The Battleship box sold in India, with warships at sea and the open battle case — The Battleship box (Hasbro India)Photo: Hamleys

Two boys facing each other across their open Battleship cases — Two players, face to facePhoto: Hasbro

An open black Battleship case with its target grid, ocean grid, ships and red and white pegs — What's in the boxPhoto: Hamleys

Two boys playing Battleship on a sofa — Calling out shots (international edition)Photo: Hasbro

Fingers placing a red hit peg on a ship, with white miss pegs in the tray — Red for a hit, white for a missPhoto: Hasbro

A player pushing a peg into the target grid of a grey battle case — Marking your shot (international edition)Photo: Hasbro

The back of the Battleship box with the rules printed on it — Box back with the rulesPhoto: Hamleys

Video

Two-player game · Indian edition available

Battleship

Hide your fleet, call out coordinates, sink every enemy ship

Deduction

2best with 2
20–30 minper game
About 3 minto set up
7+years
Very easy
Nonereading

The official listing, on Amazon.in

Made in India

Buy on Amazon.in

We couldn't confirm whether this listing sends the Indian or the imported box. Amazon shows today's price, the seller and delivery.

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The game in a nutshell

Battleship is Hasbro's two-player game of naval combat for ages 7 and up. Each player hides five ships on a grid inside a folding case, then you take turns calling out positions like 'D-4' to find and sink the other fleet. It suits children of 7 or more and the parents playing with them, and gives painless practice with grid references. In India the standard box is Hasbro India's 'Battleship: The Tactical Combat Game' (item E8260).

Is Battleship right for you?

Great if

Children from 7 who enjoy suspense and a bit of guesswork
Parent-and-child games: each fleet is hidden behind a lid, so it is fair across ages
Practising letter-and-number grid references, the same idea used on maps and graphs
A calm 20- to 30-minute game for two; the cases close up for storage

Skip it if

You want a game for three or more players
Your child gets bored by long runs of misses; the first part of each game is mostly guessing
You dislike tiny parts; the box has 252 small pegs that are easy to lose

THE BOARDGAMES.IN TAKE

Our ratings

How hard to learnVery easy

1 / 5

Luck or skillMore luck than skill

LuckSkill

Set-up~3 min

ReadingNone

Behind the ratings

How hard to learnCall a square, hear 'hit' or 'miss', mark it with a peg. The only skill to learn is reading letter-and-number grid positions, so it sits at 1 on our scale with Connect 4.

Luck or skillEarly shots are pure guesswork, so whoever stumbles on ships first often wins. After a hit, logic takes over to finish the ship off, and spreading your ships so they don't touch helps, but luck still counts for more than skill.

Player interactionEvery shot is aimed at your opponent, and you answer each other's calls all game.

Set-up timeThe first time, an adult twists the ships and pegs off their plastic runners and sticks a label on each lid. Each game after that takes a couple of minutes: open the cases, share out the pegs and secretly place your five ships.

Reading neededNo reading during play: you only need the letters A to J and numbers 1 to 10. The rules on the box back are in English.

Difficulty uses our 1–5 scale: 1 is UNO or Connect 4, 3 is Catan, 5 is a heavy strategy game. These describe the experience, not an overall score.

A place on the honours list

Good company to be in.

Recognition from beyond our table.

National Toy Hall of Fame (The Strong National Museum of Play), 2025 (Inducted)

How Battleship plays

Each player gets a portable battle case with two grids: the flat ocean grid for your own ships and the upright target grid for tracking your shots. The first time you play, you snap the ten plastic ships off their frame and share out the red and white pegs.

Time to teach: about 5 minutes.
Reading and language: You call out grid positions such as 'D-4' and answer 'hit' or 'miss', so players need the letters A to J and numbers 1 to 10. Ship names are in English but can be said in any language. The rules leaflet is in English.

How to Play Battleship · Triple S Games

If this creator doesn’t allow embedded playback, watch on YouTube ↗.

