Free sea battle vs the computer

How to start

1. Open bigboard.games on every device and tap Start a table on one of them.
2. The others join by themselves on the same Wi-Fi; elsewhere, scan the QR code or type the four-letter code.
3. Lay the devices edge to edge, screens up, as the drawing shows, and pick the game.

Four levels, four ways to hunt

Easy fires at random, and after a hit it tries a random cell next to it. Medium hunts in a checkerboard pattern, every other cell, the way a careful player covers the grid; after two hits in a line it tries the line's ends, and with several fleets it goes after the weakest one.

Hard keeps a map of every place each enemy ship still afloat could lie, given the misses, the hits and the marked water round sunk ships, and fires where a ship is likeliest, with a little seeded variety so it doesn't always pick the same cell. Impossible does the same with no variety at all: it is the bot to beat once the others fall.

Playing it alone

Start a table on one phone or tablet, add a bot and pick Sea Battle. The bot's fleet is ready the moment the match starts, so only yours needs placing, and with two fleets the game takes turns: a hit or a sink shoots again, for the bot as for you. Add more bots and the table fires volleys, everyone aiming at once.

Bots never see your fleet. A bot aims from the same public board you see, your misses, hits and sunk ships, plus its own fleet. It waits a short, human-like pause before it fires, one to two seconds in a volley, so the rhythm feels like playing a person. The classic rules hold for it as for anyone.

Bots at a bigger table

Bots fill any seat: the third fleet in 3 player sea battle, or the rest of a table when only two of you turn up. Each bot has its own level, so mix them for a fair fight: Easy for a child, Impossible for whoever wins too often. Medium likes to gang up on the weakest fleet, so with several fleets it plays like someone who smells blood.

Bots play on the first device at the table. If it leaves, the next device takes them over, and they carry on with the same fleet and the same pause. For two people and no bot, sea battle on two phones is the duel; for a calmer game against the computer, try the chess bot.

With bots: questions and answers