Printable battleship solitaire puzzles, free with answers
Three real Shoal boards to print or solve on screen: a fleet is hiding in the grid, the numbers beside it say how many ship cells each row and column holds, and ships never touch, not even at the corners. Each board has exactly one answer, checked by two separate solvers. No sign-up, no ads. Use your browser's print command (or the button below); the answer key is on its own page.
Puzzle 1: Easy 6×6
Fleet: 1× length 3, 2× length 2, 3× length 1. 10 ship cells in total. Filled-grey squares are ship cells already given; a dot is given open water.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | ■ | |||||
| 2 | ||||||
| 0 | ||||||
| 2 | · | |||||
| 1 | ||||||
| 3 | · |
Puzzle 2: Easy 6×6, second board
Fleet: 1× length 3, 2× length 2, 3× length 1. 10 ship cells in total. Filled-grey squares are ship cells already given; a dot is given open water.
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||||||
| 3 | ||||||
| 1 | · | |||||
| 3 | ■ | ■ | ||||
| 0 | ||||||
| 2 |
Puzzle 3: Harder 8×8
Fleet: 1× length 4, 2× length 3, 2× length 2, 3× length 1. 17 ship cells in total. Filled-grey squares are ship cells already given; a dot is given open water.
| 4 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | ■ | ■ | ||||||
| 0 | ||||||||
| 3 | ||||||||
| 2 | ||||||||
| 2 | · | |||||||
| 3 | ||||||||
| 2 | ||||||||
| 3 | ■ |
Answer key
Answer to puzzle 1
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | ■ | ■ | ||||
| 2 | ■ | ■ | ||||
| 0 | ||||||
| 2 | · | ■ | ■ | |||
| 1 | ■ | |||||
| 3 | ■ | · | ■ | ■ |
Answer to puzzle 2
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ■ | |||||
| 3 | ■ | ■ | ■ | |||
| 1 | · | ■ | ||||
| 3 | ■ | ■ | ■ | |||
| 0 | ||||||
| 2 | ■ | ■ |
Answer to puzzle 3
| 4 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | ■ | ■ | ||||||
| 0 | ||||||||
| 3 | ■ | ■ | ■ | |||||
| 2 | ■ | ■ | ||||||
| 2 | ■ | · | ■ | |||||
| 3 | ■ | ■ | ■ | |||||
| 2 | ■ | ■ | ||||||
| 3 | ■ | ■ | ■ |
How the rules work
Every number on the top is the count of ship cells in that column, and every number on the left is the count in that row. The fleet list tells you how many ships of each length hide in the grid. Ships are straight lines, horizontal or vertical, and no two ships touch, even diagonally. Cells marked in the puzzle are given: a grey square is part of a ship, a dot is open water. The usual first moves: fill every cell in a row whose number is 0 with water, and look for rows or columns where the number equals the room left for ships.
Want one every day?
These three are past boards from Shoal, a free daily fleet puzzle with a new board each morning, the same for everyone, and a spoiler-free share card. If a board will not give way, paste its numbers into the free solver, which counts solutions and explains the next forced move. The optional Supporter Pass ($4, once) adds the full archive, practice boards and stats.