Teacher Tech blog with Alice Keeler

Paperless Is Not a Pedagogy

Alice Keeler

Pixel Art Battleship Classroom Google Sheets Game

Pixel art battleship is a fun way to play battleship by using Google Sheets. Try this template by Alice Keeler.
pixel art battleship
Pixel Art Battleship Classroom Google Sheets Game

Pixel Art Battleship is a creative and strategic twist on the traditional board game, Battleship. This digital innovation combines the nostalgic pleasure of pixel art with the tactical challenges of the classic Battleship game. By leveraging a versatile pixel art template, players embark on a journey where art meets strategy, enhancing both their creative and analytical skills.

Install Battleship Template

Make a copy of the Google Sheets pixel art battleship. 

Pixel Art and Battleship… yup that sounds awesome! Cynthia Schluckebier shared on Twitter her students using the pixel art template along with Tab Scissors to play the game Battleship.

AI generated two laptops with battleship
AI Generated Battleship image
Pixel art battleship picture

With side by side windows, students can see their battleship range and that of their partner. 

Cynthia’s Steps

1. I shared the pixel art template with students
2. They created 2 copies of the template one for their board and one for their guesses and named them accordingly.
3. We talked about if they should share the document. (obviously not)
4. We talked about what the cell range should be. This was when critical thinking came in and I let them make mistakes and figure things out. Also how many ships should there be. They started out with the range of a1:t20. (400 guesses….they figured out quickly that the game with the number of ships they chose was boring) So they problem solved the range and the number of ships…and success.
5. Also I showed them 2 new chrome extensions tab scissors and tab glue to help them view their boards easier. We also played in different locations using chat! So fun!

Battleship Game

If you have never played the game Battleship it is a board game where players place ships on a grid. The players take turns calling out coordinates to see if a ship is located at that coordinate.  If a ship is located at that coordinate, the coordinate is marked as a hit and the other player is told they got a hit. If it is a miss, the other player is told it is a miss. Both players mark the hits and misses on their board.

Previously I had made a Google Slides Battleship template for teaching coordinate plane.

Directions

Make a Copy

Distribute a copy of the template. Each student should have their own copy. Share the link alicekeeler.com/pixelbattleship so they can make their own copy or push out a copy through Google Classroom.

Two Tabs

Notice on the bottom there are 2 tabs. One for the player to mark their ships (Board) and one for the player to mark their guesses (Guessing).
google sheets two tabs

Provide Constraints

Tell the students how many ships they can place and what the constraints of the ships are. For example
1 ship = 5 squares
1 ship = 2 squares
2 ships = 3 squares
1 ship = 4 squares

Press 9

The template uses conditional formatting that when a student types in a single digit number from 0 to 9 the cell is color coded. The color black is the number 9. Students can type a 9 into the cells to create their ships.
Battleship placing

Side by Side

If you right click on a Chrome tab there is the option to “Duplicate.” This lets you have the same spreadsheet open twice. Students will want the Board sheet in one Chrome tab and the Guessing sheet in another Chrome tab. The Chrome extension Tab Scissors makes it easy to put the two spreadsheet sheets side by side.
same spreadsheet side by side

H for Hit and M for Miss

Once students are playing the game, they can use any single digit number 0 to 9 to mark hits and misses. They can also type an H for a hit or an M for a miss to code those.
hits and misses

Eric Curts

Eric Curts provides another template for battleship, also using Google Sheets.

Learning Objectives

As it is, this game does not address any learning objectives. It is a tool. Students can play it just for fun, but you can also use it for learning. Quia has a Battleship game template where students have to correctly answer a question in order to ask a hit or a miss. Sample game. Share in the comments below how you use this template to address learning objectives.

© 2024 All Rights Reserved.

💥 FREE OTIS WORKSHOP

Join Alice Keeler, Thursday Mar 28th or register to gain access to the recording.
Create a free OTIS account.

Join Alice Keeler for this session for a way to create dynamic and interactive digital lessons. The Desmos platform is completely free and allows for any topic to be created or customized.

Exit this pop up by pressing escape or clicking anywhere off the pop up.