Sea Battle

Take turns with the computer, choosing a square to fire at. Find and sink its three hidden ships before it finds yours.

Difficulty
High score
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Both fleets contain one ship of length three and two of length two on a 6×6 grid. Ships are placed automatically and do not touch. You and the computer fire once per turn. A hit is marked × and a miss ·. Sink all three enemy ships to win.

How to play
  1. Start the round with an automatically placed fleet.
  2. Choose a square on the enemy sea. The computer then takes its turn.
  3. Sink all three enemy ships before the computer sinks yours.
Tips and tricks

A few ideas that make Sea Battle easier and more fun:

  • Ships never touch, not even diagonally. So the squares diagonal to a hit are always water.
  • After a hit, test the four neighbouring squares to learn which way the ship lies.
  • While searching, fire on a chessboard pattern. Every ship covers at least one of those squares.
About Sea Battle

Play Sea Battle online

Fleet guessing games began as pencil-and-paper games. This compact version keeps the familiar search for hidden ships, with three ships each and a computer opponent.

Why it works

You remember earlier shots and use hits to narrow down possible ship positions. The task uses spatial search, planning and decisions with incomplete information.

These are the skills used during play; improvement outside the game is not established.