Electronic Battleship Rules

Electronic Battleship is a computerized version of the popular Milton Bradley game that involves two players guessing the locations of each others ships in order to make strategic attacks. The game utilizes four square grids that are identified by letters and numbers. On one grid, the player arranges their ships, and on another grid, the player tries to track the ships of the other player. With electronic battleship, many of the same rules apply as the original, but there are also three other types of games that can be played, as well as a chance to compete against the computer.

The contents of the game include the base unit, target grid divider, 168 white pegs, 84 red pegs, 10 plastic ships and the battery door. In the battery door is the battery holder, where four AA batteries must be inserted to play the game. The game is then first assembled by sliding the target grid divider in the middle of the game board base. The bag of ten plastic ships should include two of each ship, which are the carrier, battleship, submarine, destroyer and patrol boat. Each player then takes 84 white pegs and 42 red pegs.

The players must first decide who is Task Force One and who is Task Force Two. For the player who is Task Force One, it's his or her duty to press the "On" button on the side of the game board. You will hear a voice say, "Select Game." You must then press button one to select the first game. When you hear the game say "Select player," you must press the two button to select two players. You'll then hear, "Task Force One, enter your letter and number." Select a location pattern for your ship before strategically placing them on your grid for your ships. Enter the letter and number of your location and the press the "Enter" button. Your opponent will then be prompted to do the same.

The Task Force One player begins the game by picking a target hole to stick a white peg into on the target grid, which is located on the top right corner of the game board. The target is identified by a letter and a number. For example, D-2 is a target identification. This location is where you want to fire a missile to attack your opponent. To fire a missile, you must enter the letter and number of your target and then press the "Fire" button. You'll know that you hit your opponent's ship if you hear an explosion in the game. If you hear only the missile being fired off and no explosion, then you did not hit your opponent. The peg is left in the target grid to indicate an area that wasn't hit. After the hit or miss, it becomes the second player's turn.

The object of the game is to sink all of your opponent's ships. To do this, when you hit part of a ship you must replace the white peg with a red peg. Once the entire ship is filled with red pegs it will be sunk and the computer will announce that you sunk one of your opponent's ships. The player who sinks all five of the other player's ships first is the winner. The computer will announce the task force that has one, and the song "Taps" will play for the loser.

Game two is similar to game one, but in this version the player may continue shooting as many missiles until he or she misses. For example, if the Task Force One player makes a hit with the first target, she can continue playing. The second player will then have his or her turn once the first player has missed a target. For the game-three version, each player takes a turn for each ship that has not been sunk. An example is if the Task Force Two player has four ships that are not sunk, then he or she is allowed four turns at once. Game four is the most advanced version as it allows players to create their own firing rules and take turns any order that the players want to.