What this tool does
Five classic two-player games that only need a pencil, drawn out properly so play can start at once. Choose the game, how many boards or players go on a page, and the grid size, and add the rules for anyone who has not played before.
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Five games, one sheet maker
These are the games that get played on the back of a menu: the ones with no pieces, no board, and no need to explain them twice. They all come down to a grid of some kind, and drawing that grid neatly is the only part that takes effort. This generator draws it.
Dots and Boxes is a field of dots. Players join two neighbouring dots with a line; close the fourth side of a box and it is yours, initial it and go again. Five dots a side is a quick game, ten is a long one. SOS is a grid of cells; players write an S or an O anywhere, and completing S-O-S in any direction scores a point. Bulls and Cows is the pencil ancestor of the coloured-peg code-breaking game: each player hides a four-digit code and the sheet gives fourteen guess rows with Bulls and Cows columns. Battleship gives each player two labelled ten-by-ten grids, My fleet and Enemy waters, with a fleet legend so both sides use the same ships. Tic-tac-toe is here too, and has its own page.
How many per page
The setting means different things for different games, and the dropdown changes with the game. For dots and SOS it is boards per page. For Bulls and Cows and Battleship it is players per page: one player gets a full-size layout, two players share the sheet with smaller grids so both sets fit on one piece of paper.
Sizes
Dots and Boxes runs from five to ten dots a side, SOS from six to twelve cells. Battleship is fixed at ten by ten because the fleet legend (carrier five, battleship four, cruiser three, submarine three, destroyer two) assumes it. Bulls and Cows uses four digits.
The rules block
Each game carries a three-sentence rules block that prints at the foot of the page when Rules is ticked. The wording is the one most people learn: cancellation for boxes is not used, Bulls means right digit right place, Cows means right digit wrong place.
Not the same as the puzzle
The site also has a Battleships logic puzzle, where one solver works out a hidden fleet from row and column counts. This page is the two-player game with a partner and a pencil. They share a name and nothing else.
FAQs
Quick answers
Which games are included?
Dots and Boxes, SOS, Bulls and Cows, Battleship and tic-tac-toe. Switch between them with the Game dropdown; the size and per-page options change to suit.
How big is the Dots and Boxes field?
Five to ten dots on each side. Five is a two-minute game, seven is the usual, ten fills a whole page and takes a while.
Does the Battleship sheet have a fleet list?
Yes. Under each player's pair of grids there is a legend with the five ships and their lengths, so both players place the same fleet.
How does Bulls and Cows work?
Each player writes a secret four-digit code with no repeated digit. Guess in turns. A bull is a correct digit in the correct place; a cow is a correct digit in the wrong place. The sheet gives fourteen guess rows per player.
Can two players share one page?
For Battleship and Bulls and Cows, yes: choose 2 players per page and each gets a half-size layout.
Is this the Battleships logic puzzle?
No. That is a one-player deduction puzzle on its own page. This is the two-player game.
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