Fleet Hunt
Find and sink every ship before they find yours. Sink the whole fleet first.
Fleet Hunt is a two-player Battleship-style game in which each player hides a fleet of ships on a grid, then takes turns firing at squares of the other sea. A miss next to a ship gives a sonar clue. Sink every enemy ship first to win.
Hide your ships, then take turns firing at the other player's sea. A miss next to a ship pings with sonar rings, so every splash is a clue. Sink the whole fleet first to win.
Also known as Battleship-style, Sea battle.
- How you hold it
- Face-off
- Match
- Sink the whole fleet first
- Length
- About 3 to 5 minutes a round on the 8 × 8 sea
- Play
- Friend or bot
How to play Fleet Hunt: quick rules
About 3 to 5 minutes a round on the 8 × 8 sea. Full rules, options and bot levels are further down.
- 1Hide your fleet behind the cover while the other player looks away.
- 2Take turns firing at a square of the other sea.
- 3A miss with rings means a ship is right next to it.
- 4Sink every ship first to win.
Fleet Hunt rules
Fleets and placement
- Each player has their own 8 by 8 sea with 4 ships of 4, 3, 3 and 2 squares. The 10 by 10 sea has 5 ships of 5, 4, 3, 3 and 2.
- Ships are straight, across or down, stay fully inside the sea, never overlap and never touch another ship, not even at a corner.
- Your fleet starts placed at random. Drag a ship to move it, tap it twice or press Rotate to turn it, press Shuffle for a new random fleet, and press Ready to lock it in.
- With a friend, the round's starter hides their fleet first behind a hand-over cover, then the other player. The bot's fleet is placed at random.
Firing
- Take turns; the starter fires first. Each turn is one shot at a square of the other sea that hasn't been shot yet.
- Hit: a burst marks the square. When every square of a ship is hit, the ship surfaces on your chart and "Sunk!" stamps. When only one ship is left, it says "Last ship!" instead.
- Miss: a dot marks the square.
- Sonar (on by default): a miss with an unhit ship square in any of the eight squares around it shows rings, meaning a ship is near. The rings stay on the chart.
- Shots, hits, rings and sunk ships are seen by both players; ships that are still afloat stay hidden.
Winning
- Sink the other player's whole fleet to win the round. Turns are kept equal: if the starter sinks the last ship, the other player gets one last turn to finish too.
- If the second player finishes first, they win at once.
- At the end of a round both fleets are revealed. The loser of a round starts the next one; best of 3 needs 2 round wins.
- The first round of a new match starts with a coin toss, and a rematch starts with the player who lost.
Ties
- If both players sink the last ship on the same turn, the round is replayed with new fleets and the other player starts. A match never ends drawn.
Hints against the bot
- Playing the bot outside a tournament, on your firing turn you can spend 20 coins on a hint. It marks the square most likely to hold a ship, worked out only from what is on your chart, for two seconds. It never fires for you.
- One hint per turn, and none with a friend, online or in a tournament.
Extras
- Sonar pings
- On by default. A miss right next to a ship shows rings. Turn it off for the classic game with plain splashes.
- Hit again
- Off by default. A hit keeps your turn and you fire again until you miss.
- Depth charge
- Off by default. Once a round, arm it and your next shot hits a plus of five squares.
Tips to win at Fleet Hunt
- 1Search in a checkerboard pattern: every ship is at least 2 squares long, so it must cover one square of the pattern.
- 2Sonar rings mean a ship sits in one of the eight squares around that miss, so check those first.
- 3After a hit, finish the ship along a line before you search anywhere else.
- 4Ships can never touch, not even at a corner, so skip every square around a sunk ship.
Where Fleet Hunt comes from
Battleship-style games began as a pencil-and-paper game played on grids, and are thought to date back to the early 20th century, around the time of World War I. Board and electronic versions followed decades later.
Controls
Phone flat between you. Each player owns a half, and the far half faces the far player.
- Tap a square of the big chart, the other player's sea, to fire. Tapping a square already shot does nothing.
- Your own fleet and the other player's shots at it show in the small chart below.
- With a friend, the board turns to face whoever is firing, behind a hand-over cover: the next player taps I'm ready while the other looks away.
- Placing: press and drag a ship; a spot that breaks the rules outlines the ship and snaps it back.
Options
Every option is free. Defaults are marked.
| Option | Choices | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Sea | 8 × 8 (default)10 × 10 | 8 × 8 has 4 ships, 10 × 10 has 5. The 10 × 10 sea needs a phone the size of a Pixel 8 or larger; on smaller phones you play a 6 × 6 sea with 3 ships so the squares stay easy to tap. |
| Rounds | 1 (default)Best of 3 | |
| Sonar pings | On (default)Off | Extra: rings when a miss is next to a ship. |
| Hit again | OnOff (default) | Extra: a hit keeps your turn. |
| Depth charge | OnOff (default) | Extra: one five-square shot per round. |
Play Fleet Hunt against the bot
The bot plays Blue and reads only its own chart: its shots, hits, sonar rings and the ships it has sunk. It never sees your fleet. It never fires the same square twice, and it knows ships can't touch, so it skips the squares around a sunk ship.
Easy
Fires mostly at random and often forgets to follow up a hit.
Normal
Searches in a sensible pattern, checks the squares around sonar rings first and finishes ships off along a line, with the odd random shot.
Hard
Works out where the remaining ships could be from every clue on its chart and fires at the most likely square every time.
Online, tournaments and hints
- Online
- PlannedFleet Hunt is turn-based and online play for it is planned, but not available yet. Today you play a friend on one phone, with a hand-over cover, or the bot.
- Tournament
- Can be drawn in a tournamentIn a tournament it is one round on the 8 × 8 sea with Sonar pings on, Hit again and Depth charge off, and no hints.
- Hints
- Stuck against the bot? A hint lights up the strongest move for a few coins. Never with a friend, online or in a tournament.
Coming soon
- Online play. Play Fleet Hunt against a friend on another phone, with both fleets held on the server and a turn clock.
How it feels
- A soft thump on every shot, a clang and a burst on a hit, a splash on a miss.
- A sonar blip as rings pulse round a near miss.
- A bubbling rise and a horn as a sunk ship surfaces, and a drum roll for "Last ship!".
- A deep boom as a depth charge lands five marks at once.
Accessibility
- Hit, near miss, miss and sunk differ by shape, a star, rings, a dot and a hull, not only colour.
- Every square is labelled for a screen reader, like "C4, hit" or "D5, miss, ship near".
- Firing is a single tap; placing can be skipped entirely with Shuffle and Ready.
- With reduced motion on, marks appear without pops or pulses.
Fleet Hunt questions
Each player hides a fleet of ships on their own sea, then you take turns firing at one square of the other sea. Hit every square of a ship to sink it, and sink the whole fleet first to win.
Yes, it is a Battleship-style sea battle for two players. It adds sonar rings that show when a miss is right next to a ship; you can turn them off for the classic game.
Yes. A hand-over cover hides your fleet while the other player places theirs and between turns, and the board turns to face whoever is firing.
Yes. The bot plays on Easy, Normal or Hard and never sees your fleet; it only uses the clues on its own chart.
Search in a checkerboard pattern, follow up sonar rings and hits first, and skip the squares around a sunk ship, since ships can never touch.
Not yet. Fleet Hunt is turn-based and online play for it is planned, but not available yet. Today you play a friend on one phone, with a hand-over cover, or the bot.
Play Fleet Hunt on one phone
Free on Android. Sit face to face, or take on the bot on Easy, Normal or Hard.
