Paper Battleship

Paper Battleship

Min number of participants	2
Age	6+ yrs.
Safety support by adult	Not required
Min duration	15 min.
Cost	Low
Environment	Indoor / Outdoor

A two-player pencil-and-paper grid game: each player secretly places a fleet of ships on a hidden grid and takes turns calling out coordinates, trying to sink the opponent's ships before their own are found.

The Essentials

Steps

Each player draws two grids — one for their own fleet, one to track shots at the opponent.
Secretly place your ships on your own grid, keeping them in straight lines and not touching, even diagonally.
Take turns calling a coordinate (like B7); the opponent replies "hit," "miss," or "sunk" if a whole ship is destroyed.
Mark every result on your tracking grid and keep firing until one player's entire fleet is sunk.

Tips

After a hit, try the four adjacent squares next — ships are always straight, so two hits reveal the whole line.
Spread your own ships apart rather than clustering them near an edge, which experienced opponents target first.