Battleship

BATTLESHIP
A Two Player Game. Ages 8 and up

A little history:
The game Battleship (also known as Battleships) is a guessing game played by two people. It is known throughout the world as a pencil and paper game and predates World War I in this form. It was invented by Clifford Von Wickler in the early 1900s, but he never patented the game and it was soon published by Milton Bradley Company in 1943 as the pad-and-pencil game "Broadsides, the Game of Naval Strategy".

BATTLESHIP is the old favorite Navy Game where two players try to sink each other's hidden ships. It is conveniently packaged in self-contained sturdy plastic game kits, complete with storage compartments for the small ships and marker pegs. If can be set up, ready for play, in minutes and quickly stored away when not in use. In this modern, compact form, BATTLESHIP will provide pleasant entertainment for the whole family.

Players place their "fleet" of 5 ships on their "ocean", hidden from the opponent's view. Taking turns, players call out their "shots" attempting to get "hits" on the opponent's ships in order to sink them. Strategy and some luck must be combined to be the first to locate and sink all 5 opponent's ships to win the game.


TO PREPARE THE KITS
The two plastic game kits (I red and I blue) are used for playing the game and storing of the small parts. The diagram below of an OPEN KIT shows the various parts.


The lid of the box acts as a BARRIER SCREEN to block the view of the opponent and contains the TARGET GRID for marking a player's shots. The bottom of the box contains the OCEAN GRID for placement of a player's fleet. It also contains bins for storage of the SHIPS and MARKER PEGS.

The SHIPS and PEGS are supplied on "runners". Remove these by carefully TWISTING until they break off. Each kit should have FIVE SHIPS as follows:
"Carrier" (5 holes), "Battleship" (4 holes), "Cruiser" (3 holes), "Submarine" (3 holes), and "Destroyer" (2 holes). Each kit should have 2 runners of WHITE pegs (84 pegs) and I runner of RED pegs (42 pegs). Each player has a kit.

THE OBJECT OF THE GAME is to be the first player to sink all five of his opponent's ships.


RULES FOR THE BASIC GAME
(one shot in a turn)

SET UP THE FLEET
I. Two players sit FACING EACH OTHER, each with his kit on the fable in front of him. They open their BARRIER LIDS so they cannot see the OCEAN GRID of their opponent's kit. The lids are kept open all during the playing of the game.
2. Each player SECRETLY places his fleet of 5 ships on his OCEAN GRID. The BOTTOM of each ship has two "anchoring pegs" which must be pushed THROUGH the holes in the OCEAN GRID for placing them, Ships may be placed in ANY HORIZONTAL (back and forth) or VERTICAL (up and down) position - but NOT DIAGONALLY. The ship's "anchoring pegs" will NOT fit in the grid holes if placed diagonally. All holes on the TOP of the SHIPS must be lined up over holes on the OCEAN GRID. DO NOT place a ship so that a part of it is overhanging the grid holes or over letters and numbers.
3. When both players have placed their 5 ships as desired, they announce "READY." From then on, during the game, they MAY NOT change the position of any ship. To do so would be cheating!

CALL OUT THE SHOTS
In this BASIC Game, the players call out ONE shot each turn to try to hit an opponent's ship.
I. The player with the RED kit fakes the first shot. Players then alternate, taking one shot at a time (red, blue, red, etc.).
2. A shot is made by calling a LETTER and a NUMBER to locate which hole in the opponent's OCEAN GRID that shot is to be placed. That hole is located by going straight across, horizontally, from the called LETTER (printed on the side) and down, vertically, from the called NUMBER (printed across the top). The diagrams below show examples of how shots are located. The black dot shows where the shot is placed.

3. When a shot is called, the opponent immediately tells, the player whether it s a "hit" or "miss". If is a "hit" if the called hole on his OCEANGRID is covered by a ship; and a "miss" if no ship occupies that hole. If the shot is a "hit", the opponent fells the player what KIND of SHIP was "hit" (cruiser, carrier, etc.)

MARK SHOTS WITH PEGS
1.After a player has called his shot and found out whether it s a "hit" or "miss," he places a marker peg in his TARGET GRID (the one in the lid) -a WHITE peg for a "miss" and a RED peg for a "hit", to mark the location of that shot. This will guide him in placing future shots and prevent him from calling the same holes more than once.
2. A player does not have to mark his opponent's "misses" with white pegs, but, he MUST MARK any 'hits" that the opponent makes on his ships with a RED peg. When a hit has been made on a player's ship, he places a RED peg in the SHIP at that location on his OCEAN GRID.
Examples of marking the shots -

a. John calls "F-44' to Harry. Harry. announces f as a "miss". John places a WHITE PEG at "F.4" on his TARGET GRID. Harry does not place a peg in his kit.
b. Harry calls "H-6" to John. John announces if as a "ht" - "on a Destroyer." Harry places a RED PEG at "H-6" in his TARGET GRID. John places a RED PEG in a hole of his Destroyer at "H-6" on his OCEAN GRID.

SINK THE FLEET
1. Players continue taking turns, Calling shots and marking them.

2. Whenever a ship has received enough "hits" to fill all of ifs holes with RED PEGS, if is SUNK and is removed from the OCEAN GRID. The player whose ship is sunk must announce if to his opponent.

3. The number of "hits" each ship must receive to be SUNK is as follows: Carrier - 5 hits, Battleship - 4 hits, Cruiser - 3 hits, Submarine - 3 hits, Destroyer - 2 hits.
4. It is expected that players will be HONEST in announcing "hits" when they are made. Occasionally players may make a mistake in calling a hole they didn't mean or in locating the correct hole called. If a player feels an error has been made, he may call a TRUCE - and stop the game temporarily to review shots he has made in past turns. He can easily do this by calling out the location of the pegs he has placed on his TARGET GRID and asking the opponent to verify the "hits" and "misses" he has marked.

WIN THE GAME
The first player to sink all 5 of his opponent's ships is the WINNER.