Electronic Battleship (1977)

About this game

The same game as "classic" Battleship, but instead of your opponent telling you whether you have hit or missed, you enter the coordinates for your shot into the computer and it either flashes a red light and makes an explosion sound if you hit or a whistling sound if you missed. Later versions added a "code book" with 100+ different ship layouts to speed up the initial setup of the game (in the original version you had to program in the coordinates for all of your ships manually).

Does it fit your group?

• Group size. Strictly 2 players — no more, no fewer.
• Rules load. At 1.2/5 this is a light game — explain it in a few minutes, good for a table that has not played much.
• Age. The publisher suggests 8 and up. That rates the rules rather than the artwork, so judge the box yourself for younger players.