Printable Battleship Game Board

This printable Battleship game is tons of fun to play. All you need is a pencil and paper for the perfect road trip game!

The classic game battleship was originally a paper and pen game known as “Broadsides” played by sailors during their downtime at sea. It was later adapted to a board game in 1967 that became popular with children and adults alike! Battleship is a two-player game where each player places their fleet of ships on a grid and tries to guess the location of the opponent’s battleships in order to sink them. The simple setup of this paper board game makes it a timeless classic for families that would be perfect for a road trip or to play while waiting.

How To Play Paper Battleship Game:

Each player draws two of their own game boards. These are simply two 10×10 grids on a piece of paper. One is for placing your own ships and the other to track your opponent’s ships. Secretly place your ships on your own grid. Your fleet of ships includes:

(1) aircraft carrier which takes up 5 spaces
(1) battleship takes up 4 spaces
(1) cruiser uses three spaces
(1) submarine uses 3 spaces
(1) One destroyer uses two spaces

Printable Battleship game board - free worksheets from Brooklyn Berry Designs

The first player calls out a location on their opponent’s grid, guessing a location that would hit one of their opponent’s battleships.

For example, a player might say “B-4” to target the square at the intersection of the fourth row and second column of their opponent’s grid.
If the targeted square contains part of an opponent’s ship, the opponent must say “hit”. The attacking player then marks the hit on their tracking grid with an X to indicate that the square contains part of an opponent’s ship.
If the targeted square does not contain any part of an opponent’s ship, the opponent must say “miss”. The attacking player then marks the miss on their tracking grid with an O or other symbol to indicate that the square is empty.
Once a player has hit every square of one of their opponent’s ships, the opponent must say “sunk”. The attacking player then marks the ship as sunk on their tracking grid.
The game continues until one player has sunk all of their opponent’s ships. That player is declared the winner.

Printable Battleship Worksheets

If drawing your own board, an option is to use a notebook or file folder and tape one sheet to the top and one to the bottom.

A printable battleship template is available in my shop! It includes the printable battleship grid as well as a key showing the block sizes of each of the ships.