How to start
- Open bigboard.games on every device and tap Start a table on one of them.
- The others join by themselves on the same Wi-Fi; elsewhere, scan the QR code or type the four-letter code.
- Lay the devices edge to edge, screens up, as the drawing shows, and pick the game.
Three fleets, one volley at a time
Sea battle on paper is a duel: with a third player, someone is always waiting. So with three fleets the table fires volleys. Everyone aims at once, and the volley lands when all three have aimed or its clock runs out, 25 seconds by default. Each fleet's badge shows a tick once it has locked in, never where it aimed.
Every shot in a volley is judged against the sea as it was when the volley began, so the order you tapped Fire in doesn't matter, and two players who pick the same cell both score the hit. Any hit gives you exactly one extra shot in the next volley, never more, so a lucky round can't snowball.
Whose waters to fire at
Every fleet has its own 10 × 10. The board you are aiming at fills the screen, and a tap on an opponent's badge switches to theirs. The strip across the top shows each fleet's face, its name and its ships still afloat as small hulls, so you can see who is close to sinking and who has barely been touched.
That makes three a game of choices: finish the weak fleet before someone else gets the kill, or hit the leader while you can. A fleet whose last ship sinks is out; the others place by when they went out, and two fleets sunk in one volley share their place. Resigning is always there, and the end reveals every fleet on every screen.
Special shots, and when you're short of phones
Switch on Special shots and each fleet gets one sonar, one airstrike and one torpedo a match. The sonar counts the ship cells round a cell and tells only you; the airstrike lands four shots in a line; the torpedo runs in from an edge until it meets a ship. With three fleets, spending them on the right target is half the game. Prefer the classic rhythm? Set Turns to Take turns, and a hit shoots again.
Two phones and three people? Two can share a device, each with a fleet behind its own cover, as in sea battle 2 player, or a bot can take the third fleet in sea battle vs the computer. A fourth device can join as the big screen, the whole battle for the room, or bring a fourth fleet to 4 player sea battle.
3 players: questions and answers
Can you play Battleship with 3 players?
Yes, here each of the three hides a fleet on their own device, and everyone fires at once.
Do all three shoot at the same time?
Yes, by default; Take turns is the other choice, where a hit shoots again.
Can two players hit the same ship in one volley?
Yes, both shots count, since every shot is judged against the sea as the volley began.
Can a bot be the third fleet?
Yes, a bot places its fleet at once and aims after a short pause, at one of four levels.