The goal
Sink all five of your opponent's ships before they sink yours.
The sea
Each player has their own sea, a grid of 10 by 10 squares. Columns run from A to J and rows from 1 to 10, so every square has a name, like B7 or J10. You see your own sea, with your fleet, and your opponent's sea, where their ships are hidden.
The fleet
Both sides have the same five ships:
- Carrack
- 5 squares
- Galley
- 4 squares
- Cog
- 3 squares
- Caravel
- 3 squares
- Barque
- 2 squares
That's 17 ship squares on each side.
Placing your ships
- Each ship is placed horizontally (across) or vertically (up and down), never diagonally.
- The whole ship has to fit inside the sea.
- Ships can't overlap or touch each other, whether end to end, side by side or corner to corner: there's always at least one square of water between two ships.
- The AUTO button places a whole fleet for you, following these rules.
Who goes first
Against the computer, you go first in your first game, and after that you take turns going first. With a friend, whoever created the room goes first in the first game, and the first shot alternates with every rematch.
How to play
- On your turn, pick a square on your opponent's sea and fire.
- If the shot lands in the water, it's a miss and your turn is over.
- If it hits a ship, you fire again, and you keep firing as long as you keep hitting.
- A hit doesn't tell you which ship you struck: you only find out when it sinks.
- You can't fire at the same square twice.
Sinking a ship and open water
A ship sinks once every one of its squares has been hit. It is then revealed on the grid, the game tells you which ship it was, and whoever sank it keeps firing.
Since ships never touch, the squares around a sunk ship can only be water. The game marks them as open water right away so you don't waste a shot on them.
Winning
The first to sink all five enemy ships wins. With a friend, once the battle is over, each player gets to see where the other's surviving ships were.
Options on Selminha.com
- Your kingdom
- You sail with the Diamonds fleet or the Clubs fleet. Both fleets are the same; only the look changes.
- Against the computer
- Your opponent is the other kingdom's commander: the Jack (easy) fires more or less at random; the Ace (medium) searches in a checkerboard pattern and goes after any ship it hits; the King (hard) works out where every ship could still be.
- With a friend
- The player who creates the room picks a kingdom and sends the link; whoever opens it joins as the other kingdom. Each of you places your fleet on your own device, and it is kept secret on the site: the other player only learns the result of each shot.
- Rematch
- When the battle ends, you both decide whether to play again in the same room.
- Leaving and inactivity
- Leaving in the middle of a battle counts as a loss, and the game asks first. If someone goes more than 2 days without firing on their turn, or without placing their fleet, the battle can be ended for inactivity, and the player who waited wins. A room with no moves for 7 days ends with no winner.
Tips for beginners
- When hunting, fire at every other square, like the squares of one color on a checkerboard: the smallest ship takes up 2 squares, so no ship can slip through that pattern.
- After a hit, try the squares next to it (above, below and to each side) until you find which way the ship runs, then follow the line until it sinks.
- Use the no-touching rule: there's only water around a sunk ship, so spend your shots elsewhere.
- When placing your fleet, switch it up from game to game and don't forget the edges: a fleet that's always in the same spot is easier to find.
Variations of Naval Battle
Naval Battle is an old game with many versions. On paper, people often use a different fleet, with aircraft carriers, submarines and even seaplanes; in some rules your turn ends after every shot, hit or miss, or each player fires several shots per round; in others, ships may touch. On Selminha.com, the rules on this page apply: five ships that never touch and an extra shot for every hit.