Long before it featured those iconic red and white plastic pegs, Battleship was a rudimentary pencil and paper game played by actual Russian officers prior to World War I.

A closer look

Long before it featured those iconic red and white plastic pegs, Battleship was a rudimentary pencil and paper game played by actual Russian officers prior to World War I. Milton Bradley eventually got their hands on the concept and turned it into the plastic grid version in the 1960s, heavily marketing it with a commercial featuring a smug father and son while the mother happily washed dishes in the background. The game's entire premise relies heavily on blind guessing and pure luck, making it the perfect board game for people who hate actually using their brains but still want to feel vaguely strategic. Shouting out coordinates until you randomly hit a plastic submarine perfectly mirrors modern corporate strategy, where executives just fire off random buzzwords in meetings until they accidentally strike a good idea. It is the only game where admitting your ship has been sunk is considered a major social achievement