Electronic Battleship

Electronic Battleship is advanced but is based on the old reliable game whereby you have to sink your opponent’s battleships (all 5 of them). The electronic game-board admiral shouts ‘Man the battle stations’ and lights flash on and the sirens wail as you wait on the attack of your enemy's missiles. If you don’t have an opponent then you can play a game against the machine at three different skill level settings. It is also possible to vary the number of hits per turn and adapt the rules to suit the players.

Electronic Battleship requires 4 X AA batteries (I suggest rechargeable ones) which enables it to come to life with the electronics. You now have battle voice commands and a plethora of special effects plus new weapons in the upgraded board game. You can use radar and even a search plane to locater the enemy ship’s whereabouts before you launch an attack but the basic premise is exactly the same as the original board game. There are several themed Battleship editions and shown below is a Star Wars themed version of the game.

The two units fight against each in the classic Battleship game but there is no board to be set up and no small bits and pieces to fall on the floor. The hand held units are robust and you can sit comfortably in an armchair as you play against your opponent. The game is ideal for kids of all ages and can be set to suit the comprehension level of even young players. It works real well on long car journeys and keeps the kids amused for hours. The portability of Electronic Battleship is the big plus for me, as well as the children. 

Some families still prefer the old version of the game with all the pegs and the simplicity of play. I quite agree that part of the fun was in pegging the enemy and secreting your own ships and boats into the vast ocean playing surface. Changing the colored pegs when hit was just plain old good fun. The Electronic version has its merits too, especially the hand held which is ideal on a long or tedious journey.