Your turn, step by step

1
Hide
Sit facing each other with the lids up as screens. Each player secretly pegs five ships into the ocean grid of their own case, across or up and down, never diagonally.
2
Fire
On your turn, call one square by letter and number, such as 'D-4'. Your opponent answers 'miss', or 'hit' and which ship, and you mark it with a white or red peg on your upright target grid.
3
Win
When every hole in a ship has a red peg, it sinks and its owner must say so. Sink all five enemy ships first to win. For a quicker game, the box's Salvo rules let you fire one shot for each of your ships still afloat.

Read the official rules (PDF)Battleship - The Classic Naval Combat Game, instructions (Hasbro item A3264) · English

The full explanation: how a game of Battleship goes

Sitting across from each other with the lids raised, both players secretly place five ships. In the India-made box they are a carrier (5 holes long), a battleship (4), a cruiser (3), a submarine (3) and a destroyer (2); some international boxes call the last two a destroyer and a patrol boat. Ships go across or up and down, never diagonally.

On your turn you call out one position by letter and number, such as 'D-4'. Your opponent says 'miss', or 'hit' and which ship. You record it with a white or red peg on your target grid, and your opponent puts a red peg into any ship that was hit.

When every hole in a ship has a red peg, it has sunk and its owner says so. The first player to sink the whole enemy fleet wins.

Experienced players can try the Salvo game: you fire as many shots per turn as you have ships still afloat, starting with five, and lose a shot for each of your ships that is sunk. For a harder game, don't say which ship was hit.

What's in the box

2Battle cases
one per player: a flat ocean grid for your ships, an upright target grid in the lid that also screens your fleet, and trays for ships and pegs
10Ships
five per player: Carrier (5 holes), Battleship (4), Cruiser (3), Submarine (3) and Destroyer (2); they come on plastic runners and twist off
168White 'miss' pegs
84 per player, on two runners each
84Red 'hit' pegs
42 per player, on one runner each
1Label sheet
two Battleship labels to stick on the lids
1Rules
printed on the back of the box, in English

Box: 38 × 26 × 7 cm, 1.07 kg. Handy to know for gifting and travel.

From the instructions printed on the back of the Indian E8260 box, which say each player's kit has five ships, two runners of white pegs (84) and one runner of red pegs (42). Hasbro's international box (A3264, 'The Classic Naval Combat Game') has the same 10 ships and the same totals of 84 red and 168 white pegs, but names the 3-hole ship a destroyer and the 2-hole ship a patrol boat, and comes with a separate rules leaflet. Hasbro's newer US box (F4527) has green pegs in place of the white ones. Whether the E8260 box also includes a separate rules leaflet is not stated.

Where to buy

Amazon.inEdition not confirmed

The official listing, on Amazon.in

We couldn't confirm whether this listing sends the Indian or the imported box. Amazon shows today's price, the seller and delivery.

Buy on Amazon.in

Opens Amazon.in in a new tab.

Battleship is made in India: the box label says it is made by Funskool (India) in Chennai for Hasbro India, and the Indian box is item E8260. Imported electronic or themed versions are only worth it if you want one of those specifically.

How to make sure you get a genuine copyA little care before you click.

Look for the Hasbro Gaming logo and the Battleship name on the box. The India-made box is item E8260, and Indian listings name Hasbro India Toys Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai.
Check the contents: two folding battle cases with grids, ten ships (five per player; in the India-made box a carrier, battleship, cruiser, submarine and destroyer) and red 'hit' and white 'miss' pegs.
Unbranded 'battleship' naval strategy games with long generic titles and model numbers are not Hasbro's game.
A 'Battleship' for a few hundred rupees is usually Hasbro's card game or Grab and Go travel version, not the full board game.
If you don't want batteries, make sure you are buying the board game and not Electronic Battleship.

