How to Play Battleship Online With a Friend

Battleship is one of the oldest naval strategy games around, and this version brings it straight into your browser. No download, no app store, no sign up. Just open the page, place your fleet, and start firing. Here is everything you need to know to play, plus how to set up a match with a friend in real time.

What Is Battleship?

Each player has a 10 by 10 grid and a fleet of five ships: a five square Carrier, a four square Battleship, a three square Cruiser, a three square Submarine, and a two square Destroyer. You place your fleet in secret, then take turns calling out shots on your opponent's grid. Every shot is either a hit or a miss. The first commander to sink all five enemy ships wins the battle.

Setting Up Your Fleet

Before the shooting starts, you place all five ships anywhere on your own grid. Pick a ship from the list, then tap your grid to drop it in place, horizontally or vertically. Spread your ships out and avoid obvious patterns. A fleet bunched together in one corner gives your opponent a much easier time finding it once they land a hit nearby.

How Turns Work

Once both fleets are placed, the game moves into real time turns. On your turn, tap a square on the enemy grid labeled Enemy Waters to fire. A hit lights up red and you go again. A miss ends your turn and passes control to your opponent. When every square of a ship has been hit, that ship sinks. Keep firing near a confirmed hit rather than jumping around the board at random, since a hit almost always means the rest of that ship is right next to it.

How to Play Battleship With a Friend Online

This is where the game really comes alive. To start a match with a friend, open Battleship, choose Create a Room, and you will get a short six letter room code. Send that code to your friend however you normally chat, text, Discord, or email. They enter the code under Join a Room on their own device, and the match begins instantly. You each place your fleet in private, then fire at each other in real time, with every shot updating live on both screens. It works the same way on a phone, a tablet, or a computer, so it does not matter what your friend is playing on.

There is nothing to install and no account to create. As soon as both players have joined the room and placed their ships, the battle starts automatically.

Practicing Solo Against the Computer

If you want to warm up before challenging a friend, or you just prefer playing solo, Battleship includes a computer opponent with three difficulty levels. Easy fires at random, which is a relaxed way to learn the grid. Normal actively hunts down your ships once it lands a hit nearby, giving you a fairer fight. Hard searches the board efficiently and punishes sloppy fleet placement, so it is the best mode for testing whether your ship arrangement actually holds up.

Quick Tips to Win More Battles

Spread your fleet across the whole grid instead of clustering ships together, since one lucky hit should not lead your opponent straight to a second ship. Avoid placing every ship along the edges or in a straight diagonal line, both of which are common patterns experienced opponents will check first. When you land a hit, focus your next few shots on the squares directly around it before moving on, since ships occupy a straight line of connected squares. Finally, keep track of your own misses on the enemy grid, so you are not wasting shots retracing squares you have already tried.

Whether you want a quick solo match against the computer or a live battle with a friend across town, Battleship is free to play right now in your browser. Create a room, share the code, and see who sinks the other's fleet first.