How to Play Sea Battle
Two hidden fleets, two grids of ten: call a square, hear hit or miss, sink all ten ships.
Sea Battle is the pen-and-paper game of two hidden fleets, played on two grids of ten by ten. Each side calls squares of the other’s grid and is told miss, hit, or hit and sunk; a hit earns another shot. Ten ships to a fleet — one of four squares, two of three, three of two and four of one — never touching, not even at a corner. The fleets are set out at random, with a shuffle before the first shot. The first to sink all ten wins. Play against the computer at three levels, or online against another player.
Ways to play Sea Battle
Two to four at the board
Play Sea Battle against the computer with one, two or three others at the board. Every seat is filled, so a game always starts.
Online with friends and family
Create a board, share the code, and play together on the same board. Online games count towards your rating and My Stats.
Picked up where you left it
Close the tab mid-game and come back to it — the game is kept in your browser, on the board you were playing.
No ads, ever
No advertising, no interruption, nothing to dismiss. The same promise as every Vanikar™ game.
🎯 Objective
Sink all ten of the other side’s ships before they sink yours.
🎲 Sea Battle setup
- Two grids of ten by ten: yours, with your ships drawn on it, and the other side’s, which shows only your shots and the ships you have sunk.
- Columns are numbered 1 to 10 along the top and rows lettered A to J down the side, so every square has a name — B7 is the second row, seventh column.
- Each fleet is one ship of four squares, two of three, three of two and four of one: ten ships on twenty squares. Every ship lies straight along a row or down a column, and no two ships touch — not even at a corner.
- The fleets are set out at random. Before the first shot you may shuffle yours. You shoot first or second; the computer takes the other turn at the level you set.
▶ How to play Sea Battle
- On your turn, tap a square of the other grid you have not shot at.
- The sea answers: a white dot for a miss, a red cross for a hit. When a ship’s last square is hit the ship is sunk, and its squares stay filled.
- After a hit or a sinking you shoot again. After a miss the turn passes.
- The computer’s shots are shown the same way, one at a time, and the line under the board says where it fired and what it hit.
- Each fleet is also shown as a row of little squares, longest ship first; the sunk ones darken, so you always know what is left to find.
- The game ends the moment a side’s twentieth square is hit. Both fleets are then shown, so you can see where the ships you never found were lying.
🎬 Watch: How to Play Sea Battle
Filmed as Battleship, the boxed version, with a fleet of five ships and one shot a turn. Sea Battle plays the same calls on the pen-and-paper fleet of ten ships, and a hit earns another shot.
This video is embedded from YouTube and remains the intellectual property of its respective creator and/or rights holder. Vanikar LLC claims no ownership of, or rights in, the video content, and no affiliation with or endorsement by its creator is implied. The video is displayed via YouTube’s public embed feature in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service and the agreements between YouTube and the content uploader.
📖 Detailed guide
The grids and the fleet
- Ten by ten, columns 1 to 10 and rows A to J. On a phone the grid you shoot at fills the width of the screen, with your own grid small under it; in a browser yours is on the left and theirs on the right.
- Ten ships on twenty squares: one of four, two of three, three of two and four of one, each straight along a row or a column.
- No two ships touch, not even at a corner. That rule is what makes the water round a wreck safe to skip.
- There is no placing phase: the fleets are set out at random, and you may shuffle yours as often as you like before the first shot.
Shooting
- Call a square by tapping it. A miss is a white dot, a hit a red cross; a sunk ship glows red from end to end.
- A hit or a sinking is another shot. A miss passes the turn.
- You cannot shoot the same square twice; squares already called are marked.
- The tally beside the grid shows each ship of the enemy fleet, longest first, and darkens the ones you have sunk.
How it ends
- The moment the twentieth square of a fleet is hit, the game is over. There are no draws.
- Both fleets are then revealed, so you can see where the ships you never found were lying.
- A game is its shots: the same sequence replays the same game, and the fleets stay secret until the end.
- Online, each seat’s fleet is its own secret, and the table checks every answer against it when the game is over.
Offline and online
- Offline, choose whether you shoot first or second and the computer’s level — Easy, Medium or Hard. Hard counts where the ships could still be.
- Online, create a board, share the code, and the other player joins; the result counts towards your rating and My Stats.
- The game is kept shot by shot, so you can close it and come back to the same sea.
- Online play is cross-platform: a player in a browser and a player on a phone can sit at the same board.
🏁 How Sea Battle is won
The first side to sink all ten of the other’s ships — twenty squares hit — wins. There are no draws and no points: the game is won or lost, and the result counts towards your rating and My Stats.
❓ Sea Battle — frequently asked questions
How many players do you need for Sea Battle?
Sea Battle is played by 2. Seats you do not fill are taken by the computer, so a game always starts.
Where can I play Sea Battle?
In your browser at play.vanikar.games, on a computer, a tablet or a phone. Sign in with the same Vanikar™ account you use for the card games.
Is Sea Battle included in my subscription?
Yes. One Card Games by Vanikar™ subscription covers the card games, Chess & Checkers and the board games, and every game released after them.
Does Sea Battle have ads?
No. No Vanikar™ game has ever carried advertising, and none ever will.
Do I place my own ships in Sea Battle?
No. The fleets are set out at random, and before the first shot you may shuffle yours as many times as you like. Every arrangement keeps the rules: 10 ships, straight, and never touching.
How many ships are in a fleet?
10, on 20 squares: 1 ship of 4 squares, 2 of 3, 3 of 2 and 4 of 1.
Do I shoot again after a hit?
Yes. A hit or a sinking earns another shot, and you keep shooting until you miss. Then the turn passes.
Can Sea Battle be a draw?
No. The game ends the moment a fleet’s last square is hit, so one side always wins.