What is Sea Battle?
Sea Battle is the pen-and-paper game of grids and hidden ships that many know as Battleship, made for the phones and tablets already at the table, like the other games you play across several phones. Each screen shows your own waters and the boards you are firing at, and nobody else's fleet.
It is also a game for more than two. Every player has a fleet, and the table plays until a single fleet is still afloat.
How a match goes
A match starts with everyone placing at once. Your fleet starts in random places; drag a ship to move it, tap it to turn it, shuffle the lot, then tap Ready.
With two fleets the players take turns, and a hit shoots again. With more, the table fires volleys: everyone aims at once, and all the shots land together. A hit earns one extra shot in the next volley.
A sunk ship shows itself, with the water round it marked. The last fleet afloat wins, and the end reveals every fleet.
What you need
Each player plays on their own phone or tablet, iPhone and Android together, and the devices can lie anywhere: sea battle on two phones is the classic duel, and a friend in another place joins by link. Several people can share one device behind a cover, as in 2 player sea battle on one phone.
A table forms as How it works shows. A device with nobody on it, a laptop or a TV's browser, becomes the big screen: every fleet's waters, whose shot it is and the clock, never where the ships lie. Short of players? Bots take the empty seats.
Modes
- Fleet
- Ten ships that never touch, or five larger ones that may.
- Turns
- Take turns, where a hit shoots again, or All at once, in volleys.
- Special shots
- A sonar, an airstrike and a torpedo for each fleet, one use of each a match.
- Mines
- Two mines laid with your fleet: a shot on one costs the shooter a hit on its largest ship.
- Salvo
- As many shots a turn as ships still afloat, up to four.
Why it's fun at a table
Sea battle is a game of nerve and good guesses: one hit, and the next shot is a puzzle. With a whole table firing volleys, as in 4 player sea battle, every landing is a small event.
It sits with the other board games for 2 players on BIGBOARD.GAMES, like chess, and plays with a bigger table too.
Sea Battle: questions and answers
Is Sea Battle the same as Battleship?
Yes, it is the classic hidden-fleet game, with volleys for a bigger table and three twists to switch on: special shots, mines and salvo.
Can I play it now?
Yes, it plays today in the browser on any phone or tablet: start a table, pick Sea Battle and place your fleet.
Can we play against the computer?
Yes, computer players can fill seats, at four levels, and aim after a short, human-like pause.
Is it free?
Yes, like every game on BIGBOARD.GAMES, it plays in the browser for free, with no app and no sign-up.