Pencil and Paper Battleships – The Burns Family Edition

t was school holidays, and I wanted to spend some quality time with my daughters. I remembered how much fun I used to have playing Pencil and Paper Battleships with my brothers when we were kids. So, I went online to find a version of the game we used to play—but none of what I found matched my memories.

So I recreated the game from scratch, based on how we played it all those years ago. I put together a few game sheets, and to my delight, they were a big hit with my daughters.

To this day, I’m not sure whether my brothers and I invented these rules ourselves or adapted them from somewhere else. If any kind reader recognizes this version or knows where it might have originated, I’d love to hear from you.

Burns Family Rules for Battleship

Each player uses a game sheet with a grid labeled “Your Ships” and a corresponding “Opponent’s Ships” grid.

Unit Placement

Players begin by placing the following battle units on their “Your Ships” grid:

• Units can be rotated or flipped in any direction.

• Units must not be placed diagonally.

• There must be at least a one-square gap between all units—orthogonally and diagonally.

There are three types of units, each with placement rules:

These ships must be placed in ocean squares on the grid.

These air units can be placed on any squares on the grid.

These ground units must be placed on land squares on the grid.

Refer to the unit tally boxes on each particular map to see how many of each to place. Tick them off as you go.

Taking Turns

Once all units are placed, players take turns firing shots to locate and destroy the opponent’s units.

1. Standard Attack:

   • Announce a grid location (e.g., “B4”).

   • Your opponent replies with:

     • “Miss” – if there’s nothing there.

     • “Hit” – if part of a unit is located at that square.

   • Mark your “Opponent’s Ships” grid with:

     • A slash ( / ) for a miss.

     • A cross ( X ) for a hit.

   • When all squares of a unit are hit, your opponent must announce the unit’s name (e.g., “Cruiser destroyed”). Cross it off in the tally box.

2. Mega Bomb (Special Move):

   • Announce a target square.

   • The bomb hits that square plus all eight adjacent squares (the surrounding 3x3 area).

   • Your opponent announces:

     • Any hits, along with their locations.

     • Names of any destroyed units.

   • Record the use of a mega bomb by marking an ‘M’ in the tally box.

Winning the Game:

The first player to destroy all of their opponent’s units wins. names of any ‘Ships’ destroyed. Cross out an ‘M’ tally box each time you use a bomb.

Update:

Created new maps based on the feedback I received from those that downloaded and played them.

Update 2:

 I keep getting feedback that people  want quicker games so  I added some more small maps and re-did the letter code sizes.

Jagged Coast SS

  The maps go from small small to extra large 

Jagged Coast XL

Game Sheets 

• Jagged Coast Battle SS        18x7 
• Jagged Coast Battle S.         19x7
• Jagged Coast Battle MS.     18x8
• Jagged Coast Battle ML.    18x9
• Jagged Coast Battle L.     18x10
• Narrow Coast Battle S.    17x11
• Jagged Coast Battle LL.    20x10
• Narrow Coast Battle M.   17x12  - like the old map, but busier
  
• Jagged Coast Battle VL.     21x10
  
• Jagged Coast Battle XL.  22x10

Old Version 

• Small (17x12 Grid).    the most popular of the old maps
• Medium Small (18x14 Grid).  
• Medium (18x15 Grid)
• Large (18x18 Grid)