Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Drunken Battleship

This post is completely unrelated to the current steampunk projects, but I have had a lot of requests for how to make it.

The finished game is played just like traditional battleship, but with shot glasses or beer cups as the game pieces.

SUPPLIES:
1 Tri-fold display board (35.5"x46", with folds at 11.5" in from the sides)
1 Piece of foam posterboard that is 1/4" - 1/2" thick
2 Pieces of  regular poster board
20 Shot Glasses (up to 4 different colors)
50+ Pushpins (2-4 different colors, minimum 20 of each)
Permanent Marker (or large-scale printer capability)
Glue Stick
Mass Quantities of Alcohol

CONSTRUCTION:
Begin by cutting your tri-fold display board in half, separating top from bottom. Dimensions will now be 46" wide x 17.75"tall.
Cut your foam posterboard to 23" x 17.75" and glue this in between the two pieces of tri-fold board so that they are back-to-back.
Print the image to the right or draw it onto both sections of the tri-fold board.
Take both pieces of regular posterboard, and cut them to a minimum size of 17.75" x 23". It is easiest if you cut them to fit the table you intend to play on, as the game board can be scaled.
Print the Image to the right, or draw it onto both pieces of regular posterboard. You may scale the image, but make sure each square is big enough to place a shot glass into, and that the whole board is no wider than can be hidden by the tri-fold board.
If you can, I recommend laminating or otherwise protecting these individual pieces of posterboard, as this is where the shot glasses will be set, and drunk people tend to spill a little.

TO PLAY:
Set the tri-fold set-up in the middle of a table. With the outside flaps open, it should stand up on its own. Place the laminated pieces of posterboard in front of each side of the tri-fold.
Separate your push pins so that each player has 2 colors, with at least 20 of each color. Push one pin into the "Miss" dot, and one into the "Hit" dot to establish a key for the players.
If you have different colored shot glasses, the best approach is to give each player different colors to represent each ship. (ie: 4 blue, 3 red, 2 green, 1 yellow). There is no need for the colors to match for each player. I bought a multi-color set of plastic shot glasses from the grocery story for $3, and I used 2 sets. We also used 2 shot glasses per player to put the push-pins in.
Have a pitcher on hand filled with a mixed drink for people to fill the shot glasses with, because you won't want to use straight liquor (for long, at least). We also kept paper towels on hand for the inevitable spills.
Players will mark hits and misses by pushing pins into the board between them (hence the foam board in between). And sunken ships are marked by pushing a pin directly into the foam board layer from the top.

1 comment:

  1. Another slice of inspiration:

    http://wins.failblog.org/2011/10/07/epic-win-photos-battleshots-win/

    ReplyDelete