself in the shoes of a Naval commander, placing yourself on the deck of that armored cruiser. Its about hearing the ping of radar and feeling the apprehension before an attack. This is why kids love Battleship; their imaginations are allowed to take over even when at that is inform of them are one hundred small squares arranged in one larger square.
Sometimes I think gamers are a little too hard on the classic, popular games, just like film snobs are against mainstream Hollywood movies and indie music hipsters hate bands that get radio airtime. But remember, Battleship is really a game for children and its still a fun game so long as you still have some part of that childhood ability to transport yourself to another time and place. As long as imagination is present in the people who play, Battleship will always be more than just a grid.
Gameplay
Battleship is a game of guessing and elimination. Don't be fooled, there's not much strategy going on here. There are very minor strategies which how to pick where your missiles are going, but these strategies are more deceiving than anything else. You may think that placing all your ships around the edge is clever, but it doesn't really matter that much.
What the game boils down to is two players hiding their ships on their grid and then taking turns guessing where on the coordinate grid the other persons ships are. And yet, this can be fun. Its fun to arrange your ships in a pattern you don't think they'll expect. Its exciting to hear then say "hit" or "you sunk my battleship”" in their disappointed voice as you throw your arms up in victory. If you are expecting a strategic chess match, you will be disappointed. But if you are able to put yourself right in the fleet, you may have some fun with it.
Components
Battleship consists of two folding game boards, each of which has a grid on the top half and a gird on the bottom. It also comes with white pegs which indicate misses and red which indicate hits. The top gird is where you record your own guesses, and the underlay of the grid actually looks like a radar screen which the underlay of the bottom grid looks like water, a nice little touch to trigger our imaginations
The truly great component of the game however is the ships themselves. Each player gets five ships of different sizes; the Aircraft Carrier, the Battleship, the Submarine, the Cruiser and the Destroyer. These plastic gray models have not really changed in design much over the years and still look as great as ever. They are just as detailed as they need to be to allow yourself to believe that they are actual naval ships at your command.
Conclusion
Battleship may not be able to keep the interest of serious gamers afloat since it does lack strategic play and doesn't actually go that deep despite its theme. But that doesn't mean its a bad game. It is exactly what its supposed to be, game which puts you into the control room of your battleship peering out the periscope in a one-on-one battle against your enemy, which is sitting across from you trying to hide their board from your view. Battleship allows imagination to take over as long as we let it. This is something children have no problem with and something we as adults could practice a little more. Battleship is not sunk, it just needs a creative mindset to keep it moving.
  
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Mike Beiter
United States
Tonawanda
New York
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Nice review. I was a fan of the game when I was younger, and I haven’t played it in years. I used to enjoy it for the frustration of your enemy trying desperately to locate ships, or the satisfaction when you guess right on and sink several ships instantly.
I like a lot of the variants that the game has spawned over the years. With different ships and boards, and different types of attacks that strafe large areas of the board.
The game does indeed have a lot of creative potential within it.
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George Husted
United States
Connecticut
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I love playing this with my kids! The edition that we have actually has waves in the ocean.
I think there are some very fine variants available, too.
For instance, instead of firing a single shot per turn, fire salvos of 2 or 3 shots per turn and speed up the game.
You could assign a ship to each salvo and role a single die per ship to determine if that ship was "spotted" when it fired. Each vessel has a set number of holes. Roll the die for each ship that fired a salvo and if the number on the die is less than the number of holes, the ship is spotted and one grid coordinate that it is sitting on must be revealed to the opposing player.
The more salvos, the more chances for a hit, but the more chances for being spotted. The bigger the vessel making a salvo, the more likely it is to be spotted.
Decisions, decisions, decisions...
And there is always the attempt to figure out the most efficient search pattern (I like diagonal lines with shots spaced at a distance of the maximum sized opposing vessel's number of holes).
Anyway, this is fun game and kids all over the world enjoy playing it...even us big kids!
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I am glad that Johnny Jaws is my friend.
United States
Enumclaw
Washington
I know who I am. I'm the ant playin' the ant, disguised as another ant!
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RedArmyIan wrote: Battleship is a classic game which some people consider a hit while many other think of it as a miss. Many critics of Battleship argue that the game is pointless, since its really just a pen and pencil game. They argue that the grid system which is the basis of the game's makeup could be stretched out on a notepad in about thirty seconds and the game could be played from there. This is true, yet I think that those people who make these complaints are forgetting one thing; the power of imagination.
Oh man you make me feel old.
Before Battleship became a plastic ocean with plastic miniatures it was a pencil and pad game (graph paper worked best).
I contend we had more imagination back then playing with a pencil and pad, than players do now with the plastic armada on a sea of plastic.
Not long after that I purchased Submarine by Avalon Hill, just a slight leap in complexity.
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marc lecours
Canada
ottawa
ontario
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We used to play with the variant:
1. You fired salvos of 5 shots. But you did not know which of your shots had hit the enemy ship. You only knew the number of hits and which ships they had hit. (this really makes the game more than trivial)
2. If you fired at the enemy and you had a ship in that space then you had to announce there was a hit on your ship also. But the enemy did not know which of your shots was a hit. (This doubled the speed of the game since both players shots were shooting at all ships.This also let us use bigger grids without the time being too long)
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The idea that it's snobbery to dislike this game is ridiculous. It's a crappy, random game for slow-witted children, and nothing else. Stop looking back at your childhood games with rose-colored glasses and believing that they're something they're not.
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Mike Beiter
United States
Tonawanda
New York
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someotherguy wrote: The idea that it's snobbery to dislike this game is ridiculous. It's a crappy, random game for slow-witted children, and nothing else. Stop looking back at your childhood games with rose-colored glasses and believing that they're something they're not.
Lost a few games of Battleship in our day have we?
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Posted Sat Dec 4, 2010 5:22 pm
