When Was Battleship Invented? A Short History
Battleship is older than the plastic board game most people picture. It started as a pencil-and-paper game roughly a century ago, was first sold commercially in 1931, and became the pegboard game from Milton Bradley in 1967.
The short answer
| Played on paper | Since around World War I |
|---|---|
| First sold commercially | 1931, as Salvo |
| Milton Bradley board game | 1967 |
| Electronic Battleship | 1977 |
| Feature film | 2012 |
A pencil-and-paper game
Nobody can point to a single inventor. Battleship grew out of pencil-and-paper games that were being played around the time of the First World War, and different accounts credit French and Russian players with early versions. All it needed was two sheets of squared paper and two people willing to be honest about their answers.
1931: the first version in stores
The first commercial edition is generally given as Salvo, published in the United States by the Starex Novelty Company in 1931. It was still a paper game: a pad of printed grids. Through the 1930s and 1940s other publishers sold their own pads under different names, including Milton Bradley’s Broadsides.
1967: the board game
In 1967 Milton Bradley released Battleship as a board game with plastic ships, a folding case for each player, and red and white pegs to mark hits and misses. That edition set the look of the game for the next half-century, and its television commercials made “You sank my battleship!” a household phrase in the United States.
1977 onward: electronics and computers
Electronic Battleship arrived in 1977 and added lights and sound effects, with players keying in coordinates. A talking version followed in 1989. Battleship was also among the early games adapted for home computers at the end of the 1970s, and it has been ported to nearly every platform since.
Hasbro acquired Milton Bradley in 1984 and has published the game ever since. Later editions renamed some of the ships, and spin-offs have added card games, travel versions and themed sets.
2012: the movie
Universal released a science-fiction film called Battleship in 2012, loosely inspired by the board game. It has little in common with the game beyond the title, though one scene has the crew tracking enemy positions on a grid.
Online play
The game suits the web well: turns are short, the rules take a minute to learn, and a computer can keep both players honest. Today you can play a friend through a shared link or get matched with a stranger without installing anything.
Common questions
When was the game Battleship invented?
Battleship began as a pencil-and-paper game around the time of World War I. The first commercial version, Salvo, was published in 1931, and Milton Bradley released the familiar plastic board game in 1967.
Who invented Battleship?
No single inventor is known. It developed from pencil-and-paper games played in the early 1900s. Starex published the first commercial edition in 1931, and Milton Bradley created the plastic board game in 1967.
When did the Battleship board game come out?
Milton Bradley released the plastic pegboard version in 1967. Paper versions had been sold since 1931.
Is the Battleship movie based on the board game?
Yes, loosely. The 2012 film takes its name and a grid-targeting scene from the game, but tells its own science-fiction story.