How to Play Battleship on iPhone? (and Tips to Win with)

You can play Battleship against an opponent on iPhone by using GamePigeon over iMessage.

Younger me loved to play board games. I’d play Battleship with friends and anyone else who was willing. I’m not bragging, but I think I was a challenge to play against. If you’re looking for a (self-acclaimed) expert to tell you everything you need to know about the game, I’m your guy.

So, your question is: how to play Battleship on iPhone? Don’t you worry, I’ll show you how to sink your enemy’s ships without cheats. Let’s get into the sweet, fun rules of the game, plus some tips and tricks.

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How can I play GamePigeon Battleship on my Apple iPhone?

To play Battleship with a friend on your iPhone, iMessage fortunately makes things simple. What you need to do is download an iMessage app called GamePigeon. It has multiple games included.

Let me run you through the steps quickly.

1. Open up iMessage.
2. Above the keyboard, there should an App Store icon in the little banner. Tap on that.
3. From the App Store, search for the GamePigeon app.
4. When you find it, install it. Once it has finished with this, go back to iMessage.
5. Go to your iMessage to find the friend you want to play the GamePigeon Battleship game with. In the same banner above the keyboard, there should now be a GamePigeon app icon. Tap on that.
6. The space where your keyboard was will be taken over by the games you can choose from. You’ll see “Sea Battle” among other games, so click on that.

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Why is Battleship called Sea Battle on GamePigeon?

Battleship is a trademarked term belonging to Hasbro. To stay out of legal trouble, they opted for the generic name “Sea Battle” for this iMessage game.

Don’t be surprised if you see more Sea Battle games out there. This way, it gets the message across and keeps the company making the game safe.

How do you play the game Battleship?

To make everything else in this article as relevant as possible, step 1 will describe how to play.

The goal of this game is to sink all five of your opponent’s ships before they sink all five of yours.

Players have two 10 x 10 grids, a horizontally-oriented grid where you place your ships, and another which is vertically oriented, doubling as a barrier so that each player cannot see the opponent’s ships. On iPhone or Android, the other player cannot see your screen, so that secondary function isn’t needed.

Before the gameplay starts, each player needs to place their ships on the bottom grid without the opponent seeing them. Ships cannot overlap and must be either horizontal or vertical, never diagonal. No part of the ship can hang off the board. GamePigeon Battleship won’t even let you place it in an invalid position on the board in the first place.

When both players have done this, the classic game can begin.

You take turns calling out specific coordinates on the 10 x 10 board, designated by a number (1 to 10) and a letter (A to J).

If the coordinate called doesn’t hold a ship on your grid, you say “miss” and place a white peg in that water. If there is a ship in that space, you say “hit” and place a red peg on that spot on your ship. The iMessage version of the game, or other Battleship apps, will automatically mark misses and hits, without the other person needing to say or do anything.

For each move you make, place a white or red peg in the upper grid to keep track of an object that you have hit.

If your enemy successfully hits all the spots that a single ship occupies, you say “hit and sunk” to let them know they have successfully taken one battleship down.

This goes on, turn by turn, until either all of yours or the enemy’s ships have been sunk. At that point, the player who took down the ships is declared the winner.

And that’s it! Once you give the game a shot, most people get the hang of it. Experience makes you better.

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What kinds of ships are there in Battleship?

Each player has five ships, with varying lengths, in a game of GamePigeon Battleship.

The Aircraft Carrier is the largest of the ships, with a length of five spaces. The battleship comes up next, measuring four spaces. The submarine and cruiser are the only two battleships that share the same length, at three spaces. The destroyer is more difficult to get rid of, as it takes up only two spaces.

What is the best strategy for Battleship?

Ah, yes. The part of the article that teaches you how to absolutely dominate against your friends in Sea Battle or Battleship apps. I don’t have cheats for these apps – that’s not how to become better.

None of these tips or tricks will make you unbeatable at this game, but they certainly give you the upper hand when players hit you up on iMessage thinking they’ll beat you.

There are some advanced sea battle tricks that you can look at, but I won’t be covering those here. It’s a lot of effort to put into an iMessage game. Instead, I’ll include a link if you want to read more about it.

To Touch, or Not to Touch?

Some say you should not have two battleships touching in your fleet, but it might be an incredible fake-out. I personally don’t place a ship perpendicular to another one, but when it comes to placing ships end-to-end with each other, it can help throw off your opponent. It can easily go wrong too. Try to stay near the edges of the board when using tricks like this wild card.

Hunt and Target

This is effective for all players to use. For example, let’s say you have a few shots into the water but finally get a hit on J5. The rest of the ship will be in one of the four squares around that one. You’ve successfully hunted, so it is then time to target, by shooting the squares around. With the second successful hit, just draw in a straight line to destroy the rest of the ship.

The Checkerboard Method

The smallest ship is two squares long. Imagine the board as a checkerboard, comprised of black and white squares. Each ship must touch at least one black (or white) square. If you choose to target only imaginary black places on the board, you will have half as many spots to shoot. Once you get a hit, go straight to the ‘target’ way of playing.

Avoid Patterns, but Avoid Randomness

Avoid placing ships in patterns on the board, such as all ships on the edges, or all ships vertical. At the same time, when making guesses, avoid a completely random search all over the board. Use the hunt and target method mixed with the checkerboard strategy.

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In Conclusion

You and other players will have a great time playing Battleship on iMessage when you download the GamePigeon app. It is the simplest way to play with your friends on an iPad or iPhone.

To give the other players a challenge each time, take note of some of the basic strategies and tips that can make you a star at this iMessage game.