Two labelled 10×10 grids — one for your fleet, one to track your shots — plus the standard fleet list and a sunk-ship tracker. Print one per player.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | ||||||||||
| B | ||||||||||
| C | ||||||||||
| D | ||||||||||
| E | ||||||||||
| F | ||||||||||
| G | ||||||||||
| H | ||||||||||
| I | ||||||||||
| J |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | ||||||||||
| B | ||||||||||
| C | ||||||||||
| D | ||||||||||
| E | ||||||||||
| F | ||||||||||
| G | ||||||||||
| H | ||||||||||
| I | ||||||||||
| J |
| Ship | Size | Sunk? | Ship | Size | Sunk? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carrier | 5 | Submarine | 3 | ||
| Battleship | 4 | Destroyer | 2 | ||
| Cruiser | 3 |
Each player takes a sheet and secretly marks their five ships on the left grid, drawing each one straight — horizontally or vertically, never diagonally, and never overlapping another ship.
Players then alternate calling coordinates such as "B7". The defender answers hit or miss, and announces when a ship is completely sunk. Record your own shots on the right grid — X for a hit, O for a miss — so you never waste a turn repeating one.
Carrier 5, Battleship 4, Cruiser 3, Submarine 3, Destroyer 2 — seventeen squares in total out of a hundred.
Random guessing is poor. Because the smallest ship occupies two squares, firing in a checkerboard pattern — every other square — cannot miss a ship entirely, and halves the number of shots needed to find one.
Once you score a hit, switch from hunting to targeting: fire at the four squares adjacent to it until you find the ship's direction, then work along that axis until it sinks.
Most players instinctively place ships away from edges and never touching each other — so edges and adjacent placements are genuinely under-searched. Avoid your own habits, and vary placement between games against the same opponent.