Battleshots

By: The Rulemaster

Battleshots is a popular drinking game based on the board game many of us played as children - Battleships. Similar to beer pong, Battleshots involves setting up shot glasses around a grid. If your opponent guesses their whereabouts correctly, you have to drink. These penalties can get you drunk pretty quickly.

What You Need

Battleshots board (you can purchase one online or make your own using wood or even old pizza boxes with gridlines drawn on.)
12+ shot glasses
Beer/liquor

Set Up

Sit opposite your opponent with a sturdy table in between you to hold the boards. Assemble your Battleshots boards with each player having their own board facing them. If you have the store-bought version of the game, remember to attach the privacy shield to your board and turn the coordinate map to face you. If you made your own board, have a piece of paper handy to write down any hits and misses.

Battleshots boards are typically labeled with coordinates to make it easier to find the location of your opponents guess. The vertical coordinates on the board should be labeled A through F. The horizontal coordinates on the board should be labeled 1 through 6. When your opponent calls out their guess, your board should be designed so that the top left corner space is A1.

Next, you'll want to arrange your shot glasses to resemble the boats used in the classic Battleships game. Shot glasses should be placed either vertically or horizontally on the board. Ships cannot be placed diagonally. In total, there should be six "battleships" composed of shot glasses. These include three shot glasses for the battleship, two shot glasses for the destroyer, and one shot glasses for the submarine. Finally, fill up the shot glasses with some alcohol.

Rules

A coin flip is done to see which player goes first. Player one begins by calling out the coordinates where they believe that their opponent has positioned one of their ships. For example, they may call out "A5". Each time you call out a guess, mark your coordinate map or paper. Make an "X" if you hit your target or an "O" if you miss your target.

If you hit a "ship" on the other opponent's board, they must drink the shot of the designated hit. For example, if you guess "A5", your opponent must drink the shot glass that sits on the A5 mark on their grid. If you guess and you miss (there is no shot glass in the space where you guessed), nothing happens and it's now your opponents turn to guess. Be sure to keep track of your hits and misses on the coordinate map or on a piece of paper to prevent you from guessing the same location twice.

The goal of Battleshots is to "sink" all of your opponents "ships". This requires the loser to have consumed all of the alcohol in all of the shot glasses on his or her board. Remember that your opponent must declare when a ship has been sunk to prevent you from having to continue guessing where else you should target. Whoever still has alcohol left on their board in the end is declared the winner.

If you wish to play again, simply reposition your "ships" on your board and refill your shot glasses. You can change up the game by choosing different length ships to create using shot glasses. You can also add in more than two players if you wish. Simply go around in a circle with each player trying to guess the ship coordinates of the player to their right.