BShip

BShip

Screenshot - Title screen.

Developer Howard Arrington Publisher The Code Works Published 1978-11-?? Platforms Commodore PET Genres Board game, Passive puzzle, Puzzle, Single-screen Distribution Freeware

BShip is a board game video game developed by Howard Arrington and published by The Code Works for the Commodore PET in issue 5 of Cursor magazine in November, 1978. The game appears to have been programmed in Commodore BASIC.

The game is kind of like a cross between Battlehips and Mastermind. In the layout phase, you choose where your ships go, but you can also arrange them diagonally. During the combat phase, instead of a firing a single shot each turn, you fire a salvo of seven shots, but, unlike the original Battleship, you're not told which specific shot is a hit, only that hits occurred. Each salvo is given a letter, and each hit is displayed as the same letter on the ship in the UI. By figuring out which salvos hit which ships, and where they appear on the game board, you will slowly be able to discern where your opponent's ship must be and target those areas to sink them. To further complicate the game, your firepower is based on the ships you have, so, if your battleship is sunk, your salvo of seven shots will be reduced to four, if you lose your patrol ship, it will be reduced by another two.

Personal

Own?	No.
Won?	Yes.
Finished	2025-04-23.

After beating Battleship and discovering it didn't have any credits, I wanted to play a game where the developer was actually known. I initially assumed this would be just another loyal adaption of Battleship, but I was pleasantly surprised to see it was something unique. It took me a few play-throughs to discover a working strategy.

Review

3	3	2	1	3

Best Version: Commodore PET

Good

• With the alternate rules, the game gives a fresh take on Battleship. It's still nothing monumental, but it requires you to develop a new strategy which is enjoyable.
• The AI is pretty good.

Bad

• Battleship has always given an unfair advantage to the first player, but it's magnified in this game. And, since the AI always goes first, it puts the player at a disadvantage right from the beginning.
• The AI doesn't have any difficulty settings and always plays at its hardest level.
• The game doesn't support two-player mode.

Ugly

• The game is media challenged. It uses only monochrome text and there is no music.

Media

Documentation

• 

  Cursor magazine - Issue 5- November 1978 - Page 1.

• 

  Cursor magazine - Issue 15 - November 1978 - Page 2.

Screenshots

• 

  Title screen.

• 

  My ship layout.

• 

  Taking my first turn.

• 

  Surviving late into the game.

• 

  Finally winning.

Videos

Game play.

Play Online

Commodore PET

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	There are no characters.
Bechdel test?	Fail	There are no characters.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	There are no characters.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no characters.