Sink your friend’s battleship with Sea Battle Live for Android

As a kid growing up, one of my all-time favorite board games was Battleship, a guessing game published by Milton Bradley in 1931 (no, I’m not that old — Battleship is a classic that has been passed down through many generations). For those not familiar, the game is played by two people on four grids, two for each player. The grids are typically square – usually 10×10 – and the individual squares in the grid are identified by letter and number. On one grid the player arranges ships and records the shots by the opponent. On the other grid the player records his own shots.

Before play begins, each player arranges a number of ships secretly on the grid for that player. Each ship occupies a number of consecutive squares on the grid, arranged either horizontally or vertically. The number of squares for each ship is determined by the type of the ship. The ships cannot overlap (i.e., only one ship can occupy any given square in the grid).

Now that you’re up to speed, you’re probably thinking, “Wow, this sounds like a pretty fun game.” Well, I’ve got some good news for you, as I just stumbled upon a very fun-and-addicting variation of Battleship called, “Sea Battle Live,” from Dragonplay (a top developer in the Android Market).

The rules for Sea Battle Live are exactly the same as Battleship, but the really cool thing about the Android incarnation of the game is that it brings online multiplayer capabilities to the table. You can start a game with a random opponent, or you can log into the game using your Facebook credentials to play with people from your friends list. You can also chat with your opponents while you’re in-game.

The game boasts impressive graphics, and an intuitive and elegant user interface especially designed for Android tablets and phones. It’s also available for any device running Android 1.5 (there are still devices running Cupcake? Yikes!) or higher, so you’re not going to need a super-powered phone to join in the fun. Best of all, Sea Battle is free, so you can save some money to spend at the OMG!Droid Cellphone Shop.

Sea Battle Live, by Dragonplay

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