Objective of Battleship Royale
The objective of Battleship Royale is to be the last player/commander with one or more ships remaining.
Setup for Battleship Royale
Unsnap the grid from the storage tray.
Snap the four storage trays together at the corners. Position the two trays with dividers across from one another.
Line up the grid with the grooves in the storage trays. Snap the grid into place.
Separate the pegs by their colors. Place the orange pegs in the two storage trays without dividers. Place some green and red pegs in the two storage trays with dividers.
Each player takes a Command Center
There are two different gameplay modes in Battleship Royale. You should decide whether you want to play the Standard or Advanced game. While the two modes are similar, the rules do differ in some ways.
Setup for Standard Mode
- Shuffle the blue Standard Mode cards. Return the red cards to the box.
- Deal cards face down to each player. The number of cards you will deal each player depends on the number of players.
- 2-4 players: 5 Ship cards
- 5-6 players: 4 Ship cards
- Look at your cards. Choose two of the cards to discard.
- Each player places their remaining Ship cards into their Command Center. For 2-4 player games you should have three cards. For 5-6 player games you should have two cards.
- The youngest player starts the game.
Playing Battleship Royale Standard Mode
Taking Shots
You will begin your turn rolling the die. The number you roll on the die determines how many shots you will make on your turn.
You may shoot at any coordinates on the grid as long as no one has already shot at that location. The coordinates you pick do not need to be next to one another.
Determining Hits and Misses
When you call out the coordinates that you are shooting at, you will call them out one at a time. Once you call out a coordinate, you will wait for all of the other players to consult their Ship cards. Each player looks at their Ship cards to see if the coordinate is on one of them.
If the coordinate is listed on one of the player’s cards, they will call out hit. You will place a red Hit peg on the coordinate that you chose.
The player whose ship was hit takes a orange Sunk peg. They will place it under the corresponding coordinate on the Ship card.
If none of the players have the coordinate on one of their cards, your shot missed. You will place a green Miss peg on the coordinate that you chose.
You will then call out your next chosen coordinate. This continues until you have called a number of coordinates equal to the number you rolled on the die. You will end your turn by passing the die to the player on your left.
Sinking a Ship
Once a player places a orange Sunk peg underneath all of the coordinates on a Ship card, that ship has been sunk. You will tell the other players that your ship is sunk.
Place a Sunk peg on top of each of the Hit pegs that correspond to the sunk ship.
Hand the Ship card to the player who called out the last shot that sunk the ship. The player will place the card face up in front of them.
Due to sinking a ship you get to take a bonus shot. You can take the bonus shot on your current turn by calling an additional coordinate. Otherwise you can wait to take the extra shot on another turn. When you take the bonus shot you will flip the Ship card that you sunk over to the other side.
Winning Battleship Royale Standard Mode
Players will take turns rolling the die and calling out shots.
Once a player’s last Ship card is sunk, they are eliminated from the game.
The game ends when all but one player are eliminated from the game. The last remaining player wins Battleship Royale.
Setup for Battleship Royale Advanced Mode
- Shuffle the red Advanced Mode cards. Return the blue cards to the box.
- Separate the Ship cards from the Submarine cards. Each player takes a Submarine card.
- Shuffle the rest of the cards and deal them out facedown to the players based on the number of players.
- 2-4 players – 4 Ship cards
- 5-6 players – 3 Ship cards
- Look at your cards. Choose two to discard. You cannot discard the Submarine card.
- Place the Ship cards you kept in your Command Center. In 2-4 player games you should have two Ship cards and one Submarine card. In 5-6 player games you should have one Ship card and one Submarine card.
Playing Battleship Royale Advanced Mode
The Advanced Mode of Battleship Royale is similar to the Standard Mode, but there are a couple differences.
Sonar Search
To begin your turn you can decide to use sonar. You can only use your sonar once during the game. If your Submarine is sunk before you can use your sonar, you lose the ability for the rest of the game.
