Play Naval Grid strategy game free in your browser. Find and sink the enemy's hidden ships. No download required.
Each player places a fleet of ships on a private grid, positioning them horizontally or vertically without overlap. Players then take turns calling out grid coordinates to attack the opponent's hidden grid. A hit is confirmed when a ship occupies that cell. A ship sinks when all of its cells have been hit. Sink the entire enemy fleet before your own fleet is sunk to win.
An optimal opening strategy is the checkerboard pattern: target alternating cells across the grid. Since the smallest ship spans two cells, this approach guarantees locating every ship with at most half the total cell count as guesses. When you score a hit, switch to hunt mode: probe adjacent cells to determine the ship's orientation, then continue in that direction until the ship sinks. After sinking, return to the checkerboard pattern to continue the search.
Naval Grid began as a pencil-and-paper game played with graph paper, documented in its approximate modern form since at least the 1930s in the United States and United Kingdom. A physical plastic version with grid boards and red and white pegs was released in 1967, which became a household name in North American and British families. The 1967 game format remained largely unchanged through decades of rereleases and remains one of the best-selling two-player games in English-speaking markets.
This board is a 10 by 10 grid hiding five ships of lengths 5, 4, 3, 3, and 2, totaling 17 occupied cells out of 100. Because the smallest ship spans two cells, you never need to fire at every square: a parity or checkerboard pattern, hitting only cells where the row plus column is even, still touches every two-cell ship while halving the squares you must search. Beyond parity, think in terms of where long ships can still fit. After several misses, mentally rule out any stretch too short to hold the largest unsunk ship, and concentrate guesses in open regions where a length-5 or length-4 vessel could still lie. This density-based targeting finds the big ships faster than random firing, and since the ships-left counter tells you what remains afloat, you can focus parity scanning on the lengths still in play.
The instant you score a hit, switch from scanning to a focused hunt. Fire at the four orthogonal neighbors of the hit cell to find a second hit, which reveals the ship's orientation. Once two hits line up horizontally or vertically, keep firing along that axis until you either sink the ship or hit water, then check the opposite end, because a ship can extend either direction from your first contact. Knowing the fleet contains a 5, a 4, two 3s, and a 2 helps you stop hunting once a line reaches a length no remaining ship could match. After a sink, the ships-left counter drops; immediately return to parity scanning for the next target rather than firing aimlessly around the wreck you just cleared.
The board is a 10 by 10 grid, and your enemy hides five ships of lengths 5, 4, 3, 3, and 2, occupying 17 of the 100 cells. Sink all five before your own fleet is destroyed to win the round.
Fire on a checkerboard parity pattern, targeting only cells where row plus column is even. Since the shortest ship is two cells long, this guarantees you touch every ship while firing at just half the squares, roughly 50 shots instead of 100 in the worst case.
Stop scanning and hunt. Fire at the four cells directly above, below, left, and right of the hit to find the ship's direction. Once two hits align, keep firing along that line until the ship sinks, then check the opposite end too.
Watch the ships-left counter, which tracks how many enemy ships remain afloat. When it drops after your hits, the ship you were attacking is sunk. Then return to your parity scan to locate the next target rather than firing near the wreck.
Ships are placed without overlapping each other, and each sits horizontally or vertically. Because they may sit adjacent, a line of hits could actually be two separate ships; the ships-left counter and ship lengths help you tell when one ends and another begins.