How do I play Battleship puzzle?

Tap a cell to cycle between empty, ship (filled), and water (dot). Use the row and column numbers to work out which cells must be ships. Place all ships from the fleet list. Ships are straight (horizontal or vertical) and cannot touch each other, even diagonally.

What is the best strategy?

Start with rows or columns that show 0 — mark every cell as water. Then look for rows/columns whose count equals the number of remaining unmarked cells — fill them all as ship. Use the fleet list to reason about where large ships can fit. Mark water around confirmed ship segments to eliminate adjacent cells.

Can puzzles be solved without guessing?

Yes. Every puzzle on this site has a unique solution and can be solved through pure logical deduction.

What grid sizes are available?

This version offers 6×6, 8×8, and 10×10 grids. Each has Easy, Medium, and Hard difficulty levels that vary the number of pre-revealed cells.

Play Battleship Puzzle Online

Q: What is the Battleship logic puzzle?

Battleship Solitaire (also called Bimaru or Battleship Puzzle) is a logic puzzle where you must find hidden ships on a grid. Numbers along each row and column tell you how many cells contain ship segments. Ships cannot touch one another, not even diagonally. Some cells may be pre-revealed as water or ship parts.

Use row and column counts to locate a hidden fleet of ships. Ships can’t touch — not even diagonally. Pure logic, no guessing.

Time

0:00

Ships Left

Wins

Unknown Ship Water

Tap cells to place ships or water

What Is the Battleship Logic Puzzle?

Battleship Solitaire (also known as Bimaru, Battleship Puzzle, or Solitaire Battleships) is a single-player logic puzzle inspired by the classic two-player guessing game. It first appeared in the Argentine puzzle magazine Humor & Juegos in 1982 and was later popularised internationally by puzzle competitions and Nikoli-style puzzle books.

You are given a grid with numbers along each row and column. Each number tells you how many cells in that row or column contain part of a ship. A fleet of ships of known sizes must be placed on the grid following these rules:

Ships are straight (horizontal or vertical) and occupy consecutive cells.
Ships cannot touch each other — not even diagonally.
Some cells may be pre-revealed as water or ship segments to get you started.
The row and column counts must match exactly when all ships are placed.

How to Play

Choose a grid size and difficulty. 6×6 Easy is great for beginners. 10×10 Hard provides a serious challenge.
Read the clue numbers along rows (left side) and columns (top). They tell you how many ship cells belong in each line.
Tap a cell to cycle: empty → ship (filled) → water (dot) → empty. On desktop, left-click does the same.
Use the fleet list to track which ships still need placing. Ships turn grey once you’ve placed enough segments for them.
Mark water around confirmed ships — no ship can be adjacent (including diagonals), so those cells are safe to eliminate.
Check your work with the Check button. The puzzle auto-detects a correct solution too.

Strategy Tips

1. Start With Zeroes

Any row or column with a count of 0 is entirely water. Mark every cell in that line as water immediately — this often reveals constraints for neighbouring lines.

2. Full Rows and Columns

If a line’s count equals the number of unmarked cells in it, every remaining cell must be a ship. Fill them all in.

3. Place the Biggest Ship First

The largest ship is the hardest to fit. Look for rows or columns with high counts and see if the big ship can only go in one place. Eliminating possibilities for large ships cascades constraints to smaller ones.

4. Use Diagonal Exclusion

As soon as you confirm a ship cell, mark all diagonal neighbours as water. Ships never touch diagonally, so those cells are guaranteed empty. This is the single most powerful deduction technique.

5. Count Remaining Ship Cells

Keep a mental count of how many ship cells each row/column still needs. When a line reaches its count, mark all remaining cells as water.

Battleship Puzzle vs Other Games

vs Classic Battleship: The two-player game is about guessing; the puzzle is pure logic. You always have enough information to deduce the solution.
vs Minesweeper: Both use number clues on a grid, but Minesweeper involves risk and sometimes guessing. Battleship Puzzle is always solvable logically.
vs Nonograms: Both reveal hidden patterns from line clues. Nonograms give ordered run-lengths; Battleship gives total counts plus ship shape constraints.

History

The puzzle format was invented in Argentina and published in Humor & Juegos in 1982. It gained global exposure through the World Puzzle Championship, where it has been a recurring favourite since the competition’s inception in 1992. Today it appears in puzzle magazines worldwide and numerous puzzle apps.

Frequently Asked Questions

It’s a single-player deduction puzzle. You place a fleet of ships on a grid using row and column counts as clues. Ships are straight and cannot touch each other, even diagonally.

Tap cells to mark them as ship or water. Match the row/column counts, place the entire fleet, and ensure no two ships touch (even diagonally).

Start with rows/columns showing 0 (all water). Then fill lines whose count equals remaining cells. Place the largest ship first. Mark diagonals as water around every confirmed ship cell.

Yes. Every puzzle here has exactly one solution reachable by pure logic.

6×6, 8×8, and 10×10. Each has Easy, Medium, and Hard difficulty levels.

More Puzzle & Strategy Games

If you enjoy Battleship Puzzle, try these other free games on our site:

Minesweeper

Classic mine-finding puzzle — use numbers to deduce safe cells.

Nonograms

Fill a grid using row-and-column clues — also known as Picross or Griddlers.