Battleships - Hide and seek without the running around!! (Battleships)

Member Name: LAURALILIA

Product:	Battleships
Date:	25/01/09 (80 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Young and old can play - get children used to co-ordinates.

Disadvantages: None, apart from the endless search for the two peg boat!

Battleships Game

I have had a games afternoon with my daughter today - draughts, connect 4 and finally battleships. We hadn't played this game in ages and I had forgotten how simple and good it was.

***THE GAME***

The game is a tactical battle of hide and seek and each player has their own plastic battleships 'station'. Each player has five ships which they have to hide on the bottom square grid (10 squares by 10). The object of the game is to call out grid references, in an effort to find your opponent's ships, e.g. C2 and your opponent will call out if it is a 'hit'. If you are not successful and 'miss', then you record this with a white peg on the top grid. The first person to locate all the ships of their opponent is the winner!


***OPINION***

I like this game as it gives children the chance to get used to calling out co-ordinates, something that they need for maths. I also like the fact that both young and old can play the game and anyone could win. I try to confuse my opponent sometimes by pausing when checking the co-ordinates they have called out; in doing so they might think I had to look carefully because I had a boat near. They will then call out numbers in spaces nearby, when really my ships are far away. Sometimes I use this bluff and sometimes I don't! It is fun to play silly mind games, when playing the game in order to mislead your opponent.

The only drawback on my game is that the red and white pegs are fiddly and also get stuck down the back of the board. However, they may have corrected this design fault with the modern version- does anyone know?

It is also a good game because it only last about 20 minutes or so. It can get a bit frustrating towards the end if you cannot find the last boat - especially if it is a 2 peg boat! I think the recommended age is from around 7 years and up, but my children played it when they were younger.


***AVAILABILITY***

My game dates back to 1979, I am sure the modern version is more up to date. It is available on Amazon for £9.76 - a bargain. You could probably pick it up a bit cheaper on ebay. I know that some people like to play it on paper, but for under a tenner I think it is a good investment. After all, I still have my game from when I was a child!


***OVERALL***

Sometimes the old ones are the best - a game of hide and seek for grown-ups, without having to run round the house!

Summary: An excellent game which doesn't take forever to play and doesn't go out of fashion! So far!