Though there is a lot of luck involved in playing the Milton Bradley board game Battleship, there is also mathematic probability at play, the same as in any card game. But when you are killing time on a family road trip with your kid brother, that doesn’t really come into play considering how much easier it is to try and sneak glances at his tray when he’s not paying attention.
But for those curious and fanatical, a gentleman named C. Liam Brown has developed a Battleship probability calculator, and it is pretty fun to play around with even if you’re not playing Battleship at the moment. The tool updates the probability of a ship being on each square of the board as you play, and tells you the best move based on the likelihood that you will make a hit. For Battleship enthusiasts, if they exist, this could even be a method of studying the most likely placement of their boats and adjusting their strategy accordingly. From the looks of things, starting with your destroyer or submarine in one of the board’s four corners might be a good move.
Play with the Battleship probability calculator here.