BL Workshop

Make an Off-Shore Battle game

By Jodie Mangor
Illustrations by David Brooks
From the June 2008 Boys' Life magazine

Charge up your power drill, sharpen that saw and make this cool custom-made Off-Shore Battle game.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

• Ruler
• Tracing paper and tape
• Power drill
• Saw
• Awl and hammer
• Anvil pruning shears
• Fine-tipped permanent marker
• Wood glue
• Screws
• 3 10-inch-by-10-inch-by-3⁄4-inch boards
• 2 small wooden door knobs
• 4 hinges
• 1 latch
• Drill bit slightly larger than game pegs
• 1 package of wooden skewers
• Enough pine scraps to make the ships
• Sandpaper
• Red paint

WHAT YOU’LL DO

The Boards:

1. With lines spaced 3⁄4-inches apart, mark out a 71⁄2-by-71⁄2-inch grid on all three game boards. The center, vertical board has a grid with holes on both sides. The side boards have a grid only.

2. Tape tracing paper over your grid and draw diagonal lines as shown. Use an awl to punch starter holes for drilling.

3. Drill 1⁄4-inch-deep holes in the center of each square.

4. Use decals or a fine-tipped permanent marker to label the vertical squares A through J and the horizontal squares 1 through 10.

5. Attach the vertical board to the base with wood glue and screws.

6. After all the grids are complete and the holes are drilled, attach the knobs and give the boards an oil finish.

7. Put it all together using the 4 hinges.

The Pegs:

1. Use the pruning shears to cut the skewers into 3⁄4-inch pegs. You’ll need at least 140 pegs.

2. Paint 40 of them red.

The Ships:

• Fashion 2 sets of 5 ships from scraps of pine.
• Drill the 1⁄4-inch-deep holes before cutting out the ships.
• Make 2 ships 3 3⁄4 inches long with 5 holes.
• Make 2 ships 3 inches long with 4 holes.
• Make 2 ships 2 1⁄4 inches long with 3 holes.
• Make 4 ships 1 1⁄2 inches long with 2 holes.
• Sand the ship bottoms smooth.

Get ship templates at www.boyslife.org/links/shiptemplates. You can also make the ships from plastic clay.

TO PLAY

Players place ships on the grids of their individual boards. One player calls out a coordinate on the grid. If it’s a hit, he goes again. A miss means it’s the other player’s turn. Red pegs are used to track hits and natural-colored pegs to track misses. Whoever sinks all their opponent’s ships first wins.

Read 24 comments about “Make an Off-Shore Battle game”

Comment page:   « 3 [2] 1 »

1. 14 - hamburgerguy says:
   June 28th, 2008 at 6:11 pm

   I want to make it soon!

2. 13 - sithe55 says:
   June 26th, 2008 at 9:42 am

   because battleship is a trade mark.

3. 12 - d5682 says:
   June 24th, 2008 at 1:35 pm

   This game is excatly like Battleship. I wonder why you didn’t call it Battleship.

4. 11 - Kooldude1010 says:
   June 22nd, 2008 at 8:22 am

   this is the best game EVER!!!!!!

5. 10 - Boys Rules says:
   June 18th, 2008 at 2:19 pm

   yeah its like BATTLESHIP to THEpizzaGuy.

6. 9 - Daws says:
   June 13th, 2008 at 11:59 pm

   That’s a really cool idea.

7. 8 - Commander Cody says:
   June 10th, 2008 at 9:25 pm

   I’ll like playing it!

8. 7 - matthebrat333 says:
   June 9th, 2008 at 4:45 pm

   wonderful game I’ll be sure to make it soon

9. 6 - Lightning says:
   June 7th, 2008 at 3:34 pm

   I will make this game

10. 5 - THEpizzaGUY says:
    June 7th, 2008 at 12:11 pm

    isnt that like battleship

Comment page:   « 3 [2] 1 »

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