Reef Salvo
Hide your fleet. Sink theirs.
A duel of hidden fleets for two players: place your ships in secret, call cells on the other ocean, and be the first to sink every ship in the other fleet.
- Play at a real table
- Printable rules card
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- Players
- 2
- You need
- A 10 by 10 ocean and a five-ship fleet
- Style
- Hidden-fleet duel
- Goal
- Sink every enemy ship
- Time
- About 15 minutes
What is Reef Salvo?
Hide it. Then find theirs.
Each of you hides a fleet of straight ships on your own square ocean. Then you take turns calling cells on the other ocean. Every call is answered at once, hit or miss.
The usual ocean is 10 by 10 cells and the usual fleet is five ships of 5, 4, 3, 3 and 2 cells. The first player to sink every ship of the other fleet wins.
A little history
A game of guesses.
This kind of game began as a pencil-and-paper pastime more than a century ago, and was later sold on paper pads and as a peg board.
There are several ways to play a game like this. Our default is Classic, taken from the Feral Game Kit’s definition of the game: one shot a turn, and a hit names the ship. Other tables fire more shots, and the table shows which.
Fun facts
- There are no dice and no cards. The only luck is where the other player hid the ships.
- Calling at random takes about 96 shots to finish a classic game, half the time.
- The game ends the moment one fleet has no ship afloat. Nobody gets a last turn.
Why people love it
Quiet start. Tense finish.
Hide with care.
Your fleet is yours alone. Spread your ships out so one hit does not lead to the next.
Every call is answered.
You learn hit or miss at once, so each shot tells you something.
Hunting beats guessing.
Once you hit something, call the cells next to the hit until you find which way the ship runs.
Salvo tables turn up the heat.
Fire one shot for each of your ships still afloat, so early hits matter twice.
How to play
Place. Call. Sink.
Setup
- Players: two, each with a square ocean 10 cells a side.
- Fleet: five ships of 5, 4, 3, 3 and 2 cells.
- Place: place ships in that order, each straight across or straight down, fully inside the ocean. Ships never overlap, but may touch.
- Start: the first player places a whole fleet, then the second player does. Then the first player calls.
Winning
Be the first to sink every ship of the other fleet. The game ends the moment the last one sinks.
- 1
Call a cell
On your turn, call one cell of the other ocean. At the classic table each turn is one shot, and then the other player shoots.
- 2
Hear the answer
The answer is a miss, or a hit. At the classic table a hit also says which ship was struck.
- 3
Sink a ship
A ship sinks when every one of its cells has been hit. Its sinking is announced, so you always know which ships are left.
- 4
Hunt around a hit
After a hit, call the cells beside it. When a second hit shows the direction, follow that line until the ship sinks.
- 5
One call, one cell
A cell can be called only once.
- 6
Take it back
Until the shooting starts you may take the whole fleet back and place it again.
These are our Classic rules, taken from the Feral Game Kit’s definition of the game. Other tables are salvo (one shot per ship afloat), silent salvo (hits are not named) and a ten-ship fleet that may not touch, where a hit earns another shot. The host picks. Printable rules card →
Scoring
Hit it. Sink it.
There are no points in Reef Salvo. Every shot is answered at once, and the game is won by sinking the whole other fleet.
| What happens | Result | |
|---|---|---|
| A shot that hits nothing | A miss | |
| A shot that hits a ship | A hit, and it names the ship | |
| Every cell of a ship hit | It sinks, and the sinking is announced | |
| The last enemy ship sinks | You win at once |
The first player has a small edge at the classic table and a larger one in salvo, because nobody gets a last turn to catch up.
Strategy
Play it smart. Then play it feral.
Tip 1
Finish what you hit.
Once you hit something, stop calling at random. Call the cells next to the hit, then follow the line until it sinks.
Tip 2
Search a checkerboard.
Every ship covers at least two cells in a row, so it must cover a cell of each colour. You find every ship while calling only half the ocean.
Tip 3
Skip the short gaps.
A gap too short for any ship still afloat cannot hide one, so do not call it.
Tip 4
Use the answers.
A named hit or a sinking tells you the length still to find.
Tip 5
Hide without a pattern.
Spread ships out so that one hit does not lead to the next.
The Feral Worlds community
Play-testing Reef Salvo? Tell us in Discord.
Found a bug, a rule that feels off, or a house rule your family swears by? Our Discord is where we collect play-test feedback, and where game nights are starting to happen.
Glossary
Talk like a regular.
- Ocean
- The square grid of cells where a fleet hides.
- Fleet
- The ships a player hides on their ocean.
- Call
- Naming a cell on the other ocean. The answer is hit or miss.
- Hit
- A call that lands on a cell of a ship.
- Miss
- A call that lands on an empty cell.
- Sunk
- A ship with every cell hit.
- Afloat
- A ship that has not sunk yet.
- Salvo
- A turn with one shot for each of your ships still afloat.
The Feral twist
Still under the hat.
Every game can be played Classic. In Feral mode, the host picks the ocean size, the fleet, whether ships may touch, whether hits are named, how many shots a turn, and whether a hit earns another shot.
In play-testing
Reef Salvo is in play-testing.
Reef Salvo is not in a pack yet. You can play it in the Feral Table Games client while we test it.
$9.95, one time, to host every game in it. Playing is always free. Packs go on sale when the full game launches.
Reef Salvo is in play-testing
Save a seat.
Hear when the Kickstarter opens, and when Reef Salvo can be hosted with friends.