Battleships

As the whole point of this game is that you can’t see the other player’s board, Battleships is perfect for playing with people who aren’t in the same room as you, and was the first game I created for my nan. Each player has their own grid and hides a number of ships on it, with the aim of the game being to be the first to find and sink all your opponent’s ships. May sound complicated, but it’s actually incredibly simple!
Just print out a board, have a friend print out one for themselves or send them a copy, and get playing over the phone!

Tips for effective gameplay:

• Use a red pen to mark your ‘hits’ to help keep track of your progress
• Write the names of the players above each grid, to help keep track of who’s who, as it’s easy to slip up as both grids do look very similar!
• I never realised how similar certain letters sound until I tried playing Battleships over the phone (E? D? C? G? Who knows!). Therefore, sometimes it can help to clarify which letter you mean by saying, for example, “C for cat” or “E for elephant”.
• Have patience! When playing games over the phone, it’s inevitable that at some point, confusion can occur and people are no longer sure on which space everyone is. Taking the time to solve the problem will mean you will have more fun in the long run! 
• From personal experience, my nan didn’t understand the rules of the game until we played a practice game. Doing a dummy run will likely help someone unfamiliar with the game understand how to play!