When you choose to use sonar you will pick a row (letter) or column (number). You will tell the other players what row/column you choose. All of the players (including yourself) look at their Ship and Submarine cards to see if at least one of the cards have a coordinate that is in the row/column that you chose. Any player who has a ship or submarine in the row/column has to say “Ping!”. This includes the player who chose to use sonar. The player(s) don’t have to say the location or ship/submarine that the sonar hit.
If one or more players say ping!, take a Hit peg (red) and place it in the first spot in the row/column that you used the sonar on. This indicates to all of the players that at least one ship/submarine is located in that row/column. If no one says Ping! place a green Miss peg in the row/column.
Taking Your Shots
After you have used Sonar or chosen not to use it, you will roll the die. The number you roll on the die determines how many shots you will take on your turn.
Unlike the Standard Mode, you must call out all of the coordinates for your shots at the same time. Your shots do not need to be next to one another. You cannot shoot at a location that another player has already shot at though.
Determining Hits and Misses
After you have said all of the coordinates that you have shot at, the players will look at their Ship and Submarine cards. If any of their ships/submarines are hit, they will say which coordinates were hits.
Place pegs in each coordinate you chose based on if they were hits or misses.
- Place red Hit pegs on coordinates with a hit.
- Place green Miss pegs on coordinates with a miss.
The Advanced Mode does add one twist to the Standard Mode. Since there are submarines and ships, a ship and submarine could occupy the same space. When you call out a location, the shot will hit both a ship and submarine if both occupy the space. To indicate this on the grid, place two red Hit pegs on the space.
The other players will place orange Sunk pegs in the corresponding spots on their Ship/Submarine cards corresponding to the coordinates that were hits.
After all of the coordinates you called out are handled, your turn ends. Pass the die to the player on your left who takes the next turn.
Sinking a Ship and/or Submarine
You will mostly handle sinking Ships and Submarines in the same way as the Standard Game.
Once all of the coordinates of a ship/submarine have been hit, the corresponding ship/submarine is sunk. The player that controls the sunk card tells the other players. They will give the corresponding card to the player that sunk it.
Look at the card you just sunk. If you sunk a Ship card, you will receive bonus shots. The number of bonus shots you will take is equal to the number printed on the card. You can either take these shots right away, or you can use them on a future turn. When you choose to use the bonus shots, you must call out all of the coordinates at the same time. You will turn over the card when you choose to use the bonus shots.
Sinking a Submarine card gives you a bonus sonar action. You can choose to either use the ability right away or use it on a future turn. You will use the sonar ability in the same way as detailed above. The sonar ability must be used immediately or at the start of future turn. When you use the sonar ability, turn the Submarine card over to the other side.
Overlapping Ships/Submarines
Since a ship and a submarine can overlap the same space(s), there could be situations where the ship or submarine is sunk before the other one.
In this case do not put orange Sunk pegs on spaces shared between the two ships. This is done so the players know that there is still a ship or submarine in that location that hasn’t sunk yet.
Winning Battleship Royale Advanced Mode
Players will keep taking turns calling out shots.
When all of a player’s ships and submarine are sunk, they are eliminated from the game.
The game continues until only one player is still in the game. The last remaining player with a ship(s)/submarine left wins the game.
Battleship Royale FAQs
If you have any questions about how to play Battleship Royale, leave a comment below on this post. I will try to answer any questions asked as best and as quickly as possible.
Battleship Royale Components
- Battle Grid
- 4 Storage Trays
- 30 Standard Mode Cards
- 30 Advanced Modes Cards
- 60 Hit Pegs
- 60 Miss Pegs
- 50 Sunk Pegs
- 5 Command Centers
- Die (two 1’s, two 2’s, two 3’s)
- Instructions
Year: 2023 | Publisher: Hasbro
Genres: Deduction, Family, Wargame
Ages: 8+ | Number of Players: 2-6 | Length of Game: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: Moderate-High
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