Battleships (BrainBashers)

About Battleships (BrainBashers)

This is the pencil-and-paper puzzle sometimes called Bimaru, not the two-player guessing game. Above the grid the site shows the fleet you must find, from single-square boats up to long battleships. The numbers beside each row and column give how many ship segments it contains, and some squares are revealed at the start: a piece of water, a ship's end, a middle section or a whole small boat. Ships lie horizontally or vertically, and no two ships may touch, not even diagonally.

Kevin Stone's BrainBashers posts five puzzles, labelled A to E, at each of five sizes every day: 6x6, 7x7, 8x8, 10x10 and 12x12, with a 15x15 weekly special. The play page has check, answer, auto, print and restart buttons, options to show the remaining count in each line and to highlight finished clues, and an optional clock. The help page walks through a solve.

The puzzles change at midnight GMT or at your chosen time zone, and earlier days stay in the date list for a few weeks. No adverts, no account.

With twenty-five puzzles a day it suits players who want plenty to get through, from a quick 6x6 to a careful 12x12.

How to play Battleships (BrainBashers)

1. Open the Daily Battleships page and pick a size and one of puzzles A to E.
2. Look at the fleet shown above the grid and the given pieces in the grid.
3. Click squares to mark ship segments or water, matching the count beside every row and column.
4. Place every ship horizontally or vertically, with water all around it, so no two ships touch.
5. Check your grid or reveal the answer; new puzzles appear after midnight GMT.

Tips

• Fill rows and columns with a 0 with water straight away.
• Every square diagonally next to a ship segment is water.
• Place the longest ship first: there are usually only a few lines with room for it.
• A revealed ship end tells you the direction the rest of the ship runs.

Questions