We link to one Amazon.in listing that we've checked against the maker's own information. We don't show prices: Amazon shows today's price, the seller and delivery. Paid link. We may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.

What reviewers and players say

Battleship is the two-player guessing game most families already know, and reviewers still enjoy its simple rules, quick 20- to 30-minute games and the suspense of every called shot. Parents and teachers like that it teaches grid references and honest scorekeeping. The common criticism is that much of it is guesswork, especially at the start, so it offers little depth for adults, and it only works for two. The Salvo rules printed on the Indian box make it faster and a little more tactical for older children.

What people love

The rules take minutes to learn and a game lasts 20 to 30 minutes
Children practise letter-and-number grid references and learn to call hits and misses honestly
Every shot carries suspense, and the first hit on a hidden ship is a real thrill
The fold-up battle cases store the ships and pegs, so it packs away neatly

Common complaints

Much of the game is guessing, so luck often decides who finds the ships first
Strictly for two players
In the Salvo variant the player who gets ahead can pull away, so some endings are one-sided

Based on 6 reviews and discussions

Review Battleship Board Game Review (Eric Mortensen, June 2022) · Geeky Hobbies
Review Battleship review (David Ireland, April 2025) · Zatu Games blog
Review Battleship Review (WGTP, September 2023) · What's Good to Play (UK)
Players How can I teach kids how to play Battleship? (December 2011) · Board & Card Games Stack Exchange
Award Battleship (inducted 2025) · The Strong National Museum of Play
Reference Battleship (game) · Wikipedia

Summarised in our own words from the sources above. We don't use Amazon reviews or ratings.

More like Battleship

Our picks if Battleship isn't quite right

Feature	Battleship	Guess Who?	Mastermind	Connect 4
Players	2	2	2	2
Best with	2	2	2	2
Play time	20–30 min	10–20 min	10–30 min	5–15 min
Age	7+	6+	8+	6+
Rules	Easy	Easy	Easy	Easy
Indian edition	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Why look at it	This page	Another two-player guessing classic, simpler for 6-year-olds	Two-player deduction: crack a hidden colour code from clues	A quicker two-player Hasbro classic made in India

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Questions people ask about Battleship

How many ships are there in Battleship?

Each player has five ships. In the India-made box they are a carrier (5 holes), a battleship (4), a cruiser (3), a submarine (3) and a destroyer (2); some international boxes call the last two a destroyer and a patrol boat. The box has ten ships in all, one fleet per player. Ships go across or up and down, never diagonally.

What is the Salvo rule in Battleship?

Salvo is a variant in Hasbro's rules for experienced players. Instead of one shot per turn, you fire one shot for each of your ships still afloat, so you start with five and lose one for every ship that is sunk. It makes the game faster and more tactical.

Can you play Battleship on paper?

Yes. Battleship began as a pencil-and-paper game around the First World War, and you can still draw two 10 x 10 grids for each player. The boxed game saves the drawing, hides each fleet behind a lid and marks shots with pegs, which is easier for children.

Should I buy the classic or the electronic Battleship?

For most families the classic board game is the better buy: it is made in India, needs no batteries and costs less. Electronic Battleship adds sounds and lights, but it is an imported set.

Game facts

Publisher: Hasbro (Milton Bradley's plastic board version, 1967)
In India: Hasbro India Toys Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai (marketer); made for it by Funskool (India) Ltd., Chennai
First published: 1967
Players: 2
Barcode: 630509889150
Language: Little reading – You call out grid positions such as 'D-4' and answer 'hit' or 'miss', so players need the letters A to J and numbers 1 to 10. Ship names are in English but can be said in any language. The rules leaflet is in English.
Box size and weight: 38 × 26 × 7 cm, 1.07 kg
Awards: National Toy Hall of Fame (The Strong National Museum of Play), 2025 (Inducted)

Sources & photo creditsThe references behind this guide.

Facts on this page come from the publisher, the Indian maker or distributor, and the sources below. Photos are credited under each one.