Captain Sonar

In Captain Sonar two teams of four (the game really is best with eight, though still fun with six) are playing Battleships with a difference – unlike the traditional game of guesswork, in Captain Sonar your subs keep moving, and the game is played in a tense atmosphere of barking orders, plotting courses, dropping mines and… eavesdropping.

We’ll describe the game here as if played with eight. The game provides a large screen (and you need a decent-sized table to play on) either side of which sit the two submarine crews. Each crew has a captain, first mate, engineer and radio operator. The game can be played turn-by-turn with each side making their move while the others sit and wait, but that’s best done as a learning game for the real thing, which plays out in real time.

Both teams have a map of the locale (-mostly water, but with a few islands to avoid bumping into) and decide whereabouts their sub begins on the map. The captains’ job is to pilot a course, deciding where to go next and barking out the direction they want to take. The Engineer monitors the systems – depending on where the sub moves, each movement will help charge up or repair the systems (weapons, for instance) and they’ll tell the captain when a system is charged and usable.  The first mate keeps track of sub damage and advises the captain on routes, and the radio operator’s job is to listen to the opposing captain’s orders, track the other team’s movement on acetate, and try and figure out where they are on the map. When the radio operator has a theory as to the location of the enemy, the captain can use systems to drop mines or fire torpedoes etc.

The catch for both teams is that each sub cannot cross its own path unless it surfaces, at which point you can scrub out all previous movement – but must announce which sector of the map you’re in to the enemy! And don’t think you can avoid surfacing entirely, as the various systems of the sub force you to go in unwanted directions… Play continues until either sub is obliterated, at which point you thank the stars that you’ll never be trapped in an actual sub, with an actual enemy trying to actually destroy you.

There is a simpler version of the game called Sonar that plays 2-4 players